Do you find IT Policies and Procedures to be an exciting topic? No? That is why most small and midsize business don’t ever develop and document them. Unfortunately, not having IT Policies and Procedures can lead to problems in the future.
When properly developed and implemented, IT Policies and Procedures improve efficiencies and dramatically reduce business risks. And those are two things that can make policies and procedures seem a little more exciting...
So, where should you start? Here are three areas where policies and procedures can really benefit your business:
- Securing Your Network - Reduce the chance of a successful attack on your network by outlining the monthly or bi-weekly procedures your IT team undertakes. This should include anti-virus updates, software updates, and operating system patches.
- Securing Your Data - Create data security policies for users and educate them on the how and why of the policies. This combination improves compliance and reduces the risk of your business data falling into the wrong hands. Data security policies can include things like not emailing data to or from your personal email address and not storing data on a personal Dropbox account.
- Mobile Phone Data - If businesses pay monthly access fees for personal cell phones in exchange for employees using them for business, it creates ambiguity around who owns the data. It’s important to develop clear policies from the start to reduce the likelihood of conflict when an employee leaves the company.
One challenge for IT teams is a lack of experience with writing policies and procedures. If your team does not have the necessary experience, it is beneficial for the IT team to work with an outside consultant or someone on the operations side of your business that can guide them on the right way to create policies and procedures.
The time and effort you invest in policies and procedures now can save you a lot of unnecessary frustration in the future.
Developing IT Policies and Procedures
If you do not have the resources or skill set in-house to develop your IT Policies and Procedures, we would be happy to help. Skyriver IT has the experience to help you craft the right balance of restrictions and flexibility to make your Policies and Procedures the right fit for your organization. If you would like to learn more, please contact us.
