It has been said that defense wins championships. That holds true not just for sports, but your business’s IT department, too. To rise above your competition and be successful, you need to know any vulnerabilities your IT systems have and how you can correct them before it’s too late. But why is it important to have a risk assessment? Keeping your systems protected will ensure your business stays profitable and your reputation stays intact. Keep reading below to find more reasons why it’s vital to have a risk assessment of your IT infrastructure.
What is an IT Risk Assessment
An IT risk assessment is a valuable tool that companies use to identify and evaluate their IT assets. To protect these assets, it’s essential to understand where a company’s network is vulnerable and its potential threats. Then an analysis can be performed to measure the impact on the company’s IT infrastructure.
After the assessment is done, companies can then map out strategies to prevent or minimize any damage that could occur should an attack happen. Let’s look at a few more reasons why it is important to have a risk assessment.
Reasons Why is it Important to Know Your Risks
- Ranking Risks – Evaluating your risks will allow your company to identify any potential risks, localize where they may come from, what they would affect, and what any possible damages could be. This then allows you to prioritize where your immediate attention and resources need to be.
- Keeps You Legal – A proper risk assessment can keep your company compliant with all regulatory bodies. Failure to maintain and protect clients’ and employees’ personal data can violate HIPAA and Personally Identifiable Information (PII) laws, resulting in significant fines and other penalties.
- Policies & Procedures – An important reason to have an risk assessment is developing policies and procedures for your business and employees. Having comprehensive policies in place outlines how your employees should safely interact with your IT systems. This creates accountability and helps to ensure data and networks remain secure.
- Protect Your Reputation – Without an assessment, you’re not only putting your company at financial risk, but you’re putting your reputation on the line as well. You can spend years working to build public trust and confidence in your business, only to have it wiped away with one breach and loss of client data.
- Get Out in Front – Knowing where your company has weaknesses and vulnerabilities allows your IT team to address problems before they arise. Prevention beforehand will enable damages to be prevented entirely or can significantly mitigate any losses.
So, why is it important to have a risk assessment? It’s going to protect your time, money, and reputation. No company can help you with your risk assessment and IT needs as Hi-Tek Data can. With over 30-years of experience serving the IT needs of the Long Island and greater New York areas, our team of industry experts can help to ensure your business stays up and running and protected 24/7.
