Designing a budget is tedious, but that pain is nothing in comparison to presentations. In last month’s blog, we gave you an example of the TCO model and how those empirical figures can help you justify spend. This month, we want to dive in a bit deeper to show you the best ways to assess, present, and stand behind your budget decisions.
Offer up proof.
By mandating improvements within your department and evaluating success through empirical data, your department creates tangible results. Offering the board proof of an indisputable improvement shows that not only can you set goals, you can and do reach them. Along those lines, projecting a decreased cost per unit over time can help ease the pain of the initial up-front dollars spent on IT, even to the most reluctant CFO. Consider investing in a Telecom Expense Management (TEM) tool to make this easier in the future.
Present the risks of not spending.
We talk a lot about risk in budgeting, but what about the risks that can’t be defined by a dollar? Let’s use security as an example. With a recent uptick in the severity and sophistication of cyber crimes, it’s high time to invest in better cybersecurity to protect yourself and your company. Position these asks as an act of greater good– investments in areas like cybersecurity, internal communications software, and cloud technology don’t just enhance your department, they work for the betterment of the whole organization.
Take care of the little things.
Let’s say your kitchen sink drips. To most, it’s not a huge problem– just an annoying one, and certainly calling the plumber to come and fix it isn’t a priority. That is, until you get the water bill and see just how much those irritating little drip, drip, drips that interrupt dinner have added up in dollar value. Assessing your department’s small pieces and overlooked problems can help to tone down overhead and allow you to convert fixed costs into variables. Don’t look at the department as a machine that needs maintenance, look at it as a sum of its parts and ask, where can we replace, rewire, and reroute our operations to free up more capital? This knowledge positions you as cost effective, throwing an air of responsibility and expertise behind those budget justifications.
These tips will certainly help you tone down the sweat in the boardroom, and Premier is here to lend a hand. You don’t have to stand alone at the big meeting. Premier will stand behind you to help you prepare, check, and recheck, so that you can be as confident as possible when you walk in.
Our team will help you conduct a thorough investigation of current cost and uncover previously unthought of expenses. Then, we help you solve them, by finding the right provider for you. Premier helps to prepare you for budget meetings by giving you a clear visual and a clear path forward.
We believe in getting your projects done right, keeping at pace with the breakneck rate of change in the industry and helping you to manage projects methodically, creating smaller changes with huge results. Our targeted approach will help you ask the right questions, identify key pieces in your budget and present them effectively.
Let’s tackle this together. Contact to get started.
