Your business’ IT environment is a lot like the body’s skeletal system. It’s the conductor that orchestrates the flow of your day-to-day operations, allowing you to provide valuable services to your clientele. When your IT skeleton, or foundation, is strong and healthy, it supports all of the processes you rely on and you don’t even realize it’s there. Emails are coming in and out, the software responsible for getting your mission-critical project off without a hitch is humming away, and your data is right at your fingertips.
Wouldn’t it be nice if your computers and network stayed like this all the time?
Just like keeping your body healthy and well supported by taking preemptive steps in your best interest, your IT environment needs the same love and care to perform the way you would expect it to. We want to see your IT needs met, and really WOW you with the way it performs, so we’ve put together a little “cheat sheet” to get your network needs on the right track. And, don’t worry if these steps seem too techy. While it’s important to stay informed on what keeps your network healthy, we offer various management plans to meet and maintain your IT needs for you.
Workstation Checkups
Whether your office has four computers or forty, keeping your workstations running smoothly is imperative to your productivity’s well-being. Here’s a few quick tricks to give your computers some supplementary speed and security:
- Give your computer room to breathe! If your computer’s storage space is packed tighter than sardines in a can, you can bet on seeing some major delays. Try removing some of your old programs or bloatware to make a major dent in your computer’s “clutter.”
- Make sure your data isn’t at risk for digital crime. Staying safe on the world wide web is an increasingly daunting task. It’s been said that the best offense is a good defense, so make sure each workstation is running a high quality anti-virus program that’s watching your back on the net.
- Make sure your software is up to date. Every month, Microsoft releases a series of patches on their famous “Patch Tuesday” geared at providing your machine with both security and performance updates. Staying up to date is a lot like getting your flu shot—not only will you stay protected from the latest bugs, but you’re a lot more likely to keep running smoothly when you’re not a risk!
Network Maintenance
Just like getting a yearly physical, it’s equally important to make sure your business’ network is running well, and that if there is an issue, it’s caught early enough to avoid any major downtime. When disaster strikes, it’s important to be prepared, but the truth is most IT disasters can be avoided with a few simple precautions.
- Keep your Firewall up to date. Think of your firewall as the security guard at the front of your office. This device is making sure that all the traffic that comes in and out of your company is legitimate and secure. Making sure the firmware on this device is up to date is similar to making sure that your network “security guard” has the latest training on how to keep your data safe and sound.
- Give your servers a “tune up.” Servers are a lot like the brain of your network. They’re incredibly important instruments that process all of the complex functions we don’t even realize are in place, like giving you the ability to access Quick Books data or even browse the Internet! Making sure everything is running well here ensures the rest of your network can operate the way you expect it to.
Keeping your network healthy is a big task, and we get that. That’s why it’s important to have your friendly neighborhood IT professionals make sure everything checks out okay and intervene early enough on potential “gotchas” to avoid major downtime or data issues down the road. IT Radix is here to make IT work for you.
First published in our January 2017 IT Radix Resource newsletter
