When an organization is small, the technology budget is often one number from last year with a modest increase. That works until the company adds a second location, hires twenty people or acquires a building. Suddenly the old number is wrong, and every new expense feels like an emergency. A better approach is to build the budget from unit costs, so it grows predictably as you grow.
Most IT spending falls into two buckets that move with the size of the business:
Per-employee (or per-user) costs. These follow headcount: computers, phones, software licenses, email and security tools, help desk support and training.
Per-site costs. These follow the number of locations: internet service, firewalls, switches, Wi-Fi access points, cameras, door access, phone systems and on-site equipment.
A third bucket, shared or fixed costs, covers items that do not scale directly: core business applications, cloud platforms, security monitoring, backup, insurance, and the cost of IT management itself.
List everything that a new employee needs to be productive and safe, then add it up on an annual basis.
Take the price of a computer and any peripherals, and divide by the number of years you expect to use them. A laptop expected to last four years costs a quarter of its price per year. Do the same for phones, headsets and badges.
Add the license for email and productivity tools, security software, multi-factor authentication, password management and any role-specific applications. In healthcare, some clinical users will have additional licensing costs through their electronic record vendor. Check how those are billed so they appear in the model.
If you pay for help desk or managed services, many providers price by user, which makes this one easy. Include the cost of security awareness training and endpoint protection.
The total is your annual cost per employee. Many organizations find it useful to maintain two or three versions: a standard office user, a clinical or frontline user who shares workstations, and a power user.
Do the same for each location, starting with the infrastructure that a building needs before anyone sits down at a desk:
Internet connection, including a backup line where it matters.
Firewall and security subscriptions.
Network switches and wireless access points, spread across their useful life.
Cabling and wiring maintenance.
Phone system or telephony service.
Printers and copiers.
Cameras, door access or nurse call integration, if IT supports them.
Sites differ, so a small clinic and a 100-bed community will not match. Consider sorting sites into small, medium and large templates.
Next, list the costs that do not scale directly, and give each a clear owner. Then add a refresh reserve: the amount you set aside each year so you can replace aging equipment without a surprise. If you own 100 laptops and expect to replace them every four years, you should plan to replace about 25 a year. Treat servers, firewalls and switches the same way.
Also set aside a small contingency, often a modest percentage of the total, for emergencies and unplanned needs. Choose the amount based on your history and comfort.
Once you have the unit costs, forecasting becomes simple arithmetic:
Planning to hire 15 people? Multiply by the per-employee cost, adding one-time setup costs for equipment.
Opening a new location? Add the per-site cost, plus one-time costs for installation and cabling.
Considering an acquisition? Estimate the people and sites, then add the cost of bringing the new location onto your standards.
Setup costs are one-time and should be separated from ongoing costs, so you can see both the first-year hit and the steady-state expense.
Executives and owners rarely want a line-by-line technology budget. They want to know what growth will cost. A one-page summary showing cost per employee, cost per site and the fixed base lets them make decisions with confidence. It also makes it easier to compare options, such as whether to standardize on one set of tools across all locations.
Revisit the numbers at least once a year, and again when something major changes, such as a new vendor contract or a price increase. Compare your actual spending to the model and adjust.
UnityCare IT helps growing healthcare and senior-living operators turn their technology costs into a simple per-employee, per-site model, and standardizes the equipment and services behind it so the numbers stay reliable. If you are planning growth, we are glad to help you put real numbers on it.
An outsourced IT department with proactive maintenance and one number to call.
Call or text: 405-285-3845
New customers: start@unitycareit.com
Existing customers: support@unitycareit.com
Address: UnityCare Technologies, 2524 N Broadway Ste 554, PMB 947974, Edmond, Oklahoma 73034-4172