IT resolutions for 2022

The new year is as good a time as any to review your IT set up and assess what needs to be done and what opportunities there might be for improvement. After nearly two years it’s clear that the pandemic has fundamentally changed the nature of work for many organisation – the move towards working from home and remote working has an impact on many areas of IT from security to device management and this trend seems likely to be permanent at least to some extent. With that in mind, here are the key aspects of your IT set up that we think are worth reviewing in 2022.

Make security your number one priority

It’s clear that IT security breaches are on the rise. Fraudsters have seized the opportunities offered to them by the pandemic and really run with them. There’s been a big increase in online fraud – the move to working from home, a massive increase in online shopping and a general growing reliance on the internet have all contributed to a significant increase in all kinds of IT fraud, from scam texts and calls that primarily affect individuals to phishing attacks and other attempted hacks that are targeted as organisations.

So what can you do to improve security in your organisation? I wrote about how you can avoid the most common IT security risks earlier last year and this advice still stands.

Check on your password management policies

Start by reviewing your password management policies. Make sure people are using secure passwords (and indeed that they understand what a secure password actually is). Put a stop to any sharing of credentials that might still be happening. Think about deploying two factor authentication on your systems if you have not already done so.

Make sure your applications are up to date

The new year is a good time to run through all the various applications you’re using and updating to latest versions, deploy any patches that have been released and generally review your whole set up. This is something we can help you with and indeed one of the big benefits of outsourcing your IT to a company such as Allware is that we can take care of this kind of ‘application admin’ for you, giving you peace of mind without you having to continually monitor for updates and actions yourself.

Review the digital tools you’re using to ensure they’re still fit for purpose

We blogged last year about the importance of making sure you’re using the right tools for the job and that your digital set up is fit for purpose. The new year is a great time to effectively audit your existing set up. Take a look at what you’ve got and make sure you still need everything that you have. There’s no point in maintaining and updating a tool that no one is using. Similarly have a think about whether there are any obvious gaps in your set up that could usefully be filled. Is everything ‘joined up’ the way it should be? Getting all your systems talking to each other effectively can be a great way of improving productivity and reducing costs.

Enable the mobile workforce

As I’ve already touched on, the pandemic has resulted in a switch to working from home and mobile working, both of which are clearly here to stay in one form or another. There are big benefits to be had here in terms of operational efficiencies and savings but at the same time there are risks and the process of facilitating mobile working needs to be managed carefully. Again, it can be useful to start by just reviewing your set up here. Are you using the most appropriate conferencing and collaboration tools? Are all the relevant security protocols in place? Do your staff have the training they need to be able to use the tools you’ve provided effectively? That brings me neatly to my next point…

Develop your talent

The new year is a great time to review the training needs of your team. As your IT set up becomes more complex, so your team are likely to need more support and training. The switch to mobile working has left some employees feeling like they’ve been abandoned, given the tools and expected to get on with it without any training to learn about how to use those tools most effectively. It’s a sellers’ employment market at the moment so it’s more important than ever that you hold onto the team that you have. Training has many benefits, not least of which is ensuring that your employees feel valued. Together with the productivity gains that come with making effective use of the tools you’ve invested in, training is a win win.

Talk to us about how we can help you

At Allware we help our clients with everything that I’ve talked about above. If you’d like to talk more about your own set up and how you could improve it in 2022 then don’t hesitate to get in touch.