Proactive IT
When everything is working, it can be easy to assume your IT provider is doing its job. But good IT management is about more than fixing problems when something breaks. Much of the most important IT work happens behind the scenes, before an issue becomes a disruption.
Whether you work with an outsourced IT provider, an MSP, or an internal IT team, there are several things that should be happening regularly to keep your technology secure, reliable, and aligned with your business.
Here are five things your IT provider should be doing every month for proactive IT.
Patch Management
Software updates aren’t just about getting the latest features. Many updates address security vulnerabilities that cybercriminals could use to gain access to your systems.
Your IT provider should be monitoring computers, servers, network devices, and other technology for available patches and making sure critical updates are installed in a timely manner. They should also be watching for devices that aren’t updating properly and addressing those exceptions.
A monthly check should help ensure that known vulnerabilities aren’t sitting unnoticed on your network.
Security Monitoring
Cybersecurity isn’t something you check once a year. Threats can appear at any time, which means your environment should be monitored continuously.
Your IT provider should be reviewing security alerts and looking for unusual activity, suspicious logins, malware detections, unauthorized access attempts, and other indicators of potential threats. Depending on your environment, this may include endpoint detection and response, managed detection and response, email security, vulnerability monitoring, and other security tools.
The goal isn’t simply to respond when something goes wrong. It’s to identify potential problems early.
Backup Verification
Having a backup is not the same as knowing you can restore your data.
Your IT provider should be checking your backups regularly to make sure they are completing successfully and that critical data is actually recoverable. Failed backups, disconnected systems, insufficient storage, or other issues can leave businesses with a false sense of security.
Regular verification helps answer an important question: If we needed our data tomorrow, could we get it back?
Preventative Maintenance
Your IT provider should be looking for problems before they become emergencies. That can include reviewing system health, storage capacity, hardware performance, security settings, antivirus or endpoint protection, and other potential trouble spots.
You should also receive meaningful reporting. A good monthly report shouldn’t simply tell you how many tickets were opened. It should give you insight into the health and security of your technology environment, identify issues that need attention, and highlight trends your business should know about.
In other words, your IT provider should be able to tell you not only what happened, but what it means and what should happen next.
Strategic Planning
Technology should support where your business is going – not just keep up with where it is today.
Your IT provider should be helping you look ahead at upcoming hardware replacements, software changes, cybersecurity needs, compliance requirements, Microsoft 365 changes, employee growth, and other technology decisions that could affect your business.
Not every strategic conversation needs to happen every month, but your provider should be continually maintaining a roadmap for your technology and bringing important decisions to your attention before they become urgent.
IT Should Be Proactive, Not Reactive
A good IT relationship shouldn’t feel like calling a plumber every time there’s a leak. Your IT provider should be actively maintaining your environment, watching for threats, verifying that critical systems are working, and helping you plan for what’s ahead.
If the only time you hear from your IT provider is when something breaks, it may be worth asking what is happening behind the scenes.
Not sure what your IT provider is managing on a regular basis? We’d be happy to talk through what proactive IT management should look like for your business.
Reader Interactions