No one can deny that the IT department is tasked with monumentally important functions. Without an efficient and secure network, nearly every organization would fall apart. IT has to find cost effective methods to meet the needs of an organization’s users while continually researching new technologies and protecting against outside attacks. And this doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface of all the functions required of an IT department.
But what is often cited as the main problem faced by IT is the sheer number of tasks required of them and how easily this long list can overwhelm a person. In order to effectively invest in IT and enable them to provide efficient solutions, an organization must recognize and act on the major problems they face.
Significant Problems Facing IT
There’s no way one could address all the problems that IT departments face, so we have compiled a list of the most commonly cited issues.
Meeting Helpdesk Demands
Solving the day to day issues that organization members face is a vital task, but ultimately it is a huge time waster. The person who made the helpdesk request is likely stalled from completing their task because of the technology-related problem, and the IT department is required to stop value-add tasks to address the complaint. The result is a net negative for everyone involved.
While there are a myriad of helpdesk tickets, one of the most persistent are authentication issues. There are a number of common circumstances that lead to helpdesk tickets, including: forgotten passwords, password reset policies, and onboarding new device issues.
Addressing Security Threats
Data theft and various cyber attacks are a nonstop battle for IT, and overall they are not winning. There are endless accounts of organizations falling victim to ransomware, unauthorized access, and data loss. IT departments are simply outnumbered – they are only a few members tasked with defending against the entire internet of attackers and bots.
A particular vulnerability is the uptick in mobile devices used within an organization. While BYOD is a fantastic tool to give people more flexibility to complete their responsibilities, it can be a significant vulnerability.
Particularly when users work from home, they must be given a secure authentication process. Remote authentication can be tricky because it offers many opportunities for a user to be taken advantage of. Secure authentication to remote employees must be a high priority, especially with the rise in remote work due to COVID. If IT is not given the tools they need, your network could quickly become a target.
Ensuring Cloud Security
Nearly every industry is making the transition to incorporate more cloud functionality. While this is a huge benefit to efficiency and the effectiveness of an organization’s network, ensuring you have secure access to the cloud is not a simple task. The process requires numerous upgrades to both infrastructure and processes. Without the proper tools, the process of moving to the cloud can cause a lapse in security and be extremely time consuming.
Backing Up Data
Nearly every organization is going to be the target of a data breach attack, regardless of size. There are endless methods for attackers to accomplish a data breach, so the goal is to defend against as many attacks as possible. While this is the ideal, it may not be viable for small and medium sized organizations.
A good insurance policy against a potentially devastating data breach is to routinely back up your data. This can protect not only against attacks, but against system failures, accidental employee mistakes, or data corruption. While 90% of businesses do backup their data, only 41% backup daily. It’s important to give IT the tools to defend the network, but it’s equally important to support them by providing a backup.
Burnout
All these factors, as well as the countless more that could be listed, contribute to one of the largest problems faced by IT: burnout. Many IT departments are understaffed, but at the same time tasked with workloads for much larger teams.
The stress of having the entire company rely on their effectiveness can be daunting, especially when a small mistake can bring an entire organization to a screeching halt. The stress and expectations can lead to imperfect work, missed vulnerabilities, and overworking. The end result is an employee burning out and leaving.
Providing Support for IT
There is no one simple solution that will solve the problems of IT; it must be a cultural solution. Fostering an environment of support and including IT in the decision-making process are huge steps in a positive direction.
Some simple things you can do would be to consult IT on how a decision would affect them, ask them for solutions to inefficiencies they see within the organization, and consider updates to the network that incorporate efficient solutions. Each efficiency that’s implemented creates an opportunity for IT to work on valuable and productive tasks.
SecureW2 is dedicated to providing maximum efficiency in what we do. Our focus is eliminating any and all authentication woes by replacing credentials with certificates. The JoinNow onboarding solution is easy to configure and extremely user friendly, requiring only a few clicks to be equipped with a certificate. We have all the tools available to transition from credentials to certificates for authentication to Wi-Fi, web applications, VPN, and more.
Credential issues and authentication helpdesk tickets are extremely common and cumbersome for IT. Certificates allow a user to authenticate without issue for years, while credentials have to be reset every few months.
Efficient solutions like SecureW2’s add to a network and point you in a direction of modernity and preparedness to face any outside threat. Making the decision to add solutions like those provided by SecureW2 demonstrates support for making your IT department effective. Check out our pricing page to see if our solutions can support IT in your organization.
