How to Leverage IT Service Management to Your Organization’s Advantage
Cybersecurity and IT maintenance is a game of proactive measures. If you can properly fortify your organization, you reduce the risk of experiencing an IT issue or security breach.
“Defense wins championships,” coach Bear Bryant famously said. It’s also great advice that can be applied to organizations of all sizes and scopes when evaluating their managed IT services and security measures.
In today’s interconnected digital landscape, proactive IT maintenance is not just a good practice; it’s essential for safeguarding your sensitive data and ensuring business continuity. After exploring the most effective IT maintenance tips and services companies should employ, we’ll share how to partner with us, an IT service provider in Kansas City that supports your business goals.
The Risks Are Real: What Consequences of IT Lapses
“Why should I invest in managed IT services?” This is a real question many business managers and CEOs have asked in the past. The truth is that most people don’t fully understand the value of IT security until they’ve been attacked – or worse – exploited.
An IT failure or security breach can result in:
- Lost revenue
- Unplanned company downtime
- Lost, stolen, or deleted data
- Inaccessible company networks
- Dissatisfied customers
- Website outages
- Corrupted hardware or software
- Legal and compliance issues
- Negative PR
- Loss of competitive advantage
What business owners must keep in mind is that it only takes one successful attack or IT misstep to kick off the series of unfortunate events. By familiarizing yourself with the most effective proactive measures and managed IT services, you can mitigate your organization’s overall risk.
Implement Regular Software Updates
Out-of-date software is more vulnerable to attacks and exploitation. Professional IT service management prevents this by using a robust patch management system to ensure that all software, including operating systems, antivirus programs, and applications, are regularly updated. Patching addresses vulnerabilities and strengthens defenses against evolving cyberthreats.
Prioritize Hardware Maintenance
In the world of IT, hardware can easily be compared to vehicles. The new models are sleeker, faster, have more security features, and are more advanced than their predecessors. Old hardware, on the other hand, may have performance issues and security gaps that can be exploited.
By investing in hardware maintenance using managed IT services, you ensure that all company computers and tablet devices deliver optimal performance, are compatible with essential software, and are resilient to IT failures and threats. Updates also reduce hardware replacement costs.
Secure Your Network and Wi-Fi Access
Company networks and Wi-Fi should be limited to authorized users. Unfortunately, some networks feature multiple weak points and digital loopholes, allowing unauthorized users free reign to explore data and files.
Open Wi-Fi networks are another cause for concern, as they can act as a proverbial unlocked door that any hacker can walk through unchecked.
By working with us – IT service providers in Kansas City – you can tighten up your defenses using password protection, encryption protocols, access restriction, firewalls, antivirus software, and other methods of cybersecurity.
Backup and Recovery Plans: Building Digital Safety Nets
As a company operating in the digital age, you likely have data. In fact, you may have terabytes upon terabytes of customer information, financial reports, internal communications, and proprietary data.
Imagine for a moment that all your data was suddenly gone, and you couldn’t get it back. For some organizations, this is a real IT nightmare they endured, and most of them never fully recovered. According to recent statistics, approximately 70% of small businesses close within a year of suffering a large data loss.
Whether it’s a natural disaster that crashes your servers or the result of a successful security breach, companies should always be mindful of the potential risks that threaten to wipe out their data. Businesses of all sizes can mitigate this issue by securing managed IT services that specialize in data and disaster loss recovery from Kansas City Managed IT.
Should a worse-case scenario ever unfold, our services help ensure your organization can retrieve all the valuable data you’ve accumulated over the years. This reduces your company’s downtime and returns you to the driver’s seat so that you can get back to servicing customers.
Are You Searching for Managed IT Services Near You? Contact Us for a Consultation
Preventative IT maintenance is the cornerstone of cybersecurity strategy. By incorporating these essential tips and managed IT services into your organizational practices, you can build a robust defense against cyber threats, protect sensitive data, and foster a culture of digital resilience.
However, all organizations and their IT needs are unique, which warrants a tailored approach to strategizing and implementing services and precautionary measures. Kansas City Managed IT features the resources and experience to help companies of all sizes get their IT affairs in order and foster business continuity, security, and optimal network performance, so your employees get the most out of their technology.
Contact us to kick off the conversation about which managed IT services will help support your 2024 business goals while reducing your risks to cyberattacks and other digital threats. After a brief discovery session, you’ll have all the information you need to make an informed decision about your IT investments. Call us at (816) 381-9969 or email us using the contact form on our website.