The growth period of a business is always exciting, but it can also be an overwhelming time. Organizations need to ensure their operations can support greater demands. If their IT infrastructure is not optimized to scale, this period of transition can be more difficult.
A common business practice that indicates growth for companies are mergers and acquisitions (M&A). While there are many factors that go into M&A deals, technology and security plays a critical role. According to research from (ISC)², 63% of M&A experts say IT tools are factored in as assets while 95% consider cybersecurity a tangible asset. Optimizing your IT infrastructure will benefit business productivity, increase security and prepare your business for future growth, even if you don’t expect to be a part of a M&A.
Source: (ISC)²
Optimizing your IT infrastructure
Your organization should not just be optimized for your current business needs but also for your business plans for the next 5 or 10 years. Of course, the future is always uncertain, and many things can happen in between. However, optimizing your infrastructure for something like a M&A will help your organization get to where it needs to be when the time comes. Here are three things you can do to optimize your organization for future growth.
Audit and Assess
The first step in optimizing your IT infrastructure is to assess your IT assets and understand how they are being used across your organization. Sometimes organizations purchase software programs or applications that they later abandon or are similar to something already being used. As a result, they are potentially spending a lot on licensing fees on services they aren’t even using/don’t need. It’s important for organizations to gain visibility into their infrastructure in order to understand how their IT investments work for their business.
The best way to gain visibility into your IT infrastructure is to audit and keep track of all the devices, software and apps being used and who has access. As roles change and employees depart your organization, you need to ensure that permissions are being adjusted accordingly. Taking the time to review your IT assets can help keep your organization more secure and ensure you’re maximizing your IT revenue.
Manage and Monitor
Management of your IT infrastructure is important in ensuring that all systems, software and applications are updated to the latest versions. When your IT systems are properly managed, its easier to keep track of which parts of your infrastructure need to be upgraded and ensure that your network is working efficiently. Failing to update your IT assets puts your organization at risk to security vulnerabilities and compliance regulations.
Monitoring and management of your IT assets can be overwhelming, especially if you have limited resources. In cases like this, outsourcing to a managed services provider like Jolera can help reduce IT costs and provide organizations with IT expertise. Outsourcing IT management leaves the IT issues to your service provider while you focus on your business. If you are interested in how Jolera can help you manage your IT infrastructure, contact us today.
Scale and Secure
When organizations start to grow, things can get complicated very quickly. Having an IT infrastructure that can support expansion can alleviate stress and make the process easier. The traditional on-premise IT infrastructure model makes it more difficult for organizations to scale their business due to the hassle of having to purchase, configure and integrate new equipment into their network. Using cloud technologies within your IT infrastructure ensures your organization is built to scale.
When scaling your IT environment, it’s important to ensure your organization remains secure and complaint. Encryption is key to protecting data, whether its in transit or at rest. Having IT experts who understand your business needs and security is key. Securing your IT infrastructure is important no matter where your servers reside. Protect every threat vector by integrating security solutions like our Secure IT platform. Our solutions were created to work together to ensure that organizations can layer security across their technology assets.
