As we prepare to settle into our new remote work environments, it seems as though more questions about the pandemic are being raised rather than answered. One certainty that has been revealed is the fact that businesses are able to adapt and carry forward through this adversity. Now that organizations have gained some experience dealing with life inside the COVID-19 pandemic it will be vital to go over all notes from the first few weeks in order to re-calibrate their IT strategies with a new six-month outlook.

Using hindsight, many of the companies that felt under prepared going into self isolation, now have a better grasp of what to expect heading into month two and beyond. While many things would have been planned out differently from the start, we can look ahead in anticipation to the next six months feeling much more ready.

Here are some major areas to address in your company’s six-month roadmap.

IT Road Mapping

The purpose of an IT roadmap is to develop an organization’s strategic plan for IT initiatives. In this case, any automation, migration or system upgrades will be considered with the possibility of social distancing lasting several months longer.

Goals

There are four major goals to consider when designing your IT Roadmap:

1. Adding Insight & Strategy to Your Current Initiatives- Strategically prioritizing your resources based on IT projects and IT objectives that are needed and eliminating those that are not needed.

2. Budgeting- Implement a revised budget incorporating new savings and expenditures.

3. Reviewing Your System- Identify critical items or current holes that must be addressed for the IT systems to run more smoothly.

4. Preparing for Emergency- Take inventory of the physical and technical items that will be needed in the event that further drastic action must be taken in order for all roles to be supported in an ongoing crisis.

Key Points of to Address

• System Protection – As the pandemic continues to keep workers isolated, increased security threats centered around COVID-19 are expected to continuously target remote employees.

  For organizations, countermeasures include bolstering endpoint security, ensuring employees are using secure connections and enabling MFA on all programs dealing with internal data and network connections.

  Items to Consider: VPN, Advanced Email Security for O365, Endpoint Detection Response (EDR).

• Reinforced End-User Cyber Awareness Training – Investing time and resources into cyber security awareness training should be an ongoing program throughout the duration of social distancing. All users must be updated on the changing threat landscape that has been shaped around the pandemic. Having a large remote workforce expands the company’s attack surface, so investing in prevention rather than compliance penalties and remediation costs, will be much less costly in all aspects.

  Items to consider: Cyber security awareness pre-built web-based training material, Simulated employee phishing tools, User testing reporting programs.

• Reduced On-Premise Requirements – One strategic move that could generate cost and resource savings is migrating to a cloud-based environment. If your office has not done so already, cloud-based computing can reduce reliance on servers and resources that you are investing into at your physical location. With cloud-based systems staff will be able to access files and collaborate on projects remotely with heightened security features, data protection, and recovery points.

  Items to Consider:  Virtual Desktops, Microsoft 365.

• Internal Hardware Audit - Due to global supply chain issues, availability in hardware is extremely limited and/or experiencing major delays. Now is the time to assess your future needs for critical equipment and keep extra inventory if need be. With many users enhancing data risk using insecure personal devices, providing secured corporate devices to use during the extended period of social distancing may be a wise investment.

  Items to Consider: Any Mobile, Cloud-service devices, VPN hardware, Corporate device replacements, Printers.

Need Help with Your IT Road Map?

If you’re already a happier IT client and need consultation for your revised road map, please reach out to us and we will put you in touch with your happier IT vCIO, team@happierit.com.

If you’re not yet a happier IT client, but you are interested in creating an IT Plan or have questions on your current IT Strategy, please contact, sales@happierit.com.