RORY MCILROY, AND HOW TO DO AN IT INFRASTRUCTURE AUDIT…
Pounding a 43mm round white object through the heavens 550 yards to slip into a golf hole just 10 centimetres wide, takes some doing. Somehow, if you set up the basics of your golf grip, stance, aim, and posture right, spend a bit of time focusing on your short-game distance, look at improving your blade angle, along with your stance, to create a more centered strike, which leads to a better strike platform, then strategically there’s your short par 4s and lay-up 5’s to consider. And once you’ve done that 18 times, you will have played a round of golf.
There’s a lot to a game of golf. So yes, if someone who is a complete master of the game, like Rory McIlroy, offered me some tips and pointers, reviewed my game, I would be dead chuffed. Because then I’d be able to see just where significant changes could be made to improve my game.
And so, it is with IT infrastructure. Having an expert look over your system can be really beneficial to being in business these days. IT Infrastructure is one of those things that if you get it right, the benefits are just amazing. Speed, ease of use, lower costs, less downtime, more secure systems, happy workforce. An IT consultant can identify for you routing loops, poor network optimisation, are your computers running right and with in-date software, and that you’re all on the same platforms. Because if you are not, it will most certainly hinder your businesses efficiency. The more downtime your systems experience, the more it will impact on your bottom line with fixing IT problems.
An IT Audit is a great way of having someone who knows what to look for, benchmark your company’s infrastructure against industry standards. And whilst you are at it, you might also have them audit your business continuity plans, what would happen to your company if you had a complete systems failure? What are your disaster recovery plans? Just having all your files on a thumb drive, is not really the way forward.
An IT consultant can identify the gaps and suggest solutions in your business continuity strategy. How quickly you can recover with all your information and can get your business back up on its feet, may well mean the difference between a blip, and complete business failure.
What would you do? Picture it now.
A ‘Hacker’ on the golf green is an inexperienced golfer, in the IT world it means something much more serious. Cyber attacks are performed by hackers, they are the new bank robbers of the 21st century, whereby they load a malware programme onto your IT network. They can enter your IT network and basically hold your business to ransom. Now that we are all working away from the office, lots of companies have adopted remote working strategies, whereby staff are working from home.
What if one of your colleagues clicked on a phishing link, and it then installed some form of malware on your entire network? Picture 5, 10, 25, 100 staff all sitting down unable to move, because your IT network has been cyber-jacked. So, an audit will check: Is everyone in your organization protected under the umbrella of your company’s security, or not? Are you all backed-up? What protocols do have you in place?
Everyone’s using the cloud.
But are you getting the best from it? Cloud is a great way to store information but left to its own devices it can be expensive, costs can spiral if you don’t have the right cloud management plan in place, it can all get quite grim, and very quickly. Complexity, configuration and compliance are three words to watch when choosing a cloud partner, don’t let the word cheap dazzle you, because it never is.
Looking across your company’s entire IT infrastructure, it is these kinds of areas that an IT Audit can highlight. Often an audit consultant will provide their services for free, or a small charge. But within the time taken to look over your IT systems, you will learn about the effectiveness of all your security protocols, what you have left unguarded. How can I streamline my processes? What will make it better for the team? What risks do the problems found, pose to my company? An audit will provide you with a snapshot of how your system all works together or doesn’t.
I can take a message, as I can’t transfer your call.
How many times have you heard that lately? How does that make you feel when you phone a company to use their services and you can’t talk to the person you wanted?
When everyone was in the office, it was easy to transfer a call or not (if they wanted to take it that is). Now, companies are having to rely on someone taking a message and passing it on! How do your customers feel about this? There are some amazing telephony solutions out there, which will give your customers a seamless experience of your business, make sure your phone system is fit for purpose and working. If you’re deadly serious about genuine and effective remote working, there are some powerful cloud based, cost-effective VOIP systems out there that will do the job twice as well, because the competition always does.
So, imagine the IT version of Rory McIlroy coming into your company, looking over your ‘swing’. In one simple review, your IT history and how you got to where you are is all laid out. It is good to know where you’ve come from, to help you get to where you are going. Then you have a physical audit that looks to benchmark what you have against your sector best practice guidelines. Once that’s been collated, you’ll receive a report that will definitively highlight the current position of all your IT, and what you need to do next.
Yes, sometimes being audited is painful. But the upside is you’ll be able to do business better if your systems are operating 100% efficiently, and all your corporate information is safe and protected from harm. More importantly, everyone in your team will be able to work to their absolute best, and maybe even get an Eagle, thanks to Rory.