This time of the year makes many people want to slow down, enjoy the season and relax a bit. But for IT and network professionals, there is no rest for the weary. The network must stay up, and the data must keep moving – even if it is a holiday everywhere else. Whether or not your company stays open, there are some tasks the IT department should take a look at before beginning the new year. Here is our year-end checklist to ensure that IT departments start the new year ready to tackle all of the coming challenges.

IT network sarasota

How Many Items on This Year-End Checklist Have You Completed?

  1. Update firmware and software: Updating firmware and software is an essential task for IT professionals. This process makes sure that devices are protected against emerging threats, that bugs are eliminated, and that networks are optimized. Updated software maintains a reliable and operational networking environment.
  2. Search equipment logs for issues: Checking the equipment log should be a part of routine system management and network health evaluation. Checking logs from a single source is a recommended method to assess reported issues for criticality.
  3. Perform system upgrades: System upgrades typically prevent users from accessing network resources until the project is completed. Therefore the best time to perform the necessary system maintenance and upgrades is when fewer people are working, such as over the holidays.
  4. Retire obsolete equipment: Even if it has been upgraded, old and obsolete equipment typically needs to be moved out of production. There’s no better time than the end of the year appropriately dispose of this equipment. Keeping old equipment represents many threats: Regulatory issues if devices are lost or stolen, security issues if old equipment becomes vulnerable, and financial issues because resources are being consumed.
  5. Audit access control lists and permissions: Client devices often require authentication by multiple parties, so device audits should be performed to ensure authentication and settings allow only authorized individuals to gain access.
  6. Inventory tech assets: IT personnel has a hard time doing anything but reacting to support calls and tickets when everyone is in the office. Taking an inventory of assets is not exciting, but it is necessary and takes time.
  7. Guarantee equipment is supported by UPS: Ensuring that your network and communications stay up is vital to all of a daily company’s business processes. Redundancy is important, as downtime equals a loss in revenue. However, an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) with adequate wattage provides a necessary additional level of protection.  If your UPS is not sized correctly (or you don’t have one at all) your redundancy is useless  – so the holidays are a great time to make sure that is in place.
  8. Schedule maintenance calls and check-ups: Before embarking on the new year’s journey, make sure that all of your equipment is maintained, repaired, optimized, and reconfigured to work as well as possible after the holidays.  You may not know where vulnerabilities and blind spots are, but a technician can spot all the issues and make sure your network is in top form moving forward. Scheduling these maintenance calls prior to the holidays helps to prevent issues with your network while only a few people are in the office.

    If you are in charge of your network hardware and software, use the time over the holidays to catch up with all of the projects you’ve been putting off until later.

    Alliance IT is a managed services provider in Sarasota. We can help SMBs to optimize their networks and create a productive and resilient IT environment.