IT will become an even greater influential force that will help your business meet the challenges of the coming year. Here are the tech-related strategies that manufacturers should adopt in 2020:
#1. Educate your employees on cybersecurity
Cyberattacks are getting worse. As a business owner, you should implement the right precautions to ensure that your company is adequately protected from these threats. Update your firewalls and anti-malware software, and don’t forget to train your workers on cybersecurity. This is because common types of cyberattacks such as ransomware and phishing are often enabled — albeit often involuntarily — by employees who don’t observe cybersecurity best practices.
Training your staff does more than increase your protection from malicious attacks. It also promotes a more positive workplace culture and may even boost employee retention. And because cyberattacks cost a lot of money, getting your workforce to help secure your company’s network and data could spare you from possible financial losses.
#2. Encrypt your emails
Most email platforms employ various measures to protect your messages, but they only amount to much once your emails are on the air. During delivery, malicious parties can snoop into your emails and access whatever sensitive data they contain, such as email addresses, telephone numbers, and client information.
Email encryption is a process that jumbles your emails’ contents and makes them unreadable to anyone but the intended recipient. It doesn’t stop electronic communications from being intercepted, but it ensures that hackers cannot find any data they can extract and use.
#3. Implement a proper patch management strategy
Some vital applications you use in your operations have vulnerabilities that hackers can exploit to access and steal your data. This is why it’s important to be proactive in regularly maintaining and patching your business applications to ensure that any known vulnerability is fixed.
If you use a lot of complex software, patching all of them at the same time can divert your focus from other important aspects of your business. In developing a patch management strategy, prioritize apps according to the amount of risk they pose should they be left unpatched.
#4. Back up your files
Creating backups that are stored in cloud-based servers minimizes the risk of corruption and gives you ready access to them after a natural or manmade disaster. This lets you get back to business as soon as possible.
Cloud solutions offered by managed services providers (MSPs) let you take advantage of expensive hardware without having to purchase the machines yourself. These are available at an affordable monthly fee and are proactively maintained by the providers themselves at no extra cost to you.
#5. Centralize your business data
Storing chunks of your business data in separate locations fosters redundancy and inefficiency. To streamline your workflow, you need centralized cloud-based storage that everyone with the right login credentials can access.
This strategy encourages your employees to collaborate and work together, breaking down ruinous information silos. It also allows you to serve your customers faster and increase your bottom line.
#6. Create a separate Wi-Fi network for guests
Giving guests access to Wi-Fi is great, but it puts your business at risk of losing your data. Some hackers take advantage of vulnerabilities in routers and the Wi-Fi network to access sensitive business information. If you must provide internet access, make sure it’s separate from your internal networks.
More than protecting your business’s data, network segmentation will improve your network’s performance by limiting the number of its users. It will also give you better control over who has access to your network, which is a positive step toward augmenting cybersecurity.
Zeta Sky provides an array of services that helps manufacturers stay on top of their game year in and year out. Discover how our IT solutions can make a difference in your business’s performance by contacting us today!
