November 2009 / Solving Day-to-Day Problems with IT Policies
There is no shortage of headaches when it comes to IT. In fact, sometimes it may seem like every time you walk into the office there's a new problem to deal with. While not every problem has an easy fix, some of them which may seem daunting can actually be remedied fairly easily by implementing effective IT policies. In this month's Tech Brief we'll take a look at IT policies and discuss three common IT problems that can be resolved by implementing them.
Problem #1 - Administrator User Privileges
The Problem
When a user logs into their system with an account that has been granted full administrative rights, everything that they do is allowed with the highest level of authority to their local machine. This is typically perceived as "easier" since some productivity applications require rights to directories and the registry of the local machine. However, let's say they browse the Internet and go to a spyware infested site. If that site attempts to silently install something to the machine, it has explicit permission to do so with the highest authority possible simply because the user account that is logged in has these rights.
The Solution
Remove admin rights from users' machines. Just as you don't need to give your 16 year old the keys to your car, you don't need to give your users full control over their machines.
The Challenge
User complaints that they need to have admin rights to "do their jobs", such as installing printers or business productivity applications. Privileges such as these are disabled by default from a user account that doesn't have administrative rights. These can cause either real or perceived work challenges to the person that is using that machine.
The Upside to Your Business
A lot less time spent cleaning up spyware/malware-clogged machines and a lot more time doing actual business. An effectively implemented policy will include adjusting standard "user level" permissions to the local workstations on your network so that printers can be installed by users and approved applications can be installed without adding unnecessary overhead.
Problem #2 - Inventory/Asset Management
The Problem
As a business purchases more IT equipment and adds devices to its depreciation schedule, that business will find that it starts to have a lot of IT assets to manage, and most don’t have a policy in place to track them. In fact, if you were to randomly visit some small to mid-sized business and asked to see a comprehensive list of all their IT assets, most wouldn’t be able to access that information in a format that is clear, accurate and up to date. For these businesses, things such as warranties expiring become a real issue. Suddenly when they need support for a device, they find out that it’s no longer covered under warranty and nobody knew that and was alerted to it ahead of time.
The Solution
Introduce an asset management/tracking system that you can run reports from to find information such as serial number, warranty status, and resource specifications (memory, hard drive size, etc).
The Challenge
Small businesses think it’s going to be expensive to find an application that will do this, and cumbersome to implement it. But, if they find an outsourced IT provider who offers this as a service, it will be included in their monthly IT fees and you’ll receive it in addition to a variety of other services.
The Upside to Your Business
All of a sudden getting your hands on the current state of your IT assets will be as quick as running a report and handing it off to your IT resource. Better yet, your IT resource should leverage that inventory and asset management system proactively and assist you in making business critical IT decisions from accurate data.
Problem #3 - Where’s My Bandwidth?
The Problem
It seems like you’ve purchased a reasonable amount of bandwidth from your ISP, but everyone complains the Internet is slow. Even you have to admit that it doesn’t seem as fast as it once did.
The Solution
Introduce web content filtering into your environment to control bandwidth consumption.
The Challenge
Web content filtering also doesn’t have to be restrictive. For example, you can still allow users to access common web sites such as Facebook or Youtube if you choose so, but you can prioritize what applications, protocols, or web sites get the most bandwidth and reserve priority for your productivity applications. So when your sales team wants to use Salesforce at the same time someone else wants to stream a Youtube video, the sales team’s traffic to their approved site gets more of your bandwidth.
The Upside to Your Business
Your Internet will be running fast again and users will still have the ability to access sites. Remember, and internet bandwidth policy can be as general or as restrictive as you want it to be. The important thing is to control the overall prioritization of all traffic that travels in and out of your network – it’s the only way to ensure that you are getting a full return on your monthly investment into your Internet bandwidth from your business locations.
Final Thoughts….
IT policies are often viewed by small business owners and users as prohibitive because of cost or undesirable because they impose rules or restrictions within a small business environment – giving them a “big business feel”. The reality is that they don’t have to be restrictive or costly. They can allow you to do business and, once established, won’t bog you down. They can be implemented in a short amount of time at a reasonable cost, and the benefits are immediate.
At Thrive Networks we have years of experience working with clients to ensure their systems run smoothly with custom-tailored IT policies. If you have any questions about IT policies for your business, please contact us. .