In the fast-paced world of technology, governance sounds like a buzzkill. After all, who wants to swap out innovation for compliance and control? But if you treat IT security the same way you approach physical security, then good IT governance isn't about clipping your wings; it's the safety net for your daily operations.

In the real-world …

you’d never leave the front door to your office wide open, so don’t do it to your IT systems. Easy in theory, but just think about this:

• Are you prepared if you were hacked last night? What’s your protocol? What data backups do you have? What disaster recovery plan do you have in place?

• When an employee leaves, do you block their access to all your systems – what process do you have in place? Are you conscious in your approach? Do you remove their access control to the building?

• When you hire a temp, what system access is already set up on that device? What access do they have to your information? Who’s thinking about what potential damage could they do?

• If a teacher leaves your school, do they still have access to all the systems and all the marks? They shouldn’t …

• If a child accesses the teacher’s PC, is it secure? Or can they access the school systems too? Can they block the teacher’s access? Can they change the marks?

• Do you allow staff to access their office network via their personal PC at home? If so, what controls are in place for this? Similarly, if they bring a personal device to the office, do your controls fall away or not?

• Are all the security upgrades being done on your network? Is it robust or are there loopholes? How do you know if you don’t check?

A client of ours lent a laptop to an attorney, the existing permissions provided access to their entire network of IT systems; fortunately, it wasn’t abused, but it could have been. Small business owners are often too busy running their business to think about this, what happens in your business? 

IT security has to be top of mind, it’s the business owner’s responsibility.  You have to dot your I’s and cross your T’s! The issue is that all of this takes manpower, discipline and applying your mind in a field that is not necessarily your expertise. Consistent discipline is required to execute this properly with good knowledge on how to maintain a network that’s clean and secure. Most small companies can’t afford to do this and don’t have the in-house expertise. But we do. And we can do it on your behalf, because we leverage the cost and expertise across multiple clients. If you’re interested in finding out more, let us know and we’ll have a conversation.

Wrapping It Up

Good IT governance isn’t about putting up roadblocks; it’s about making sure you have a safety net!