From the December 2016 issue of HealthCare Business News magazine
• Business continuity. An important part of being secure is being prepared. At minimum, budgeting for a full-blown test of your business interruption strategy is a good idea. It’s better to know now what will happen during a power outage or other disaster than during the actual event.
• Business risk assessment. If you haven’t done a third-party risk assessment in 2016, budget it for 2017. A risk assessment will look at your business operations to determine which areas are vulnerable.
Network strategy
Since your network is the backbone of your business, it needs to function at its very best so that everything else can, too. Consider the following:
Will your business grow?
If so, will your network be able to handle more desktops, more traffic or more people working from home? Will your firewalls, anti-malware and antivirus software be able to keep up? If you’re growing, you’ll need to invest in your network.
Will you have enough bandwidth?
Shoot for an abundance of bandwidth, if possible.
Could you do better with a different (or additional) carrier?
It’s important to review your current carrier contracts and to attain competitive pricing and plans to see if your carrier is still the best choice.
Will your platforms be sufficient?
Review the different ways your company interfaces with people online. Make sure the 2017 budget covers your ability to manage all interactions securely and efficiently, including internal controls like web content filtering.
About the author: Trey Hawkins is the CTO at Leapfrog, an Atlanta-based IT company that provides expert-level managed IT services to more than 120 business and nonprofits worldwide.Back to HCB News
