Your business budget is not something to be taken lightly, and there are items and expenses which must be accounted for in order for the company to be a success. A digital budget of tools and services is not always the first thing on a company’s mind; however, keeping up with digital storage and services is vital to any company’s success. Here we have listed the five items that should be included in your business budget for 2016.

1. Information security

It’s extremely important to secure your company’s information. Hacks and breaches can happen, and whether the intention of the hack is to personally harm your company, like in the case of the hackers who got into Sony’s company in 2014, or if your company is just the means to an end goal, like the group that hacked into Target’s database to steal a massive amount of credit card information, the more you invest in your security the less likely it is to happen to you.

2. Data entry

Keeping all the paperwork in a company organized, digital, and centrally located is certainly a task – and it is a task that you should be outsourcing to a company who has the time and resources to do it quickly and efficiently. Data entry services can be offered alone or as a by-product of many all-in-one, comprehensive software solutions which also offer secure storage and workflow improvements.

3. Digital service and maintenance

It is important to partner with companies who will be able to help down the road when there are software, hardware, and system upgrades or updates that need to be made. Regular maintenance of machines and applications is important to keep everything functioning optimally for as long as possible.

4. Accounts payable automation

Accounts payable automation allows for invoice virtualization and streamlined workflows. All paid-out requests, invoices, and receipts will be in one place, accessible via the cloud. Accounts payable is a department full of paperwork, and it relies on the assumption that all items will be easy to find later on, which may not always be the case for companies still in paper.

5. Newer Imaging Systems

Up-to-date imaging systems are proven to be more efficient and economical. There are companies who offer reliable and redundant storage to capture the information you’ve converted, with the ability to easily transition your company to a new system when making the upgrade.