With recent events forcing us to work from home and having to brave the six-week lockdown, coming home from work feels a little less special. It’s only natural that the idea of a holiday sounds like a dream. Despite the prospect of international travel being nigh impossible for the foreseeable future, there is still plenty of reason to pick up the family, take some well-earned leave, and relax for a few days.
However there are many things to consider before you take off - and we aren't just talking about if you have enough in the bank. None quite so important as ensuring your business's IT is secure under lock and key.
With holidays playing such a crucial role in how the digital side of your business operates, having the right systems in place before you leave is crucial. This is where business continuity comes into play.
It is worth beginning with your IT plan or strategy. Things to consider are: are you on track to reaching your core goals? Is migrating to a cloud provider a possibility? Have you done this already? And for worse case scenarios, do you have access to your data? Do you have backups in place? With all this in mind are there any tasks you need to priortise to ensure your business's IT meets industry security standards?
Speaking of backups, when was the last time you backed up your company data? Without the proper procedures in place, you could find yourself working on outdated data and servers. This can slow your business down to a crawl and the holiday will be more of a headache.
Just as important is keeping your current data and software updated. Updating software ensures stability and security to your clients, staff, products, and services, not to mention offering peace of mind for you on your holiday as we all know the true bosses you have to impress are the ones back at home.
If the office is simply too hard to get away from, and you have to take a few hours out of your holiday to handle an unexpected interruption make sure you do so securely.
Remote working in a post-covid world has been closely examined and improved upon. It has become something that many people opt-in for, and the means to do so is now vastly implemented across the board.
But this doesn't mean you can just sign on to any public WiFi available to you and be able to operate freely. To ensure business security, it is adivsed to use a VPN to remote into your office PC to tint the windows of the metaphorical limo. VPN's allow for your data to travel through the encryption tunnel and block out any unwanted paparazzi so you can be sure your data gets to the desired destination uninterrupted.
Finally, as we approach the endpoint of the year, it is important to think about what your business goals might be for the next one. Are you planning infrastructure upgrades or any other IT-centric endeavors in the next 12 months? Or are there major pulls towards digitisation in your industry? It is important to take a moment and anticipate where your business is going and where you want it to go. It is common knowledge that technology changes rapidly in the IT department, make sure you can seamlessly change with it.