What is an IT Assessment and Why You Need One

Everything needs a checkup now and again. People monitor everything, from their health to the functioning of their vehicle. Nearly everyone gives the important things needed to function an occasional once over.

This concept also applies to your network. As with any machine, things can go wrong with your information technology infrastructure.

Only a year ago, data overload plagued the world’s organizations. Now, however, innovative technologies eat data for breakfast. These innovations include artificial intelligence and machine learning.

As a result, the focus has shifted to protecting data. As companies grapple with maintaining security, they must also manage new privacy regulations. An IT assessment can help you meet these challenges.

To learn more about IT assessments and why you need one, read on.

The Case for IT Assessment

There are many aspects to a successful IT framework. At the same time, your framework must focus on different levels of operation. This marriage of responsibilities is extraordinarily complex.

For this reason, many organizations hire outside consultants to conduct an IT assessment. A thorough, external IT risk assessment helps enterprises to identify their strengths. However, it also helps them to find weaknesses.

Furthermore, an expert IT consultant can uncover hidden opportunities. With their suggestions, you can boost efficiency, productivity, and revenue.

When choosing a consultant to assess your network, it’s important to find a specialist that you can trust. The consultant must have full access to your system to gauge its effectiveness.

They must analyze and test all data within your network environment. Only then can they perform a comprehensive assessment. In turn, they can help you develop a successful strategy for moving forward.

The consultant will examine several key areas. These areas may include:

• Administrative policies
• Cybersecurity
• Mobile device management
• Network applications
• Network architecture
• Server infrastructure
• Technology management

A consultant can provide you with invaluable insights. They’ll analyze the layers of your IT system in detail.

By doing so, they can find opportunities for improvement. More importantly, they may help you develop areas that can lead to new business.

A Never-Ending Sea of Threats

There is no shortage of thrilling headlines about cybersecurity breaches. Unfortunately, the government closure has resulted in increased exposure to cyber threats. Now, the critical infrastructures of public and private organizations are at great risk.

The security experts who protect the nation are temporarily off-duty. This circumstance creates an opportunity for malicious actors.

Fortunately, many organizations started implementing security-first measures before the outbreak of the coronavirus. The mandates of the relatively recent standards compelled companies to change. Already, decision-makers have embraced a security-first mindset.

Since the enactment of the GDPR, complying with the standard has been an ongoing concern. This concern makes sense.

For example, French regulators recently fined Google. The company faced a record-breaking penalty due to their data collection practices.

In a global marketplace, it’s increasingly important to comply with international regulations. Also, it makes sense for American corporations to adopt policies that align with the GDPR. Soon, legislators may roll out similar laws in the United States.

Decision-makers must create tangible goals to accomplish this task. Now is the time to start ensuring customer privacy and protection on a global scale. A managed IT assessment can help you close security loopholes and get ahead of the curve.

There Are Plenty of Issues, but Not Enough Staff

When you think of an IT assessment, it’s easy to overlook the people component of technology. As in other skilled professions, there’s a talent shortage in the IT space. However, some experts believe that this problem exists by choice rather than circumstance.

Many top companies only want IT candidates that graduated from the top ten universities. However, most of those individuals find employment at the top five companies in the nation.

When viewed from this perspective, the situation is untenable. A consultant can show you how diversification can help you find highly skilled talent in a tight market. They can also help you to find bottlenecks in the way that your company manages projects.

For example, many organizations have moved toward adopting agile management. More often than not, however, these companies underperform woefully.

As they do this, they often continue to use traditional waterfall methods in tandem. When this occurs, enterprises typically realize the worst aspects of both practices.

As an example, companies faced with this predicament will typically have a programmer work on an object. Meanwhile, the programmer will have no understanding of how it fits into a larger project. A consultant can provide you with a disciplined way to update your IT management methods.

Staying Ahead of Innovation

It’s no secret that technology is ever-evolving. One of the latest issues that concern executives, however, is multi-cloud security. Now, they must figure out how to maintain network security across multiple platforms.

Multi-cloud platforms provide organizations with many benefits. However, they also often result and incompatible and inconsistent security.

Today, it’s important to update your entire system when moving to the cloud. It’s essential to deploy cloud-friendly technology. By doing so, you can return your network to a state of comprehensive security.

Despite these challenges, most decision-makers believe that companies need to hasten digital innovation. If not, they face falling behind competitors.

Nevertheless, many companies will hesitate to change until it’s necessary. As a result, they most certainly will fall behind.

An IT risk assessment, however, can shine a light on what it takes for an organization to remain competitive. For example, an expert consultant can show you how value-based funding can help your organization meet objectives.

In recent years, more executives see the wisdom – and results – of funding projects based on how they help companies meet their goals. A consultant can help your organization to enjoy the benefits of making this transition.

Leveraging IT Assessments for Success

It can prove challenging for internal stakeholders to look at company systems objectively. When searching for opportunities, you want to make a fair assessment of your strengths and weaknesses.

However, it’s often easier for an outside interest to accomplish this task. By working with a consultant, you can keep your focus on emerging trends and running your organization.

Even if you already have an internal IT department, it makes sense to have an assessment performed by a third-party firm. A top-tier consultant can provide you with the benefit of years of experience. You can use that experience to course correct and prepare for the future.

It’s worth restating that a full IT assessment also considers the people that use the technology. The information that you gather from the assessment can help you to improve employee performance.

It can also inform you regarding the threats that your employees face. For example, a consultant may uncover the need to train your employees better to avoid phishing attacks.

An outside assessment will also show your employees that you’re serious about cybersecurity. It will motivate them to take more interest and maintaining the integrity of the company network.

An IT security assessment can help you get to the heart of your most pressing infrastructure issues. It’s immensely helpful in understanding more about areas where you can improve. By doing so, you can mitigate internal and external threats to security, productivity, and success.

Managing Today’s IT Needs

Now, companies are moving past the shock of being suddenly cast into a new way of working. Employees now work from home using a variety of technologies. Meanwhile, the IT department faces altered workflows and new challenges.

The “breaking in” period has passed. Now, IT specialists must refine their approach to managing a remote workforce. At the same time, they must work to ensure the productivity of IT personnel who must adapt to this new environment.

For weeks, system administrators and other technologists grappled with deploying remote hardware configurations. Some companies accomplished this feat by deploying proprietary laptops.

Others, however, allowed employees to use their own devices. Here, the remote rollout became more problematic. Many IT specialists have found the scenario challenging.

Some companies managed this feat by connecting each employee using remote protocols. However, this process is tedious, time-consuming, and difficult.

Furthermore, it presents a variety of security implications. For example, IT personnel must secure a range of devices as well as the company VPN and applications.

It’s a challenging time in the information space. Through it all, companies must keep customers and partners happy. An IT threat assessment can help you keep your network secure, stable, and functioning.

A Trusted Partner in Tech

Now you know more about how an IT assessment can help you boost performance and productivity, and you’re ready to make it happen.

1-800 Office Solutions is the area’s leading office equipment company. Our technology specialists understand the challenges that you face. We can help you develop the right processes to improve your organization’s workflow.

Trust 1-800 Office Solutions to provide you with IT assessment services and the critical equipment that you need. Our experts can provide you with the right tools to promote sustained prosperity in today’s workplace.

Whether you want to buy, lease or you need repairs, 1-800 Office Solutions can help you find the best options. Please feel free to connect with one of our technology experts at (800) 564-2972 or connect with us online to source the tools that you need to meet your goals.