#BellBiz Twitter Chat: Planning for Next Year’s Budget

If money makes the world go ’round, that’s especially true when it comes to technology. Buying equipment and services, and paying for the right skills to implement and manage it all, are easily the most time-consuming of all IT activities. As the year draws to a close, budget planning for next year is already top of mind for most small business owners.

We’re devoting our next #BellBiz live Twitter chat to this very issue. As you start work on your 2013 budget, you’ve got more than enough questions to keep you up at night. But they don’t have to – and we’ll do our best to get you the answers you need during our next chat on Tuesday, November 20th at 1:00 p.m. Eastern. We’ll be tackling the following questions:

1. What tools should you be using as you begin to build your budget? Are spreadsheets enough or should you look at a dedicated package?
2. Are there any budget planning best practices that you’ll want to keep in mind?
3. What resources are out there to help a small business build – and manage – an effective budget?
4. Who needs to be involved in the process?
5. What are some of the things you’ll want to avoid as you start calculating your 2013 needs?
6. What kind of vendor support is out there? Are there organizations that can help small businesses get through the budget season?
7. What are the benefits of solid budget planning? And how do you sell them within the company?
8. What about the risks of not getting your budget right? And how do you avoid getting caught?
9. How do you know you’ve hit the budget mark?

Since dollars will always be constrained, budgets are a fact of life for businesses of any size. But small businesses are especially sensitive to budgetary pressures, and they need advice and tools to help them with the budgeting process. Drop by on Tuesday, November 20th at 1 p.m. Eastern and we’ll unravel some of the mysteries of the budget process. Participating is simple: follow the #BellBiz hashtag and you’re there.

See you Tuesday!