Year-end IT review: what to check before January

The end of the year is a natural point to look back at your IT and plan the next twelve months. An hour or two now stops upgrades being made in a panic when something fails in March.

Here is what to look at.

1. Accounts and access

Work through every system your business uses (Microsoft 365, accounting, practice or job management software, banking) and check two things:

• Who has admin access? Only the people who need it. Every extra admin account is another way in.
• Who has left? Accounts for former staff, contractors or old suppliers should be closed. Orphaned accounts are a common way in for attackers because nobody is watching them.

2. Your policies

If your IT policies say “staff work from the office” and half your team works from home on Fridays, the policies are out of date and people will ignore them. Update anything that no longer matches how you work, then send staff a short note on what changed.

3. If something went badly wrong

Ask the uncomfortable questions:

• If the office flooded, how long until people could work again?
• If an email account was taken over, who would you call and what would you do first?
• When did anyone last restore something from backup to prove it works?

If the answers are vague, that is the plan for January.

4. What frustrates your staff

Ask your team which systems slow them down. Slow computers, a printer that jams, a sign-in that drops every afternoon. Small fixes here often give back more time than a big project.

5. Hardware due for replacement

List computers that are more than four or five years old, or that cannot run a supported version of Windows. Replacing a few each year is easier on cash flow than replacing everything when a batch fails. Our equipment requirements page sets out the standard we work to.

6. Subscriptions and cloud apps

Go through your card statements and Microsoft 365 licences:

• Are you paying for licences for people who have left?
• Are there apps nobody uses any more?
• Are staff using apps for work that nobody approved? (Free file-sharing sites, personal note apps.) Either approve them properly or move people off them.

7. What your customers see

Go through your website, contact form and phone line as a customer would. If you get stuck or annoyed, so do they.

Turn it into a plan

Write the findings into a short list for the year: what to fix now, what to budget for, what to replace and when.

Every Managed IT plan we run includes an annual IT review: a yearly check of your systems, security settings and equipment, with a quote for anything that needs replacing or fixing.

If you would like a second set of eyes, ask us about a free IT health check. Call 1800 468 379 or book a meeting.