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Time for an Annual Technology Checkup!

by David

Part One - Infrastructure and Security "An apple a day keeps the doctor away." "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure." These familiar old cliches speak to the value of precautionary measures. In the 21st century, innovative, effective technology infrastructures form the backbone of today's small businesses, enhancing business operations. When this core is strong, your business is well postured for success, but when the structure is weak, crippling effects are felt across your operations. The beginning of a new year is an excellent time for a small business to review its technology infrastructure and prepare for another year of operations. A proactive annual technology checkup can allow you to monitor your infrastructure against your expanding business needs, assess your network security, plan for disaster recovery, and determine your business's capacity planning. This week, let's focus first on reviewing your core infrastructure and security. Infrastructure Success for most small businesses relies on proper operation of their core technology infrastructure. Infrastructure is defined as any technology critical to daily operations. For most small businesses, the core infrastructure includes the network, servers, and voice systems. To prevent business disruptions, this infrastructure must be well designed and maintained, all while keeping a close eye on the bottom line. The following are some tips and questions to consider as you review your business's core infrastructure: Design A small business network infrastructure should be designed to keep pace with the growing needs of the business. Even the best designed networks need to be reviewed to see if they are keeping up with the business. When reviewing the network it is best to have a technology professional create a network diagram showing the "big picture," meaning the entire core network infrastructure in a single view. A small business should use this information to identify strengths and weaknesses and to start planning future upgrades and projects. Basic items in your infrastructure design review: - What does our infrastructure look like today, and what will it look like in the future? - Does our business benefit from our technology infrastructure? - How can our business better capitalize on new trends in technology? Maintenance Contracts It is important to have and maintain good maintenance contracts on your business's core technology infrastructure. Often, the beginning of the year is when these contracts are up for renewal. Business owners should carefully review these contracts and modify them for new systems brought online in the past year and remove those systems that are no longer critical. Basic items in your maintenance contracts review: - Who is responsible for each critical infrastructure? - Are maintenance contracts in place for critical infrastructure? - What maintenance contracts can be canceled or modified? Security Technology systems represent the core of most business operations. Everyone knows it is imperative to secure business computers and networks. Security solutions for most small businesses consist predominately of commercial firewalls and antivirus software. Security problems arise for small businesses when they fail to audit and subsequently upgrade these important systems on a regular basis. These outdated security capabilities ultimately end up becoming a liability for your small business. The following are some tips and questions to consider as you review your security systems: Antivirus Software It's important to regularly check the status of the antivirus software and verify it is operational on all computers and servers. If your small business has more than 20 computers on its network, you should consider using an antivirus server to allow centralized control of the antivirus software. In addition, an antivirus server will enable a business to audit the status of the antivirus software and to verify computers and servers are up-to-date. Basic items in your security antivirus review: - Is the antivirus software up-to-date, and has the manufacturer provided frequent virus updates? - Is the antivirus software installed on all laptops, computers, and servers? - Is the antivirus software set to automatically scan all files on the computer(s)? Firewalls Firewalls, when configured properly, are one of the best ways to secure a network. However, when firewalls are not optimally configured, they only provide an illusion of security for your small business. For a small business with complex firewall access policies (i.e. internal e-mail servers, remote access, VPNs) it is extremely important to regularly audit the firewall policies to make sure they are providing the appropriate level of security. In addition, IT management within your small business should fully understand the policies enabled on the firewall, understand why they are present, and understand what they do. Basic items in your security firewall review: - Is the firewall software up-to-date? - Is the support contract with the firewall vendor current? - Have the firewall access policies been audited or reviewed by management? Part Two - Disaster Recovery and Capacity Planning

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