IT Consulting
IT Assessment: What it is and How it Can Help Your Business?
Technology plays an influential
role in the success of any business today. Even, organizations with minimum IT
infrastructure environments utilize multiple systems for routine operations
today. Integrating such systems with processes and people is vital for the
smooth running of the business. 47% of the business leaders also feel their
current business goals are not aligned with their IT strategy.
This also requires consistent
monitoring, management, and maintenance of IT systems. If you haven’t performed
an IT audit recently chances are high your organization has lost its growth
path and you don’t even know, That’s why performing thorough technology
assessment, taking assistance from a professional IT services provider offering IT assessment services is crucial
for you - no matter what your business size or capacity is.
Before we shed light on reasons
to use IT assessment services, lets first cover the basics first:
What is IT Assessment Exactly?
An effective IT assessment looks
at your organization’s current technology environment to identify strengths,
weaknesses, and vulnerabilities, as well as suggest methods to reach an
improved state. In order to fully monitor and analyze in-house systems with
higher complexity, outside specialists or third-party IT consultants are
recommended who are experienced in this field.
The ultimate goal of IT
assessment is to help companies get back to their best practices by optimizing
their critical systems like ERP, CRM, and more. This, in turn, helps companies
perform better while reducing risks related to compliance, security, and
governance.
The Pitfalls of Poor IT Practices
As businesses taste success and
growth, they tend to create their own IT processes and culture - which is not
sustainable in the long run. When leaders lose their attention from forming
solid business processes - the business ends up with suboptimal IT. This is
definitely not a situation you want to be in as a technology leader.
Some of the risks of poor IT
practices in businesses are as follows:
Poor security protocols
Without the right IT policies or
guidelines, employees tend to take shortcuts at work. These shortcuts
ultimately result in technology security loopholes in business. Due to employee
freeway behavior issues like poor password management, data breaches,
unauthorized access, etc. arise - which threatens the entire organization IT
security.
Productivity Downgrade Due to Old Hardware/Software
This is the most common issue
across enterprises. Employees dealing with old software/hardware are unable to
deliver their best at work, which hampers their overall productivity, despite of
working hard, desired productivity levels are not met. Hence, proper IT audits
on frequent intervals are a must.
Service Flow Disruption
As discussed, the usage of
outdated systems often leads to disruption in critical business processes,
which, in turn, increases security and privacy concerns. System crashes and
data losses are common when lackluster technology is in place and/or systems
are not updated. Over the period, these systems become riskier for the entire
company in terms of security.
Over Reliance on Self-service IT
When employees constantly fail to
deliver their tasks, they start switching towards their own IT systems or apps
for work. This is not an ideal situation for businesses as the usage of
unauthorized systems/apps increases security risks. Team collaboration, communication,
and training also get affected when enterprise software or apps are not used by
employees.
Loss of Market Position
The risk of falling behind market
competition is always there when you don’t upgrade your technology
infrastructure. The best way to identify the need for an IT refresh is by
performing continuous technology audits. To do it better than competitors, team
up with IT consulting services experts who provide technology assessment facilities
too.
How IT Assessment Services Can Help You
A good IT assessment will:
Detect Hardware/Software
Risks: An IT assessment services company will work with you to craft a
comprehensive checklist to identify potential system threats or issues,
starting from security challenges to productivity issues.
Perform Priority-based Risk
Analysis and Resolution: An IT consulting expert always tracks technology
vulnerabilities or risks on a priority basis. It helps you identify critical
areas requiring immediate attention for continuing business operations.
Create Long-term Strategy for
IT Improvement: A short term plan or quick adjustments never provide
satisfactory results in the long run. It’s important to map down a long-term IT
strategy that aligns with broader business objectives while keeping the
technology skeleton is the ideal shape without any operational
disruption.
Build Effective Disaster
Recovery Plan: Setting up an IT disaster recovery plan is important from a business continuity perspective. You don’t
want to lose important business data due to ill-prepared IT systems. Learn the
best practices for business continuity planning (BCP). An effective BCP should
cover recovery time objectives (RCV), role assignments, remote work,
communication, and more.
Appy Robust Data Security
Measures: You can identify the data security vulnerabilities through an IT
assessment in your business. Poor password policies, unauthorized access
permissions, old communication protocols, vulnerable systems, etc. can be
tracked and improved upon immediately.
Unlock Growth Opportunities:
A business-aligned technology assessment can help you identify how to utilize
your existing technology architecture and can support your employees, clients,
and partners. Controlling risks and costs is also possible by undertaking IT
check-up as it helps you find ways to improve customer experiences, business
processes, and support employee growth.
Identify Opportunities for
Cost Optimization: IT consulting services providers can assist you
in evaluating your current IT spends and the areas incurring maximum cost to
you. Things like budgeting, allocation, revenue generation, and industry
benchmarking are all analyzed to help you control IT financial costs.
Scenarios When You Should Undertake IT Assessment
The four most common scenarios
that highlight the need for an IT assessment in your business are given
below:
- When your business is looking to
transition from just an “IT company” to a value-focused, customer-oriented
brand.
- When your business is looking to
acquire some crucial IT assets from outside.
- When your business is
experiencing rapid growth or you feel like you’re outperforming your current
service levels.
- When you feel the need to carry
out a high-level, bottom-up IT review with the help of a trusted, third-party
source.
Activities to be Performed Under IT Assessment
An effective IT strategy should
align with our overall organization’s mission and goals and should be one
that’s easy to understand for everyone, including employees, senior leaders,
and IT staff.
Assessment should be conducted in
a fair and transparent manner, as well as provide in-depth insights into the
current IT environment. It should focus on three key areas:
- People - roles and organizational
structure
- Process - key services and
operational processes
- Technology - IT infrastructure,
systems, and operations
The following should be a part
of your IT assessment strategy:
- Set assessment objectives and
expectations.
- Create a project charter along
with the third-party vendor
- Analyze current IT environment
through interviews, surveys, and workshops
- Perform benchmarking analysis
against industry peers
- Conduct a gap analysis
- Identify and prioritize critical
gaps in current performance and develop recommendations
- Develop a roadmap and action plan
to create a clear pathway forward for IT
Ready to Undertake an IT Assessment for Your Business?
In a nutshell, it can be said
that businesses undertaking IT assessments are well-placed to analyze their
current technology environment and make sure that IT is moving their business
in the right direction. If you are also looking to analyze your current IT
environment for identifying growth and cost optimization opportunities, connect
with us here at A3logics.
We have 10+ years of experience
in offering reliable IT assessment services for businesses of all sizes across
industries. Our IT consultants
craft a personalized assessment strategy for you after analyzing your IT
environment against 100+ best practices. The end result is a roadmap for your
future IT success.
Drop us a line to know more about our IT assessment services.
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