Your phone, network, email and applications are the tools your organization uses to communicate with your customers, suppliers, and employees. When you have downtime, your business loses money. Even a small business can lose thousands of dollars an hour due to downtime.
According to Infonetics Research, companies experience an average of nearly 140 hours of downtime every year, with 56% of that caused by pure outages. Applications are the biggest source of downtime, accounting for roughly one-quarter of lost revenue and productivity. Other sources of downtime are network products, security products, cables/connectors, servers and e-commerce.
Most downtime is caused by three key factors:
- Limited expertise/experience. It’s hard for one or two IT people to know it all, and the knowledge changes frequently as most organizations replace or upgrade their systems every 3-4 years.
- Reactive vs. proactive support. User satisfaction frequently takes precedence, leaving little time for important proactive measures.
- Poor IT and business alignment. Technical solutions are often implemented without an understanding of true business needs.
A few straightforward, proactive strategies will optimize your computers, networks and systems for their best possible performance, and keep your business running — ensuring that your IT operation does not fail.
1. Invest in a top-name virus protection package.
Each workstation and server should have an industry-recognized anti-virus package such as Trend Micro™ or Symantec™ installed. It is also important to configure this software to automatically download pattern and engine files directly from the Internet and to periodically check this process.
2. Use encryption if you deploy wireless within your infrastructure.
The most common mistake made when deploying wireless technology is neglecting security. Make sure encryption (at least 128bit) is enabled and access point advertising, such as SSID1 broadcasts, is disabled. Steps like this will minimize the chance someone will eavesdrop on your network, either to gain access to the Internet on your dime or to access your sensitive company data. For a business-class wireless architecture, Cisco is the leader with its Aironet® product line. Avoid D-Link® or Linksys®; these are generally designed for home use.
3. Protect your workstations with a dedicated anti-spyware/adware package.
Spyware is the silent killer for workstations. It comes in many forms and can cause varying degrees of havoc on a user’s system. This includes everything from annoying pop-up advertisements to keystroke loggers that record and distribute what is typed on a keyboard in an attempt to steal passwords. NoAdware’s NoAdware™, eTrust™ PestPatrol® and Webroot™ Spy Sweeper™ are examples of well-regarded packages.
4. Use Category 6 cable when you install wiring in support of data, especially VoIP.
Cable used to interconnect computer systems via Ethernet is divided into categories. Category 6 (commonly referred to as Cat6) meets a defined specification that insures proper performance (speed) over a specific distance. Putting in Category 5 (Cat5) or less may be appealing from a cost perspective but may inhibit the performance of your LAN and inhibit the roll-out of future applications (e.g., VoIP), requiring the installation of higher category cable at a future date. The real cost here is not the cable but the labor to install, and then at some future date, re-install the cable.
5. Set software updates to run automatically if you are a Microsoft shop.
Microsoft products are generally based on stable code. If this were not true Windows and Office would not be the de facto standard for businesses throughout the world. Having said that, all code needs to be “patched” occasionally to insure proper and secure operation and Microsoft is no exception. Devise and implement a patch management plan for your organization and live by it.
6. Perform a monthly restore test if you do tape backup.
Tape backups have been integral to IT operations for years. While using tape is widely accepted it is not enough to set up a tape drive, put in a tape, configure some software and assume all is fine. Like any mechanical device, tape drives fail on occasion and tapes are not the most robust media type. If you are performing in-house tape back-ups, do three things:
1) check the logs every day to verify the backup jobs completed successfully
2) once verified, store the tapes in an off-site location that is secure and temperature controlled and
3) perform test restores on a monthly basis. This will help validate that a restore can be completed when it is most needed, which is after a disaster.
