Modern companies can be quite complex. They use different digital technology and equipments should be perfectly secure and reliable. It is important for business owners to make sure that their technological implementations are fully reliable. Problems with reliability will cause many problems in the future. In this case, we should try to find ways to improve our overall solutions. There are techniques that we can choose to improve the overall reliability of technological implementations in our company. Overall, this should be quite easy to do. We shouldn’t be too concerned if we know that we have proper implementations. Here are mistakes that could cause IT problems in our company:
- We don’t test and measure: We could have problems if we don’t consistently test and measure implementations in our company. We should perform our own monitoring task. In general, we should employ an external consultancy or agency to test our security controls. This should be performed on a regular basis. Many companies perform penetration tests regularly on their IT infrastructure. It is actually a good idea to implement latest hacking techniques to know whether our IT system could withstand these attacks. This may sound like overkill for small businesses, but any business is equally vulnerable to hacking attacks.
- We don’t check our suppliers: Nearly all companies use equipments and supplies from 3rd party providers. This is also related to legal operations, accountancy, web hosting and IT implementations. We should make sure that our suppliers use the same consideration and care when it comes to enhancing information security. We should make sure that these providers handle their sensitive data appropriately. This is the only way that we can sure that they have full control of their IT support services. In general, we should take time to scrutinize their policies to make sure that they have secure implementations. In the end, protecting our data is our own responsibility and this would be as good as the quality of our equipments.
- We only hope for the best and don’t plan for the worst: In many cases, we don’t really have a business continuity plan. This means that most threats can really ruin our company. There are many risks that can affect our company. We should make sure that our business is able to respond appropriately should the worst scenario happen. A reliable business continuity plan should include all the high, medium and some low risks threats to our business. Each of these risks should be regularly reviewed so we will be able to meet changing operational requirements.
- We don’t know how to respond to incidences: Many business owners think that they already have the best chance of surviving IT problems, because they have all the guidelines, processes and policies, as well as excellent staff awareness and correct technical solutions. In reality, security breach could still happen and cause problems in our company. In this case, we should know how to respond to an incident. It means that we should include evidence gathering, escalation prevention and reporting points in the contingency plan.