Regularly reviewing an IT infrastructure’s performance is an important step that is often overlooked. Businesses often set up the infrastructure and only make changes as needed or if a problem surfaces. An even better approach is to identify areas of improvement before the need arises, which will allow the infrastructure to perform as efficiently as possible.
Assessments can identify opportunities to improve efficiency, reduce expenses, identify security vulnerabilities, and also make sure that the IT environment is in compliance with industry or government-related expenses. Here are some things that need to be done when assessing an IT infrastructure’s performance:
Assess the Backup and Recovery Environment
Does the IT infrastructure have a reliable and predictable away to allow for data backups? Issues surrounding data backup and recovery can cause some serious headaches for IT professionals. Having the capabilities in place for reliable backups is a good first step. Another item that needs to be determined is whether or not there is a series of protocols for employees to implement on a regular schedule. Developing the capabilities for regular backups and implementing a series of protocols for employees to follow will allow for more efficient and reliable data recover should the need arise.
Determine How Well the Network is Performing
How well the business’s network is performing has a lot to do with how productive the workforce is. Both the Local Area Network (LAN) and Wide Area Network (WAN) need to be assessed during this stage to determine if it is high performing enough to meet the needs of the business. For instance, if the workforce is BYOD friendly, the network needs to support that functionality. If many in the workforce continually change locations, the network performance needs to be robust enough to support that, as well. Defining what the network needs are can help whoever is performing the assessment determine if the network is performing at a high enough level to support all business operations.
Assess the Infrastructure for Data Storage
Another thing to assess when performing a review of the IT capabilities within a company is to also take a look at the data storage infrastructure. In some ways, this represents the backbone of the company because without an organized data storage infrastructure, it can cost the company some serious money. Do the current data storage capabilities need an overhaul? The assessment will reveal any issues that need to be addressed as well as possible solutions, such as cloud computing. Cloud storage offers businesses of all sizes a viable solution for data storage that is also cost effective.
Performing an IT assessment on the existing IT infrastructure is an important move for businesses of all sizes. The end result is that the business will have a clear idea of what needs to change in order to make things run a lot more efficiently. It can also give an idea of what is currently working, which will help when making any future changes to the infrastructure.
