Overlooking best practices seems a contradiction in terms. By definition, practices refer to actions we repeat until we master them. But in the busy world of IT, it’s easy to forget to practice some critical procedures. Here are some IT best practices an organization may overlook.
Employee Education
Hackers exploit system vulnerabilities, and one of the weakest links is the unsuspecting employee. Unless educated about phishing tactics, malware, and ransomware, your employees may click on a link or open an email or document exposing your system to the tricks of a cybercriminal. You can avoid a lot of pain by educating your employees regularly about these security threats.
Is your IT department overwhelmed with Helpdesk tickets? Too often businesses neglect to properly train their employees when the company adopts new software applications. As a result, these workers flood IT support with issues they could have solved themselves with proper instruction.
Backup & Recovery Procedures
How frequently does your IT team review data backup and recovery procedures? How well do they follow the plans, and how quickly can they restore your data? Not only backup procedures but data retention practices must be updated and include best practices for encrypting data.
You feel good about your backup procedures, but have you written and regularly reviewed your Disaster Recovery Plan? Cyber thieves, natural disasters, and aging hardware all pose threats to your system. But too many companies fail to gather key players to create a Disaster Recovery Plan and to review it as their infrastructure grows.
System Maintenance
Consistent maintenance protects your IT infrastructure from security issues and business continuity disruptions. Neglecting to upgrade security software, firewalls, and VPN applications encourages security vulnerabilities. Failing to apply the latest versions of your software tools degrades their usefulness.
Software ages if it’s not upgraded, but hardware degrades, too. Do you have a plan to replace outdated hardware? As a best practice, your IT team should regularly review your software licenses and status of your hardware – servers, desktops, laptops, and phone system.
Business Strategy
Organizations often neglect to include IT when developing their business strategies. More than just a tool, your IT infrastructure should support your strategy. IT should have a seat at the table when you are planning for growth.
Many organizations overlook these best practices because they simply do not have the time, the IT manpower, or the expertise to address them. If this is your situation, consider contracting with IT managed service providers (MSP) like JMA whose professionals remain current on best practices and can handle them for you.
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