Budget season is here again. Last year we walked through what to plan for in 2026: Windows 10 end of life, Microsoft 365 licensing, cloud sprawl and the early days of AI at work. For 2027, one theme sits above all the others. Attacks are faster, more convincing and more automated than they were a year ago, and the businesses that come through them are the ones that budgeted for security before they needed it.
Here is how small and mid-sized businesses across Chester County, the Main Line and the Lehigh Valley should build a 2027 IT budget, starting with security and working out from there.
Put security at the top of your 2027 IT budget
Security is the one line item that protects every other line item. A single ransomware incident can cost more in downtime, recovery and lost trust than a year of prevention, and cyber insurers, auditors and larger customers now expect you to prove your controls are in place. Before anything else gets funded, confirm your budget covers these basics:
- Endpoint detection and response (EDR) on every computer and server, so threats are stopped as they happen. Traditional antivirus alone is no longer enough.
- A security operations center (SOC) watching the alerts. Detection only helps if someone responds, including nights and weekends. Our SNAP-Defense service pairs AI-driven monitoring with people in the SOC.
- Advanced email security. Many attacks still start in the inbox, and filtering built for today’s phishing catches what basic spam filters miss.
- Security awareness training and phishing simulations, so your team recognizes the attacks that do get through.
- Immutable cloud backup, including Microsoft 365 data, stored where ransomware cannot reach or encrypt it. Budget for regular test restores too; a backup nobody has restored is a guess.
If you are not sure which of these you already have, that is the first thing to find out. Our managed security solutions page covers how each one fits together.
Budget for a penetration test and fix what it finds
You cannot budget well for weaknesses you do not know about. A penetration test shows where an attacker could get in from the internet and how far they could move once inside your network. When we run these tests, we keep finding the same problems across very different businesses: default passwords on routers and printers, firewalls running outdated firmware, forgotten computers still connected to the network, and administrator credentials written on sticky notes.
A full Pegasus penetration test covering internal and external testing typically runs $3,600 to $5,400 for one site, including a retest within the year to confirm the fixes worked. Set aside a second, smaller amount for the remediation work the report recommends. Our complete guide to penetration testing explains the process from start to finish.
Retire Windows 10 before it costs you twice
Windows 10 reached end of support in October 2025, which means no more free security patches. Any Windows 10 computer still on your network is a known weak point unless you are paying Microsoft for Extended Security Updates. That program cost $61 per device for its first year, and the price doubles each year, so year two runs $122 per device. If you still have Windows 10 machines, replacing them is almost always the better use of that money. Put them at the top of your hardware list.
Replace aging firewalls and switches before they become the way in
Many businesses replaced their old computers and forgot about the equipment that connects them. Firewalls, routers and switches run around the clock, and once they reach end of life they stop getting security updates. Outdated firewall and switch firmware is one of the most common findings in our penetration tests, because the vulnerabilities are well documented and easy for attackers to look up.
Review the age and support status of every network device, and budget to replace anything approaching end of life or maximum capacity. While you are at it, look at how remote workers connect. A VPN extends your network to every laptop that uses it, so those devices need the same patching and protection as the computers in your office.
Set AI rules before your employees set their own
AI is now part of daily work for most teams, whether or not the company has approved it. That creates two budget items for 2027. The first is protection. If your business offers no approved AI option, employees will find their own, and company data can end up in tools with none of the guardrails you need. Attackers are also using AI to write more convincing phishing emails, which raises the stakes on the email security and training covered above.
The second is opportunity. Used well, AI and automation take tedious, error-prone work off your team’s plate and give you capabilities you could not staff before. Either way, governance should be part of every AI decision. A few questions to answer before you roll anything out:
- What data can the AI tool access, and what can it change?
- Where is human approval required?
- How are its decisions reviewed, and how are mistakes caught before they create risk for your clients?
Many Microsoft 365 plans already include Copilot Chat, which gives employees a secure, sanctioned place to start before you pay for anything else. When you are ready to go further, learn how we approach automation and AI for businesses, including the governance that comes with every project.
Tighten who can access what
Some of the most effective security improvements cost very little. Revisit the principle of least privilege, which limits each person’s access to what their job requires. No one should use an administrator account for everyday work, shared logins should become named accounts, and multifactor authentication should be turned on for every account, especially email, remote access and administrator logins.
Old data belongs on this list too. Files nobody has touched in years still carry risk if they are breached. Cleaning out outdated data and securely deleting what you no longer need reduces both your exposure and your storage costs.
Check your Microsoft 365 plan with security in mind
Microsoft raised commercial prices on July 1, 2026, and existing customers move to the new pricing at their first renewal after that date, so many businesses will see the change in 2027. Microsoft 365 Business Standard went from $12.50 to $14.00 per user per month, and Business Basic went from $6.00 to $7.00. Business Premium stayed at $22.00.
That narrows the gap to Business Premium, which adds advanced threat protection, device management and conditional access controls. If you are paying separately for security tools that Premium already includes, your renewal is a good time to compare.
Leave room for projects and changes elsewhere in the business
The surprises in an IT budget usually start with decisions made in other departments. Before you finalize, ask your leadership team about 2027 plans: new hires, new software or cloud services, an acquisition, a new or relocated office, or more people returning to the office. Each one can bring new devices, licenses, network changes and security coverage. And if you use a managed IT provider, check what the agreement excludes, such as onsite visits, after-hours support or migration projects, so you can plan for those costs up front.
Schedule a 2027 IT budget review
The best IT budgets get revisited every quarter, with a clear view of your security posture, your hardware lifecycle and your upcoming renewals. If you have never had that kind of review, 2027 is a good year to start.
Pegasus Technologies helps businesses across southeastern Pennsylvania plan, secure and manage their technology from our offices in Kennett Square, Media, Wayne and Bethlehem. To schedule a 2027 IT budget review, contact us or call 610-444-8256.
