2019 is the year to make your technology a business asset if it isn't already. Sometimes, that can be easier said than done. Just like you set your new year's resolutions, however, you can set your IT goals now to implement throughout the year.

If you'd like to skip straight to a Five Nines Power Hour about utilizing your IT as an asset, click below:

Now that it is officially the new year, it's time to set your IT goals. Here's how you can set attainable goals, budget for your technology, and make your IT an asset in 2019.

SET ATTAINABLE AND MEASURABLE GOALS

To set attainable and measurable goals where you will gain the most benefit, you must first set your IT priorities. You may want to put a strong focus on your IT security, or improve your internal/external processes with specific pieces of technology. Maybe, you want to give your company a competitive edge by utilizing IT to decrease downtime. You could also put a focus on the current IT trends that drive business efficiencies such as Wi-Fi networking technology, IT automation, or updating your IT infrastructure and software.

According to the 2019 State of IT study, larger organizations (5,000+ employees) are more likely to adopt newer technology trends because of their needs and budget size. Smaller organizations, however, are trying to improve their current infrastructure and processes. Be sure to set goals that are a good fit for your organization, and focus on how you would like to see your business technology compliment organizational success. Ensuring that all goals are able to be measured and tracked is also a key component to this process.

Related: IT Strategic Planning for 2019 and Beyond

BUDGETING AND PLANNING

Goal implementation is best complimented by budgeting and planning. It may be helpful to sit down with your IT team to develop a preliminary 1/3/5 year budget plan, so you have a direction of where your business technology is headed. According to Spiceworks, the need to upgrade outdated IT infrastructures is the biggest driver of IT budget increases in 2019. With a budget plan, you will have the ability to anticipate these expenses before they happen.

After surveyed, 89% of companies expect their IT budgets to grow or remain steady in 2019. This year, smaller businesses are making significant increases to their hardware budgets, while large enterprises are increasing their cloud budgets. While both are valuable, it all depends on your type of organization. Just as you set goals that are right for your business, you must also allocate an appropriate budget plan as well.

MAKE IT AN ASSET

To make your IT a true organizational asset, put a strong focus on planning, tracking, training, and documentation when trying to meet and plan for your tech goals.

Internal IT Audit: Audit your current IT environment by determining what resources you already have, as well as what you may need in the future.

Disaster Recovery Plan: If something were to go awry, is your data backed up and secure? Take the time to develop a detailed disaster recovery plan that you can follow in the event of an emergency.

User Awareness Training: Train your users on best practices when navigating the web, or how to spot potentially malicious emails.

Consistent Strategic Planning: Take time each quarter to strategically analyze your business technology, and track the progress of your goals.

Documentation: Be sure to document everything, whether it is consistent tech issues that arise, metrics that coincide with your goals, or your month-to-month budget.

While it may seem like a lot of preparation, the more you put in to your business technology the more you will gain from it. Make 2019 your year to set and achieve the tech goals that will benefit your organization. Don't want to do it all alone? Click here.  

What does it look like when IT becomes an asset? Click below for the free Five Nines Power Hour "IT As An Asset", as we dive into IT responsibilities, service requests and security, as well as technology standards, budgeting, and IT training and knowledge.

Your organization's users interact with different IT software platforms every single day, so it's important to ensure they are not playing a role in a potential security breach without even realizing it. If software end of life schedules aren't prioritized, these breaches could happen, which is why IT software life cycles must be top of mind to increase overall up-time and eliminate any possibility of a breach.

What does end of life really mean for software? How do end of life schedules impact the security of your organization? How can you implement application dependency planning to keep IT software life cycles at the top of your to-do list?

END OF LIFE SCHEDULES AND PROCESSES

End of life schedules are inevitable, all products have a supported life cycle where they will be the most protected and work more efficiently. These end of life schedules represent a period of time when a version of a software product is no longer supported, and security is no longer actively provided, to make room for the newer available versions. Once the end of life date of a product has arrived, the provider will no longer provide security patches or updates for that version, regardless if users are still utilizing it. Companies such as Cisco, VMware, and Microsoft release software end of life dates typically 18 months ahead of time so organizations can plan and budget for these changes.

When analyzing an entire IT environment, it's important to be prepared to transition with these end of life schedules. How can you prepare for potential upcoming changes? Start by mapping out all of the business critical software platforms that are in use, and keep a documentation of them so you know exactly what your organization's IT environment is working with at all times. Using this list, refer to the websites of any vendors used to figure out any deadlines that you must be aware of and keep an inventory of deadlines. Not only does this help you and your IT team to budget changes to your IT infrastructure ahead of time, it also allows your organization to be out in front of any security risk.

SECURITY RISK

If you don't prioritize the life cycle of your IT software, there are significant security risks that can leave your IT environment exposed and vulnerable. According to Security Scorecard, out of 349 breached companies analyzed, 58% were found using products that had exceeded their end of life dates. A potential breach in your organization's IT security could occur if IT software life cycles aren't taken seriously. End of life dates are important to keep in mind, because products don't immediately shut down once end of life is reached. The application will still work the same, but you will be vulnerable to exploits, and the software provider won't create any new patches to fix these potential security risks.

APPLICATION DEPENDENCY PLANNING

Application dependency planning helps manage all changes within an IT infrastructure, including changes regarding IT software life cycles. It's all about tracking how everything cohesively works together through an application within an operating system. This planning looks to see how applications can update and run within an operating system, making sure the entire application ecosystem is compatible. Tracking how everything cohesively operates helps to manage budget creation, timelines, and allows IT teams to make recommendations during quarterly planning. Working through these IT software requirements within an IT ecosystem helps to gather processes that can be used to benefit and support the entire environment, not to mention keep it protected in the process.

