Now is a perfect time to begin assessing where you are in your businesses and preparing for next year’s goals and objectives. While doing so, how are you planning for cybersecurity risks, technology needs, and the ever-changing landscape that businesses are experiencing in 2022?

According to statistica.com, business and government spending on information and business technology in the United States in 2022 was expected to be nearly $2.1 trillion.

A decade ago, that number was $1.23 trillion.

What exactly is that being spent on?

Based on a 2017 survey by Deloitte, the average revenue spending for all industries was 3.28%.

This means that a $1 million company should be spending $32,800 on technology. A $4 million company should be spending $131,200, and so on and so forth.

An interesting statistic in that same survey though is that the elite — banking & securities along with business & professional services — were spending an average of 6.49% — nearly double that of the median.

There are several factors to consider:

First, the study was 5 years ago; essentially “an eternity” in the tech space.

Since then, we’ve seen a massive increase in cybersecurity risk, breaches, and overall costs of doing business.

Cyber insurance alone has doubled in some cases.

Which makes me ask the question — what is the spend now?

According to Gartner’s latest analysis (14 July), worldwide IT spending will total $4.2 trillion in 2021 (8.6% up on 2020), rising to $4.4 trillion in 2022 (5.3% up on 2021).

Step 1 is determining where your business is today.

Do you know what percentage you spend of your revenue on IT related items?

These include, but are not limited to:

• Hosting/Cloud
• Software/SaaS
• Technology Management/Coaching/Services
• Internal Staff
• Communications (Website, Internet, VoIP)

Once you determine your percentage, now you have to ask yourself some questions to see if what you have is sufficient.

Some of those questions might be:

• Do you have your business goals mapped and positioned for each technology expense?
• Do you have a proactive plan to measure those goals?
• Are you using the best of the best to assure you’re spending your money wisely?
• Are you process dependent, people enhanced when it comes to your technology?
• Do you trust everything you’ve got in place?
• Are you researching similar industries and companies to determine how they’re leveraging their technology dollars?
• Do you have an inventory of every single asset you own or are responsible for?
• Are you testing everything on a regular basis?
• Are you holding formalized training with your team and continual testing and education with them?

Organizations that spend appropriately — not too little, and not too much…. just right — tend to see much greater success and peace of mind because they are using it as a tool to help their business thrive and achieve their outcomes.

PCA Technology Solutions provides assistance with these assessments for your technology and security needs. Contact us today to see how we can partner with you.