5 Considerations to Guide You This Budget Season

2022 IT Budget Planning
COVID-19 threw your budget planning off track and you’ve been hustling to catch up on the necessary upgrades. In addition, you’ve had to change your roadmap because of work-from-anywhere. Now, 2022 budget planning season is here and you have to prioritize where to invest your IT dollars. This has become even more challenging than before.  I hope the following high-level list of key considerations helps simplify your budget planning.
1

Continue Moving to the Cloud

Migrating from on-prem hardware and software to Cloud services continues.

  • Plan your migration to Cloud service providers as your legacy hardware and software approach end-of-life.
  • Leverage Microsoft Azure services such as Conditional Access and Active Directory Services.
  • Look at your Microsoft 365 subscription licenses to replace redundant third-party software.

2

New Technologies That Help With Remote Work

SASE, ZTNA, SWG, CASB – know what these acronyms stand for and why related products and services are worth looking into.

SASE: Secure Access Service Edge

ZTNA: Zero Trust Network Access

SWG: Secure Web Gateway

CASB: Cloud Access Security Broker


3
Security, Security, and More Security

Double-down on security. Make sure you are compliant with NIST or ISO standards.  Stay informed as these standards are updating.  You can’t think of everything on your own so work with a cybersecurity expert.  Investing in cybersecurity now can save your firm significant costs later on.


4
Check Your Licenses for End-of-Support and End-of-Life

Expired products put your company at risk – check your product licenses for end-of-support (EOS) & end-of-life (EOL) dates.

Here are some EOS and EOL dates to put on your radar:

  • Windows 10
    • EOS date: 2025-Oct-14
    • Version 2004 EOS date: 2021-Dec-14
    • Version 1909 EOS date: 2022-May-10
    • Version 20H1 EOS date: 2022-Dec-13
    • Version 20H2 EOS date: 2023-May-9
  • iManage DeskSite, FileSite, and IDOL
    • EOS date: 2023-June-30
    • EOL date: 2023-Dec-29

We’ve created a webpage streamlining EOS & EOL dates for Microsoft, iManage, Citrix, Cisco, and VMware products. Please visit it periodically for updates.


5
MSPs Give You More Time to Focus On Your Business

Your team’s time is valuable – ask your Managed Services Provider (MSP) to provide services that will free up and make better use of your IT team’s time.

If you don’t have an MSP consider hiring one.  MSPs can provide more services at lower costs. Cornerstone.IT offers an array of managed services that are customizable.  We include special features to our managed services such as daily health check reports.

In a recent “Artificial Lawyer” article, Christophe Frèrebeau, CEO, Della named four reasons law firms struggle with calculating their legal tech ROI: not knowing what to expect from their investment; not knowing how to implement technology effectively; not knowing how to formulate user adoption strategies; and not knowing how to implement new systems effectively. As your legal IT spending increases to adapt to new work models, make sure you have professionals doing the work you need.

Cornerstone.IT has decades of experience with Legal IT products and services. Count on our expertise to help you plan a successful IT infrastructure.

Cornerstone cares for your technology so you can care for your business – since 2003

Contact Jim Moreo to schedule a consultation.

Cornerstone.IT