Any organisation that wants to succeed must maintain a healthy IT infrastructure, so doing frequent IT health checks should be at the top of your “to-do” list. If the fundamentals are neglected, SMEs face the danger of inefficiency, security risks, or even business failure.
Given the number of employees that continue to work from home, IT security is more crucial than ever. You must ensure that those working from home continue to maintain security protocols, your data is safe, and your network infrastructure remains solid.
A regular IT health check can help you save time and money while identifying areas that need improvement, giving you the assurance that your company is always functioning at its best and most secure.
Key advantages of IT health checks are:
- Increasing your company’s digital self-awareness
- Reiterating the importance of security protocols
- Preventing IT security from being relegated to “low priority” tasks
- Find weaknesses and possible issues prior to their occurrence
Being able to take a step back and evaluate how your IT infrastructure is doing is one of the hardest aspects of running a SME due to the constantly adapting and time-consuming nature of being a small business. But neglecting to take care of your system’s health might be disastrous. So, let’s look at what you can include in your business’s IT health check…
External testing
This should include services such as email servers, web servers and other systems that provide firewalls in order to check that they’re functioning at their best. Given that their function is to prevent unauthorised access via the internet into your personal network infrastructure, it’s important to keep these running!
External testing may also cover any systems that might be in place that connect staff into your network remotely, something increasingly common with the rise in hybrid or rat-home working models. These usually involve a VPN, which should also be tested.
Internal testing
This should involve the testing and analysis of your internal network infrastructure. At the very least, it should include the following:
- Construction and setup of desktop and servers, as well as network management security
- Operating system, application, and firmware patching
- Setting up solutions for remote access (including solutions for managed devices and BYOD)
- Construction and configuration of laptops and other portable devices used for remote access, such as phones and tablets
- Configuring an internal security gateway (including PSN gateway)
- Network setup for wireless
These scans aim to guarantee that your internal systems have been configured securely and are consistently being well-maintained. If they pick up on any issues, this allows you to act proactively to fix them before your business feels the potential consequences.
Would you like to find out more about how to keep your business safe? You can check out our Security or Managed IT services pages, both of which can tell you more about what we can do to protect your business. Or, if you’d prefer to speak to one of our experts about an IT health check directly you can contact them here. Still not convinced? Why not have a look at some more of the posts from our blog.
