Maintaining a healthy IT system is a continuous team effort–one that can not be left to the IT department alone. It’s a shared responsiblity that requires a continuous consciousness and education throughout an organization, championed by IT.
Information systems and reliable computers are must-have requirements in this age of business reliance on technology. When you implement a reliable IT system, you can maximize profits and easily achieve your company’s set targets. Every entrepreneur seeks to solve the problem of how to implement IT systems that run smoothly and promote business in the best possible way.
From the perspective of an IT provider and an expert in the information technology field, the greatest Achilles heel for any business entity is the lack of proper implementation of information systems. Recent statistics show inadequate information system implementation as the primary downfall of even the largest companies. The following core IT system health check tips should be on every company’s priority list to achieve a well-managed IT system.
Keep a Keen Eye on IT System Security
Security is essential to information systems, and involves among other things, network security, computer security and Internet security. Breaching a company’s security is a simple matter for hackers when your safety measures are not in check. For your business to stay safe, the following practices are a must.
- Install a fully licensed virus scanner able to detect malware, worms and viruses that infiltrate the systems through the Internet, unsecure networks and infected removable media such as flash disks.
- Ensure constant updates to virus scanners and computer software to counter the latest network threats and viruses.
- Enable and continuously monitor built-in computer firewalls to shield the operating systems from viruses and network threat.
- Employ a qualified computer technician and network administrator to control all computer systems and network equipment.
- Perform regular system monitoring and reporting to identify security gaps before they become issues.
These tips are mandatory if you want to guard your company’s information systems against viruses and network threats. Some good examples of secure antivirus software include Microsoft Security Essentials, Kaspersky and e-Scan among others.
Perform regular backups
Any business entity can come to a sudden halt when the computer systems crash. Your company can incur considerable losses and other serious implications including data loss, customer dissatisfaction, and confusion. Performing regular backups ensures that you have a data restore point in such situations. Having a good server and other external storage mechanisms such as a hard drive can aid in data backup. Nowadays, many companies adopt the cloud storage technology so that in case all the physical data storage mechanisms fail, the cloud storage readily acts as a restore point. Setting up automatic backups at regular intervals is the best way to deal with data problems.
Only Genuine Essential Software
Today, many people fall prey to cheap and readily available “free” software that may not be secure for use in a business environment. Such software has many security loopholes that expose the company’s data to hacking, identity theft and virus attacks. It is important for any given business to adopt safe, industry standard and approved software to run on its computers. You will save a lot of pain when you spend a few bucks on authentic, protected, secure software from reputable companies and vendors, instead of risking it all on software that have questionable origins.
Determine programs that draw huge amounts of bandwidth from your computers and get rid of them before disaster strikes. The simplest way to do this is through the add/remove feature in the control panel that helps uninstall such applications.
Perform Software and System Maintenance Regularly
Regular maintenance practices such as disk defragmentation and software updates ensure that your computers run efficiently. Schedule a monthly or weekly defragmentation process to keep all files in a single working unit. When you have a genuine operating system, you can set automatic updates to allow the operating system get essential updates fixes from the manufacturer.
IT system maintenance for your servers and databases is also necessary for keeping your IT system up-to-date and secure. Although, this is one of the most critical components for maintaining a healthy IT system, most small-to-midsize IT teams are forced to push maintenance tasks to bottom of list of priorities due to an overload of immediate IT tasks. An outsourced IT vendor can help supplement some of the reporting and monitoring needs needed to prevent security vulnerabilities and system crushes.