In 2017, there is a rising trend of shifting budgets for IT departments in many industries. A recent report from Computer Economics outlines the current trends including where the increases in spending are being implemented, and what’s being cut back. While every company has unique challenges, the opportunity to leverage the cloud is creating new opportunities.

Growth in the transition to cloud-based services is impacting the IT budget in the area of capital expenses. Because cloud services have the hardware included on their end, no add-ons or updates are needed for your on-premise legacy equipment, which accounts for decreased spending in this area.

According to the study, the impact on capital expenditures has gone from 24 percent of the budget in 2013 to 18 percent in 2017, which is significant. There is also no required expense related to software licenses, because the cloud provider is responsible for that as they control the software updates and licensing.

The study highlighted that the transition to the cloud will continue to grow and that this trend has already led to more efficient IT departments especially when evaluated per user, which they found to be at a new low.

It’s widely known that with more cloud-based services, there is less demand on the IT department for on-premise tasks. The study found that there is slow to no growth in staffing levels due to the increased transition to cloud-based services. In fact, less than half of those who took part in the study said they had any plans to increase their IT headcount.

Cloud-based services are also allowing CIOs to roll out new IT capabilities, and this is backed up by the study’s findings that there are fewer respondents saying their budgets are inadequate. With greater access to service and capabilities once out of reach, companies of all sizes have an opportunity to level the competitive playing field.

While expenditures to staffing and capital are dropping, organizations are able to focus and spend more on other processes that add value, such as security, networking, end-user devices and business applications.

When organizations adopt communications solutions that are cloud-based, they’re improving in many areas, including flexibility, scalability, security, cost efficiency, agility and continuity. If you’re currently shopping for a cloud services provider, make sure their solutions will give you these key cloud benefits.

At eXemplify, we provide our clients with a cloud infrastructure for their communications needs that they can count on. We specialize in offering options, including public, private and hybrid solutions. Contact us today and we’ll help you learn more about the cloud.