The economy has picked up. What should we be doing with our IT?

There is a fantastic opportunity out there right now and I am hearing savvy business owners making plans to use it to their advantage. Now more than ever, the strong companies with good systems are going to expand, swallowing their unprepared rivals in many industries.

My perception is that there is now an opportunity unrivalled in our generation to build IT infrastructure. With government tax incentives available now to build company infrastructure just ahead of Australia’s next growth phase, this is the time to ensure we sweep out old inefficient technology and get the tools in place for productive work for the next three to five years.

If you are not busy now but know you will be soon, it makes great sense to take advantage of the slowdown to prepare. You do not want to wait until you are up to your neck in work with unproductive systems creating time blow outs that let your competitors get the upper hand.

With only a few days left in June, larger companies are running out of time to purchase the infrastructure over $10,000 with the 30% tax benefit.

Smaller companies making use of the $1,000 threshold have another six months, but need to rush if they want to claim the tax break in this financial year. This will help cashflow for the huge number of small businesses out there doing less than $2 million turnover.

If you run a small business with just a few staff, it is time to think about new PCs and laptops for just over $1,000 each. A new Small Business Server will help with data storage, central backup and mail communication. All will be eligible for the 50% tax break.

If your turnover is over $2 million it is time to think about server upgrades and phone system upgrades. Putting these purchase decisions off for more than a couple of weeks will let a 30% tax break slide by on the 30th of June.

The tax break applies even if you lease the purchased equipment and spread the cost over three to four years!

For these larger system upgrades, your planning needs to be finished so you can get quotes for the equipment and make the purchase in time. If you do not yet know what you need, get on the phone to your IT people NOW and make sure they understand the time lines you are working with. If they are technically focussed rather than business driven you will need to spell it out for them because they are not thinking about tax breaks.

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