Sandton, October, 25, 2021 - A comprehensive IT Audit will determine your exact IT requirements by highlighting what is missing or unnecessary and at risk. In the process, your company will gain insight into exactly how much money it can save by implementing the right solution. Don’t let the thought of conducting an IT Audit make you apprehensive. This audit is really a Business Technology Review aimed at helping you to save costs and is not meant to penalise you or your company in any way.

Poor IT infrastructure can result in severe negative impacts on your company, including its bottom line. While most businesses consider the initial upfront costs of an IT setup, they fail to consider the ongoing maintenance and support needed. Westech offers well-priced monthly IT maintenance contracts known as IT Service Level Agreements (SLA) to meet your IT needs.

Hidden IT Factors That Cost Your Business Money
Upfront IT costs will include obvious things such as the hardware, software and licensing, but less obviously, issues such as outdated software may have an impact on some programmes resulting in them no longer working on the latest Operating System (OS). Although it may be a relatively simple issue to resolve, it involves employee downtime, and this downtime, multiplied by the number of employees in your company, may soon add up to costs that could have easily been avoided.

Another example is the ripple effect that an IT outage can have on a company – especially if backups fail due to outdated data recovery activities. In instances such as these, it is better to be proactive rather than reactive.

Importance of Regular IT Audits
Being proactive means conducting regular IT Audits to ascertain your company’s monthly IT spending details and reducing complexities by standardising software and company IT configurations. It is also vital to evaluate your IT security to determine how effectively your company is protected against viruses, hackers and other IT threats.

A professional technical and technology review of your company’s IT environment covers many areas. The following summarises the most important Key Performance Areas that should be examined to uncover the full extent of your company’s IT strengths and weaknesses.

• Active Directory
• Applications
• Backups
• Email
• Infrastructure
• Licensing
• Network
• Ransomware
• Security
• Servers
• Workstations

Once an IT Audit has been conducted, it is suggested that regular and practical IT training for employees be conducted.

Why You Should Consider Outsourcing Your IT Services
If your company does not have a large or dedicated IT department, there are reliable IT companies that can be cost-effectively outsourced, such as Westech in Johannesburg, South Africa, that will provide pivotal IT functions such as;

• IT Technical Support
• IT Data Backup and Recovery
• IT Security
• IT Storage through offsite servers

An experienced outsourced IT service provider is an efficient way for companies to access reliable IT infrastructure and has many benefits.

Westech, one of the preferred IT companies in South Africa, can be contacted to conduct an IT Audit to help determine your company’s current and required IT status. Furthermore, as one of the best IT companies in Johannesburg, Westech offers well-priced monthly IT maintenance contracts known as IT Service Level Agreements (SLA) to meet your needs.

Contact Westech to conduct a full background check on your IT infrastructure, hardware, and software to ensure the best IT support specific to your business. Once the audit is complete, Westech will provide you with a detailed report which will enable you to improve your company’s overall IT strategy.

Since the start of the Covid pandemic, the number of cyber-attacks on companies, banks, municipalities and other large institutions has increased. The most recent attack against the Transnet port authority affected container terminal operations and disrupted cargo movement. It was highlighted in the media as unprecedented since it was the first time the integrity of the country’s maritime infrastructure had ground to a halt. It is envisaged that similar attacks across Africa and the rest of the world will most likely continue to increase in both number and severity.

What is Cyber Fraud?

This type of fraud pertains to criminal activities over the internet or via email. It includes the crimes of identity theft, hacking, phishing and other scams to attempt to defraud or take advantage of victims. These victims can be individuals or companies. Cybercriminals use the information they illegally obtain for their own financial gain, and there are concerns that the money is used to fund terrorist activities.

What are the Types of Cyber Fraud?

Both individuals and companies need to understand the basic types of cyber fraud. Cybercriminals use several different strategies to commit fraud, including:

• Data breaches. This is when sensitive or confidential information is stolen from individuals or companies and moved from a secure location to an unprotected environment.
• Malware. Malicious software is used to damage or disable devices with the intent to steal personal or sensitive data.
• Ransomware. This prevents users from accessing their own critical online information and is then held ransom in return for payment to restore it. Usually, ransomware is delivered via phishing attacks.
• Phishing. This has caused many victims to be fooled into sharing their personal, financial or login details through email or other online messaging services.
• Denial of Service. This interrupts online traffic to a business service or network for purely malicious intent.
• Business Email Compromise. This is a highly sophisticated attack that compromises legitimate email accounts, causing businesses to make unauthorised payments.
• Credit Card Scams. Although there is a broad awareness of these types of scams, they continue to lure victims with “too good to be true” deals, where victims end up unwittingly divulging their personal details to criminals.
• Cybercriminals are highly inventive, and the list continues with online dating scams, lottery scams, and Nigerian Prince scams.

