Strong IT practices are essential to the success of any business. Lacking IT oversight can directly contribute to computer outages, lost data, data thefts, reduced employee productivity and ultimately business losses. Many organizations struggle with the costs of IT or ignore proper practices until a catastrophic event occurs that threatens the viability of the business.
Break fix service providers, limited in-house resources, lacking tools or manpower to monitor activity do not provide the critical oversight necessary to protect the business. Extended damages can occur when routine tasks are not managed properly.
Many small to mid sized business owners do not become aware of lacking IT practices until there is a crisis. While other areas of the business may undergo risk review and mitigation, the information technology area is many times overlooked. This critical mistake can cost the organization dearly. Lacking attention and oversight of IT is unwise. Here are a few tips to help management conduct some oversight of information technology.
1. Set a strategy and framework to guide all activity and ensure an ongoing dialogue
2. Identify key company data and segment access on a need to know basis
3. Ensure that proper backups are run on a daily basis and that the data is securely stored
4. Ensure that OS updates are reviewed and applied on a regular basis. Update Antivirus daily.
5. Implement software based firewalls that control application behavior on desktops and servers
6. Implement outbound filtering on network layer firewalls
7. Implement a web based email filtering service and content filtering service for web browsing
8. Control the use of personal devices for remote access and remote desktop programs like LogMeIn
9. Baseline and monitor the availability, performance and security of your environment ongoing
10. Conduct regular third party reviews of IT practices, business processes, and compensating controls
Most important is to have the proper professionals engaged to manage the infrastructure, protect information assets, provide oversight, and reduce risk within your business. Network Management Solutions provides robust solutions, expertise and resources to complement and support your business objectives. Please contact us for further information.
Speak Your Mind