Today the internet has become the principal part of communication, in business and social networks. If we look back 20 years and compare it with today, how we communicate and do business; most people will agree it has made life unbelievably easier.
All businesses today make use of at least one type of internet media to do business or to communicate with to their clients or suppliers.
Henk Olivier Managing Director of Ozone Information Technology solutions classified information technology in two segments, the first being internal network security, and secondly external network security.
Many enterprises businesses believe that if they have a firewall for the internet connection they are secure against IT threads. But what about your internal business threads? Employees downloading or surfing unsolicited material, infecting your network with spyware, viruses or ransom-ware. Or employees steeling intellectual property, selling it to opposition, or stealing customer base to use in their next job opportunity as clients. These are large risks especially to medium and large companies with many employees.
The question is; how do I keep utilizing technology in my business and not have a risk on employee productivity because of internet surfing and social media, or business security threads?
Statistics today show that the average time a person, between the age of 18 -34 spend on social media is around 3 hours per day. The biggest challenge for businesses is to provide employees with the necessary tools they need in the workplace to perform their tasks, but also to control employees with what they are utilizing the tools for during office hours.
With 15 years’ experience in IT security solutions, Henk Olivier has witnessed first-hand how imperative it is to create controlled structures and processes in the work place to protect the business and and to improve productivity. You need to provide your employees with the tools, but also have to ensure you have the correct limitations in place when they are using the tools.
There are many software and hardware packages today monitoring and managing internal and external business networks and managing and monitoring employees in the workplace.
- Where do I start?
- If you are a business which is not large enough to have its own internal IT department, make sure you consult a company with a good reputation. And always call references.
- Who can I trust?
- If you are a SME, make sure that the company who is going to provide your IT security is aware of the companies IT risks and normal operational risks in the business. Don’t use a company that cannot provide you with a customer signed agreement, never use a company that just works on verbal negotiations, agreements or solutions.
- How will I know if it is best for my business/network?
- Unfortunately the only way to know if it is the best solution to the business is if you don’t have any IT security breaches. Always consult more than one provider, especially for businesses with internal IT departments, get an external company to audit your internal and external IT security.
- When do I outsource, or when do I use internal support staff?
- There are many factors that can contribute to this decision, if it comes to IT security, I always suggest you use a company that specializes in IT security and cyber security.
