January is the only month most organisations have a little slack, and it is reliably spent on none of the things that would make the other eleven easier. Four suggestions, in the order we would take them.
One — look at the age of your hardware
Machines bought together fail together. If a large share of your fleet was purchased in the same quarter three or four years ago, you do not have an IT budget item this year — you have a queue of unplanned replacements at inconvenient moments. Spreading a refresh deliberately is cheaper than absorbing it reactively.
Two — true up your licences
Headcount changed last year. Almost nobody adjusts licensing downwards when it does. This takes an afternoon and frequently pays for something else on this list.
Three — find the documentation gap
Pick one system and ask whether somebody other than the usual person could bring it back. If the honest answer is no, that system is a single point of failure wearing a person's name.
Every environment has one thing only one person understands. January is a good month to find out which.
Four — choose one improvement, not five
Organisations that pick a single change and finish it by March are consistently better off than those that list ten and complete none. Whether it is finishing the MFA rollout, testing restores properly, or closing off old accounts, the value is in it being done rather than in it being ambitious.
If you would like a second opinion on which of the four matters most for your environment, that is a conversation we are happy to have without it turning into a proposal.