Ah, a new year, a blank slate ready to record the hopes and dreams for 2026. But as we all know too well, wishing is not a strategy, particularly with IT. You set goals for the future of your business in the new year; similarly, you need to set objectives for IT in 2026. But, where do you begin? Start your 2026 IT plan with a comprehensive IT infrastructure review that follows a thorough year-end checklist. Then you can budget for those key upgrades and new technologies that make those IT wishes become reality.
IT Infrastructure Review
First, gather the staff who will conduct the review; include key individuals from your internal IT department. An external auditor can bring an unbiased perspective, and a project manager can manage the review. As a small to mid-sized organization in the Chicago area, you may not have these individuals in-house. Consider enlisting the help of a Chicago IT infrastructure consultant to conduct the year-end review. Working with other professionals in a managed IT services group, the consultant can also help your organization implement the resulting plan.
What are key elements of an IT infrastructure review?
- Documentation and Compliance: Are your IT policies and procedures current? Do all assets (hardware and software) appear on your current inventory? Review your incident response plan and evaluate your compliance with any applicable regulatory requirements. Update the roles and responsibilities of your internal IT team.
- Network Infrastructure: Have you updated routers, switches, and firewalls, ensuring they are configured securely? Are your VPN and remote access effectively monitored and secure? Review your bandwidth usage; business growth in the past year may demand greater capacity from your network.
- Servers, Workstations, End User Devices: Ensure all updates and patches have been applied to your operating systems. Are you effectively tracking resource utilization, i.e. CPU, memory, and storage usage? Have you confirmed the reliability of your virtual machine backups?
Your team depend on their workstations and devices; your review should ensure those assets are updated and secure. Does your system use endpoint encryptions? Have you implemented Mobile Device Management (MDM), a system that enables IT departments to secure, monitor, and manage all mobile devices in an organization?
- Software Applications: Are your software applications updated and supported? Do any unauthorized applications reside on your system? Your review should also identify new software tools that support your strategy for business growth.
- Storage and Backup: Can your current storage systems accommodate your need for backup? Have you tested your backups for recovery and ensured your Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity Plans are documented, tested, and effective?
- Security: Cybersecurity is dynamic, addressing the continuing evolution of IT threats. A year-end review must evaluate and ensure firewalls and anti-virus software applications are implemented and up to date. The checklist should examine the effectiveness of patch management as well as access control policies. And, as mentioned earlier, you should establish endpoint protection for all your employees’ devices.
- Monitoring: Log retention policies must be defined; confirm you are keeping system logs and following retention policies. Have you configured alerts to warn you of potential infrastructure issues? And, is your team regularly reviewing logs to catch any suspicious network activity?
- Maintenance and Training: Your checklist should ensure hardware maintenance schedules exist and are followed. What is the status of your current warranties and licenses? Does your Help Desk and ticketing system support your Service Level Agreement (SLA)?
Human error remains the greatest risk to the security of your IT infrastructure. Do you regularly conduct cybersecurity training? And, how well do you educate your employees on the variety of software tools you offer? The year-end review should ensure your staff can use these applications efficiently and effectively.
IT Upgrades Budget
Preferably, your IT team has a seat at the table when you hold your business planning meetings. Your annual budget should anticipate IT hardware replacements and upgrades. Additionally, plan financially for new software tools. Are you continuing to host your own servers and data storage? Speak with a cloud migration services consultant to learn the benefits of cloud computing and budget for the conversion.
IT Emerging Technologies
Is it time for your organization to take advantage of emerging IT technologies? Artificial Intelligence (AI) can now augment your Helpdesk support and ticketing tasks. You might associate blockchain with cryptocurrency, but it is actually a type of database organization that stores data as decentralized blocks linked using cryptography. While blockchain differs from traditional databases, it can store a variety of transactional information. Cloud computing brings cloud-based resources to your organization on-demand.
5G network wireless technology has emerged, providing greater speed and increased capacity over fourth generation 4G. Quantum computing supports problem solving using massive amounts of data; edge computing improves efficiency by collecting, processing, and storing data closer to its source rather than in a localized location. In addition, your organization may benefit from advances in robotics and the internet of things (iOT), enabling devices and systems to collaborate and make autonomous decisions.
Planning for 2026 should include IT development strategy for the new year. And, that plan must evolve from the results of a comprehensive IT year-end review. Sound daunting? Performing an effective review and developing an IT plan that fits your budget and supports your business goals requires the focus and expertise of various individuals. Partner with an IT management services group like JMA Consulting who can do a thorough review of your IT infrastructure and create a plan for growth in 2026. Their experts know the IT landscape and can recommend and implement the upgrades and new technologies to support your business for the coming year and into the future.