Know Your IT Risks

Whether you have an in-house IT team, or have outsourced your IT needs to be taken care of by a Managed Services Provider, you need to know what the possible risks are to your business from an IT perspective. Having an IT risk checklist can help you be better prepared for an emergency.

Getting Started
In order to assess your IT risks, you need to first know your technology landscape.

• What role is IT going to play in the success of your business?
• What areas is IT currently supporting your business?
• What new roles can you foresee for IT in improving your business efficiency?
• Do you have any new technology in mind that you want to implement in the next year?
• If you have an in-house IT team, what kind of staff structure do you see in the next year?
• If you are planning to expand your in-house IT team, how many team members will you need to bring onboard and what will be the associated cost?
• Would it be more effective and efficient to hire an MSP instead to supplement your in-house IT department?
• What is your IT budget for the year?

Checklist for Your IT Risks
The next step would be to create a checklist of your IT risks.

• What IT risks are highest priority for you? For example, data privacy is a top concern for a business operating in healthcare, while phishing can be a bigger concern for an accounting firm—even though both types of businesses need to be concerned about both kinds of threats. Another angle to look into are environmental risks. For example, do you operate in a hurricane-prone area, or someplace prone to wildfires? What about extended power outages due to snow and ice? Make a list of risks most relevant to you and assess the possibility of them happening to you. Such assessments will help you arrive at the key safety measures that you need to take to keep your data safe.
• In a worst-case scenario, if an aspect of your IT infrastructure were to fail, how long can you survive before it will be difficult for you to bounce back? Maybe there are some short-term work-arounds that could be implemented, but what are their limits? Will your business be able to operate without your key IT systems working? If not, how long can you afford to keep it shut while you work on recovery?

Whether you have an in-house IT team or rely on an MSP for your IT maintenance, this exercise will help you understand your key IT goals and the possible impediments to them, and help you survive in the event of an IT emergency.