New Year’s Resolution lists – they can be easy to make, but hard to achieve. Although personal New Year’s resolution lists are important, it is just as important to create a list of goals and resolutions for your company. One resolution to add to this list is: upgrade your IT! This resolution will help improve your company’s overall productivity and make a more secure and protected environment.
There are three important initiatives that can help improve IT in your company in 2018:
- Upgrade your network:
Your company depends on a strong and reliable network. When the internet is slow or there is an outage, you can’t get your work done. Therefore, the first step is to ensure you are using the right internet provider and service. One iPhone uses about 20mbps, so if your internet service only has a bandwidth of 10mbps, everyone is sharing only half an iPhone’s worth of internet.
Another easy upgrade that Hybridge recommends to all our clients is implementing a backup internet connection. Let’s say you use AT&T for your internet and they have an outage on your block that lasts three hours. That means everyone in your company will lose three hours of productivity. However, if you have a backup internet connection with a different provider, you can switch over to that and there is no loss of productivity.
The next upgrade to your network is investing in the right firewall and access points. Cisco Meraki is the top brand of firewall and access points on the market right now that can improve the reach of your Wi-Fi and protect your network. For more information about Cisco Meraki, check out our previous article "Meraki is the network solution for your business!"
If you are interested in improving your network, let us know and we can do a complimentary evaluation of your office and current network to figure out what works best for you.
- Implement Asset Tracking:
Are you unsure which device is assigned to which employee or how many devices your company owns? Implementing asset tracking can be tedious and time consuming at first, but once it is implemented, it will ultimately save you time and worry.
Asset tracking involves labeling and documenting all hardware. If you are a Hybridge client, we have already done this for you. All hardware that we onboard has a label and corresponding number. We also document the type of computer, serial number, and owner of the device. If you are interested in documenting and tracking your IT inventory, contact us today.
There are also different platforms and solutions that allow you to easily track your devices. If you are looking for a solution that provides unified management of all devices, Hybridge recommends investing in Cisco Meraki Systems Manager. This solution has many different features such as the ability to deploy software and applications to every device as well as remote wipe if a device is lost or stolen. The remote wipe capability will help protect your company’s data and files.
- Create or update IT policies:
If you already have IT policies and guides in place, make sure you annually review and update them. If you do not have policies for your company yet, you should create them this year. Internal policies will protect your company against possible legal actions and help you avoid inconsistencies. Don’t worry, Hybridge can help you with this process.
The specific IT policies you should have in place:
- Business Continuity Plan: Your company needs to have a course of action if there is an emergency or natural disaster. Your Business Continuity Plan should include an impact analysis, recovery strategies, and documentation on how to recover.
- Information Privacy and Security Policy: The purpose of this policy is to establish a general approach to information security and a plan on how to protect your company’s physical and electronic IT assets. Your Information Privacy and Security policy should include data and information classifications, access control guidelines, a password policy, and a mobile device policy.
Many companies also create the following policies:
- Data Retention and Disposition Policy
- Change Management Policy
- Security Incident Response Plan
- Risk Assessment Policy
Hybridge can help you achieve these three IT resolutions this year. If you added these to your resolution list or if you need more information, please contact us at 888-353-1763 or info @ hybridge.com.