All in all, prioritizing software life cycles is just another way to be sure your IT environment is running as efficiently and securely as possible. For technology to support your organization in the most beneficial way, be sure to pay attention to end of life schedules and implement application dependency planning.

Want more advice on ways you can prepare your users to recognize a potential IT security breach? Click below to download our flier on Social Engineering Red Flags to share with your team!

Business growth does not happen overnight, nor does it happen without addressing what is working well and what isn't working well within an organization. The same goes for the technology that drives your business. The reality is, your technology should consistently give your organization opportunities to be more efficient and successful. In order to improve how your technology operates within your business, you must conduct an audit to ensure your documentation, processes, and overall technical strategy is aligned with your current business needs.

Here are 7 questions you should be asking when auditing your IT department or Managed Services Provider.

In order to maintain a healthy IT environment, technology standards must be completely defined and implemented throughout your organization with full executive support. If there is no immediate drive towards standardization, it may be time to begin developing standards that can drive your IT department towards standardization.

To increase forward movement when it comes to technology, everything must be documented and accounted for. Are all service requests documented in a database? Are service delivery key performance indicators (KPI's) being reviewed on a consistent basis? It's also important to ensure that all IT projects or technology change requests are being documented and are aligning with strategic growth.

Investing in the right tools to increase integration and performance levels throughout your technology is best managed by consistently monitoring the technical environment. How is performance being reported? Is automation a factor within your technical environment? If basic documentation is being collected on an inconsistent basis, a step in the right direction would be to consult with your department to begin investing in the right technology that can add to an integrated technical tool-set.

Formal documentation will help with building momentum within your IT department. Documentation helps show what is working well and what processes need to be improved. All existing processes should be documented, and compliance to process creation and documentation must be high. If your documentation is lacking, start with a basic documentation of processes, and work towards consistently updating and developing IT documentation efforts.

A focus on complying with IT security standards should be a high priority. Similar to the documentation question above, when all IT policies and procedures are documented, they must exactly reflect the documentation, and must be measured and reviewed on a consistent basis to ensure that security standards are being complied with. If there is no drive towards IT security compliance, we recommend developing a formal IT security policy to start.

Does your IT department have a formal IT budget based off of your technological roadmap? Creating an annual budget for all IT hardware, software, and operation expenses that can be budgeted for in advance will help your organization efficiently strategize when it comes to technology.

When it comes to executive-level forward planning, does your IT department have full participation in strategic efforts? Is there a technological road map that is aligned with an overall business plan on a quarterly basis? It's important to maintain a focus on forward planning within your IT department to avoid the day-to-day firefighting that derives from having no formal plan or budget in place. Technology is such a strong piece of any business, therefore it should continuously add value to the strategic pieces of the organization.

If any of these questions resonated with you, it's time to take a deeper look at each question and the IT efforts of your organization. Click below to schedule a free IT consultation with Five Nines, or to take a quick IT assessment quiz. 

Do you feel as though your IT environment is a sinking ship that you are trying to keep afloat?

Keeping your IT environment efficient is the best way to help your organization avoid unnecessary downtime.

Technical environments consist of many moving parts, but today on May Day we would like to provide you the gift of quality initial steps we believe will keep your IT environment above water, and away from signaling a distress call. Want to skip straight to our more in depth recommendations? Click below.

Replacing Old Hardware

An aging IT infrastructure can cause more than occasional downtime, which is why it's important to replace old hardware when it is due for an upgrade. The IDC found that if timely server upgrades are neglected, 39% of peak performance can be lost and add up to 40% in application management, as well as a 148% increase in server administration costs. Computers are no different, in fact J Gold & Associates concluded that companies can spend up to $1,000 per machine in maintenance and repair costs for older computers. Aside from rising maintenance costs, decreased performance, and the higher possibility of downtime, procrastinating the replacement of old hardware is also a growing security risk. If you don't replace old hardware you will be slowed down, and you will feel your IT environment begin to sink.

Backups

When it comes to your data, you don't want any of it to be stored directly within any of your IT hardware. You want your data to be on a secured company server that is maintained by consistent backups. Backup implementation varies based on the preference of the IT professional or organization, but the solution of hourly backups throughout the day has proven to have very little performance impact with almost no data loss. Why is this important? According to StorageCraft, the survival rate for companies without a disaster recovery plan is less than 10%, and 90% of businesses who lose their data due to a disaster are forced to close their doors after a couple of years. If your IT environment is sinking, consider adjusting your data backup solutions.

Maintenance

Maintenance is an intentional way to stay on top of your IT environment through routine updates, detailed documentation, and regular network health checks. It's key to pay attention to your technology and prompt your IT team to proactively address issues that could slow down or impede your technology's ability to function properly. Schedule routine update checks and be sure you are consistently replacing the equipment that is no longer functioning as it should within the technical environment.

It's not always easy navigating the technological waves that come with maintaining an entire IT environment. Taking it step by step and keeping your devices top-of-mind will save your organization time and money in the long run. Even if you feel as though your IT environment is navigating just fine, it may be time to assess your technology so you can have peace of mind.

Still feel as though you are sinking? We would love to throw you a virtual life raft by providing you with more in depth steps you can follow to keep your IT environment afloat. Download our free top 5 recommendations to avoid having to send a "Mayday" distress call by clicking below.