Technical Support

Top Pitfalls of the Internal IT Team (and How to Avoid Them)

To handle the deluge of daily tasks, your internal IT team needs to run like a well-oiled machine. From managing security and ticket flow to conducting routine maintenance and proactive monitoring, your team requires expert efficiency to stay at the top of their game.

But all too often, common pitfalls can complicate your to-do list, creating extra work for your team. Recognizing these time traps is the first step to avoiding them—the second step is developing a fool-proof plan to avoid them in the future.

Pitfall #1: Windows 10 and the Perils of Patching

Consider this: When a new patch is released, hackers immediately swoop in to compare the update to the preexisting operating system. This helps them identify where the security loophole is—then use the information to exploit end users and corporations that are slow to patch the breach. In 2018, attackers exploited patch updates to steal valuable personal data on users and payment information. While these instances only account for 6% of the year’s total breaches, the negative consequences for those attacked are profound.

For years, Patch Tuesday helped IT teams keep track of the Microsoft® software updates. But with Windows 10, system fixes are no longer released on such a predictable schedule. That doesn’t mean patching stops being a top priority though. Managing patching is essential to safeguarding your software and machines against external threats.

The best way to avoid this common pitfall is to standardize your team’s policy for automatic Windows 10 patching. Set up alerts to update your team as soon as a patch is released—and enable broad discovery capabilities that cover your company’s entire inventory of production systems. Remember: It only takes one vulnerable computer to put your entire network at risk.

Pitfall #2: Incorrect Ticket Routing

Your internal IT team may field countless help desk tickets a day, and to maintain your high level of customer service, the pressure is on to correctly route each ticket to an expert technician. But with manual routing, there are endless opportunities for mistakes. What’s more, if your team isn’t routing tickets based on knowledgeable resources, you’re creating delays that can throw off the entire routing process—which is bad for business.

To avoid the obstacles that come with ticket routing, consider ditching manual in favor of an automatic ticket routing program. Workflow automation is quickly becoming an industry standard. As more IT teams make the switch, it’s becoming increasingly important that you do the same.

Pitfall #3: The Flaws of Manual Processes

Try as you may, human error is impossible to avoid. And in a complex IT environment, manual processes create the potential for errors that can put your entire workflow—and your system’s security—at risk.

What if a real emergency hits and your team needs to respond quickly? In this instance, the small, day-to-day IT tasks should be set aside in order to deal with the bigger problem. But if these tasks still follow a manual process, forgetting them is out of the question.

The best way to avoid this scenario is by nixing manual processes in favor of automation, whenever possible. For cases where manual is still essential, make sure the process is formalized—and that your team is fully trained to follow protocol.

Pitfall #4: Maintaining an Inventory of Assets

It’s up to you to keep your team’s project on track—but when information is owned by multiple managers and dispersed across countless spreadsheets and documents, project management can be next to impossible. And the more complex the project, the larger your inventory of assets. Talk about an organizational pitfall.

To avoid asset chaos, you need to find a solution that allows key documents, data, and configurations to be readily available to the team members that need it most. This will cut down on the time you spend pinging John for that report or chasing down Sarah for that serial number.

There are a number of solutions that allow for easy asset inventories. Many companies opt for free options, like Google Drive, to cut down on costs. But in doing so, you often lose out on optimal information security. More advanced options at a price are designed to expertly guard and intuitively aggregate assets—meaning everything is kept organized and safe.

Pitfall #5: Repetitive Admin Tasks

There are some things in life we, unfortunately, can’t avoid. Admin tasks often fall into that category. But these day-to-day to-do items, like tracking time, aren’t just tedious—they take valuable time away from other, more vital tasks. When this happens, either the admin tasks aren’t completed, or the more important responsibilities aren’t completed up to par—a no-win situation.

Ask yourself a question: Is your time really best spent making sure your techs are entering their time or tracking down that rogue endpoint? No, probably not. In lieu of hiring a full-time administrative assistant, try using a program that can consistently complete admin tasks. This way, you can focus your attention on bigger, more important projects while the tedious—but necessary—tasks get done.

Pitfall #6: More Reactive Than Proactive

As an expert IT professional, you can spend a lot of time putting out fires. System bugs, holes in security—whatever the issue, once you fall into the habit of taking a reactive approach to problems, you’re already losing efficiency. And when you’re inefficient, the end users’ productivity is plummeting.

A proactive approach to solving internal infrastructure issues is far superior, allowing you to fix infrastructure issues before they happen. The right software can help make this process that much easier; but before choosing one, consider these two key components of proactive IT problem-solving.

First, you need the ability to easily monitor and remotely control sessions. This will give you valuable insight into your team’s workflow and efficiency. Second, search for a program that facilitates system response monitoring. This will help improve your overall response time, so you’ll spend less time putting fires out. Renewed speed will also impress your end users, earning your team a reputation for efficiency.

