You can think of your IT network much like your body – it’s a big interconnected web of parts and pieces that make the entity run as a whole. And just as we have healthcheck ups and regular exercise to keep our bodies in order, it’s important to do the same for your IT infrastructure as well.
How can this be done? By running audits on your system, looking for areas that aren’t operating at full capacity, identifying areas where there may be problems in the future, and putting steps in place to prevent this. We’ve explained more on this below.
IT audits and healthchecks
Unfortunately, it can be easier to wait until something goes wrong to fix it, rather than putting the necessary steps in place beforehand. This is especially the case if everything is working smoothly at the moment; it can be difficult to see why you need to invest in something that is operating smoothly!
But prevention is always better than a cure. It makes much more sense to be proactive, rather than reactive. A smaller investment now can cost you a much larger penalty further down the line.
What does an IT audit and healthcheck entail? Here are just some of the things that you can expect:
- A full check of all of your data, and whether you can have more efficient storage
- A complete system-wide check of all hardware, software and data lines to ensure that everything is running the way that it should be
- A thorough test of your security plan to make sure you aren’t susceptible to any attacks
Alongside this, a good healthcheck will help to implement a business continuity strategy as well. Business continuity defines how ready you are for a disaster should one strike, and how capable your business critical systems are of running in the event of a disaster.
The best way to protect yourself against this is by having your most business critical services and functions hosted externally in the cloud. You just can’t risk things such as your communication or website crashing, and a business continuity strategy will ensure that your business can weather the storm of a disaster with no problems.
Are you interested in hearing more?
There were over 3.1 billion data leaks in 2016 alone, which doesn’t include any issues from any other attacks, or faulty and outdated IT equipment. Putting the proper steps in place now can help prevent you falling foul of just one of these many harmful incidents.
We offer several IT support contracts to help support the business in the way that suits you best. Perhaps you want a full managed business services package, where we manage your business around the clock. Or perhaps you just want a pay-as-you-go package, having the odd check up every now and again.
We’re keen to establish collaborative relationships with our clients, offering our IT consultancy services as we go. What’s important is that you do take steps to protect your IT infrastructure and your data from attacks, hacks or disasters. To find out more, please contact us here.
Image credit: PublicDomainPictures