How can you Protect Yourself or Your Business Against Cyber Fraud?

Besides training yourself and your employees to recognise possible cyber threats, it is essential to remain vigilant and use common sense to avoid being exploited.

It is also vital to install the necessary technology at every touchpoint to prevent cyber-attacks as far as possible, and conduct regular IT security audits.

Take This Mini IT Security Audit

• Do you have an anti-virus on your server and workstations?
• Do you have threat protection on your email?
• Do you have a firewall with analyser software?
• Do you have email archiving?
• Is your critical data backed up off-site?
• Does your current IT Company control your network, or do you?
• Is your security monitored efficiently, and do you know when you are being hacked?
• Is your server locked down (do users have free reign to everything on your server) sufficiently?
• Are you secure from an internal point of view? Your biggest threat is your internal users because they have no concept of what they are doing.

If you answered “no” to even one of these questions, you need to upgrade your IT security and urgently!

Westech undertakes in-depth IT security audits and quickly implements the necessary products and services.

Contact us to limit your immediate risk, improve network security and prevent cyber-attacks.

If you want to be recognised as an IT leader in your field, you need to thoroughly understand what your company does and why a constantly evolving IT strategy is necessary. This process will require support from the company Executives as well as a financial commitment. Relationship-building and communication skills are vital for an IT Manager to align their IT strategy with the company’s ultimate goals and, in the process, provide sustainable value for it to maximise their Return On Investment (ROI).

Nevermore than before has Information Technology advanced so rapidly. This can, in part, be attributed to the responses to the current pandemic, which necessitated a rapid technology change. However, there are several other contributing factors causing CIO's to re-examine their IT strategies, thanks to changing customer behaviour and expectations.

Remote Working
Globally, more users than ever before were required to work from home during the lockdown that followed the pandemic's emergence. Previously non-technical users quickly adjusted and became adept with the latest computers and software applications. This, in turn, created a need for better remote-friendly technology that included both hardware and software.

Cost-Cutting
In July 2021, the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs raised its global growth projections as the global economic recovery gained strength but expressed concern that these growth prospects would still be limited in many developing countries. However, the damage had been done. Many companies all over the world were forced to retrench staff or close their doors. One outcome of the efforts to save costs and jobs was a dramatic increase in using open-source software.

Social Media
Social media has proved that it is not a frivolity simply for teenagers, and the lockdown supported this view. Business people and consumers discovered that many different platforms provided the ability to communicate and stay connected, resulting in the uptake of platforms such as Zoom Meetings and MS Teams. Companies also realised how quickly a poor customer experience could be communicated to a broad audience, with unlimited ramifications.

Environmentally Friendly IT
A looming trend is Green IT, which aims to use computers and other IT infrastructure in an environmentally friendly manner by using less natural resources to run a company more responsibly. These natural resources range from the raw materials needed in manufacturing hardware to the power required to run computer systems.

Cloud Virtualisation
Scalable cloud solutions and applications are becoming more popular due to the virtualisation of servers, the ability for better collaboration, increased security in a world where cyber-security threats are growing, and a global drive to lower costs all around.

Data Management
In a competitive world, knowledge is integral to business success as it allows business leaders to leverage their most important assets to create additional value for the company. In addition, the collation, analysis and distribution of pertinent data can foster important innovation.

A company’s IT strategy needs the involvement of all stakeholders in the business to survive, and it must be flexible enough to reflect a thorough understanding of its clients’ behaviour dynamics under all circumstances. Although this comes at a price, underestimating the link between a flexible IT strategy and the value of customer behaviour in the business can be a costly mistake.

Westech is a highly experienced IT support company that has been servicing all major business sectors across South Africa since 1994. They understand that the business world is unpredictable and offer flexible IT service level agreements for on-site and remote support.

Westech has a highly experienced team who use, supply and support the latest in IT technology. Whether you are looking to outsource your IT, for advice on your IT strategy or for hardware and software, contact Westech for a professional IT service.