With the right product and processes in place, your team will gain a firmer grip on proactive operations—and be more prepared to tackle reactive situations.

This article was provided by our service partner Connectwise.com

cybersecurity

Top 5 Things SMBs Should Consider When Evaluating a Cybersecurity Strategy

SMBs are overconfident about their cybersecurity posture.

A survey of SMBs conducted by 451 Research found that in the preceding 24 months, 71% of respondents experienced a breach or attack that resulted in operational disruption, reputational damage, significant financial losses or regulatory penalties. At the same time, 49% of the SMBs surveyed said that cybersecurity is a low priority for their business, and 90% believe they have the appropriate security technologies in place. Clearly, SMBs are not correctly evaluating cybersecurity risk.

Many of us can relate – each day we ignore obvious signs that point to a reality that is in direct contrast to our beliefs. For example, as each year passes, most of us get a little slower, muscles ache that never ached before, we get a bit softer around the middle, and we hold our reading material farther away. Yet, we are convinced we could take on an NBA player in a game of one-on-one or complete the American Ninja Warrior obstacle course on the first try. 

While it’s unlikely that most of us can make the improvements needed to compete with elite athletes, the same can’t be said for enterprise cybersecurity. The journey is not an easy one given the security talent vacuum, a lack of domain understanding at the executive level, and the complexity of implementing a long-term, metric-based strategy. But, if you are an SMB struggling to run up and down the proverbial court, here are five things you should consider when building a better security practice:

1.   Experienced staff are valuable, but expensive, assets. 

Although enterprise cybersecurity is a 24/7/365 effort requiring a full roster of experienced professionals, many SMB cybersecurity teams are underequipped to handle the constant deluge of alert notifications, let alone the investigation or remediation processes. In fact, only 23% of survey respondents plan to add staff to their security teams in the coming year. For many SMBs, the security staffing struggles may get worse as 87% reported difficulties in retaining existing security professionals. To fill this gap, SMBs are increasingly turning to MSPs and MSSPs to provide the expertise and resources needed to protect their organizations around the clock.

2.   Executives understand what is at stake, but not what action to take. 

As the threat landscape becomes more treacherous, regulatory requirements multiply, and security incidents become more common, executives at SMBs have become more acutely aware of the business impact of security incidents – most are feeling an urgency to strengthen organizational cybersecurity. However, acknowledging the problem is only the first step of the process. Executives need to interface with their internal security teams, industry experts and MSPs in order to fully understand their organization’s risk portfolio and design a long-term cybersecurity strategy that integrates with business objectives.

3.   Security awareness training (SAT) is low-hanging fruit (if done right). 

According to the 451 Research Voice of the Enterprise: Information Security: Workloads and Key Projects survey, 62% of SMBs said they have a SAT program in place, but 50% are delivering SAT on their own using ‘homegrown’ methods and materials. It should be no surprise that many SMBs described their SAT efforts as ineffective. MSPs are increasingly offering high-quality, comprehensive SAT for a variety of compliance and regulatory frameworks such as PCI-DSS, HIPAA, SOX, ISO, GDPR and GLBA. SMBs looking to strengthen their security posture should look to partner with these MSPs for security awareness training.

4.   Securing now means securing for the future. 

The future of IT architecture will span both private and public clouds. This hybrid- and multi-cloud infrastructure represents a significant challenge for SMBs that require a cybersecurity posture that is both layered and scalable. SMBs need to understand and consider long-term trends when evaluating their current cybersecurity strategy. With this aim in mind, SMBs can turn to MSPs and MSSPs with the experience and toolsets necessary for securing these types of complex environments. 

5.   A metrics-based security approach is needed for true accountability. 

In a rush to shore up organizational security, SMBs might make the all-too-common mistake of equating money spent with security gained. To be clear: spending not backed by strategy and measurement only enhances security posture on the margins, if at all. To get the most bang for each buck, SMBs need to build an accountable security system predicated on quantifiable metrics.Again, this is an area where SMBs can partner with MSPs and MSSPs. This serves as an opportunity to develop cybersecurity strategy with measurable KPIs to ensure security gains are maintained over time. MSPs can help SMBs define the most applicable variables for their IT architectures, whether it be incident response rate, time-to-response or other relevant metrics.

The strategic reevaluation of organizational security is a daunting task for any organization, but given the risks SMBs face and their tendency to be underprepared, it is a necessary challenge. These key points of consideration for SMBs embarking on this critical journey underscore the importance of building an accountable and forward-looking security system and highlight the ways in which SMBs can work alongside MSP or MSSP partners to implement the right cybersecurity system for their organizations. I hope this will be the wake-up call all SMBs need to unleash their inner cybersecurity all-star.

This article was provided by our service partner : webroot.com