IT best practices are essential to company growth

A company that adheres to IT best practices will improve efficiency, information security, reliability of IT systems, and user experience, including an improved focus on the company’s mission by reducing IT distraction.

Improve IT efficiency with a proactive and standard approach to save time and money.

A proactive and standard approach to applying and maintaining best practices can help a company reduce its IT and overall company costs by minimizing the downtime that is created by reactive break/fix support issues, which keeps employee workflow limited while the issue is resolved.

By following best practices, a company can improve the efficiency of its IT systems and processes by creating faster processing times and better overall performance and ensuring a more secure environment leading to better productivity and cost savings. Time is money and when you save time, you save money!

Stronger cybersecurity means information is protected.

Adopting best practices can help a company protect its systems and data from cyber threats, such as hacking and data breaches.

Five ways that IT best practices can improve your cybersecurity:

• Stronger security measures: IT security focuses on implementing strong security measures, such as robust passwords, two-factor authentication, and encryption, which can help protect a company's systems and data from cyber threats and theft or loss of hardware.
• Regular updates: Regularly patching software and infrastructure devices helps keep them more secure by applying the latest security patches/hotfixes that protect your environment from known exploits and deprecated protocols that malicious actors use to gain access into your environment.
• Risk assessment and management: Allows a company to identify and assess potential security risks and implement appropriate risk management measures to mitigate them.
• Incident response: IT risk management best practices often include guidelines for IT incident response and security concerns, such as data breaches, which can help a company minimize the damage and get back on track as quickly as possible.
• Compliance: Many industries have specific regulations and standards that companies must follow to protect their systems and data. IT compliance best practice implementation ensures a company complies with these oft regulatory mandated requirements.

Reliable IT means satisfied customers.

By following best practices, a company can ensure the reliability and uptime of its IT systems, which is critical for businesses that rely on these systems to function correctly. Think of any time a meeting had to be rescheduled or a project pushed due to technical problems. Best practices alignment can’t eliminate that, but it will significantly reduce the time lost from faulty hardware or outdated software.

When choosing a business relationship or partnership you want the least amount of risk and liability as possible. A business that adheres to industry best practices is far more likely to have a better reputation of reliability in the market which helps attract and retain customers. At the end of the day a company that is risk-averse, reliable and runs smoothly has happier customers and employees.

How to adhere to IT best practices.

Best practices are constantly being reviewed and changed to meet current IT needs. It is essential to have an IT team member dedicated to aligning the company’s IT process to best practices and constantly evaluating tools and assets to ensure they meet standards. Many companies will choose to have a managed IT service provider champion this task.

Engaging a managed service provider to manage IT best practice alignment can provide a company with the expertise and resources to effectively manage its IT infrastructure and operations while reducing costs and risks.

Checkout my video on questions to ask an MSP about best practices.

Here are four things you should look for in an MSP:

  1.  Expertise: MSPs typically have a team of highly trained and experienced IT professionals who can help ensure that a company's IT practices are aligned with industry best practices.

  2.  Cost-effectiveness: Outsourcing IT management to an MSP can be more cost-effective than hiring a full-time IT staff, particularly for small and medium-sized businesses.

  3.  Scalability: MSPs can provide flexible and scalable IT support to meet the changing needs of a business.

  4.  Time-saving: By outsourcing IT management to an MSP, a company can free up its internal resources to focus on other business priorities.

Overall, IT best practices can help a company improve its operations and competitiveness while protecting its assets and meeting regulatory requirements. It is crucial to have dedicated staff that can address these issues or an MSP with extensive experience managing best practices.

DKBinnovative wants to help you Make the Right Choice when choosing a managed service provider. Reach out to our professionals today to discuss your IT strategy.

Nick Gunnells is a virtual CTO for DKBinnovative, he helps many companies align their IT process to best practices to support their business. He is a dedicated professional, father, and advocate for deaf awareness and foster children.