Think that IT problems won’t have much impact on your business? Think again. In today’s society, businesses are more dependent than ever on the expanding technology marketplace. Some piece of IT software or hardware is likely linked to every facet of your business. That makes you susceptible to any number of business impacts, from frustrating delays to catastrophic failures. And if it’s a security breach, you may find yourself in a whole heap of legal troubles.
Case Study: CDK Global
Last Friday, CNN posted an article about a massive computer outage at car dealerships across Canada and the US. That outage was expected to last for days. During that time, the dealerships would find themselves at a near standstill. Let’s take a deeper look into this incident:
To protect customer privacy, deals are no longer written out on paper that can be left lying around. Instead, customer information and sales data is stored on servers. In this tragic story, that data became inaccessible when CDK Global shut down their systems to protect themselves and their customers.
The true cost to the bottom line of both the dealerships and CDK Global may never be released, but it will likely reach millions of dollars.
How To Protect Your Business
This is just one example of the many instances that happen daily around the globe, and one of the few that actually gets reported to the media. In this case, the damage was caused by threat actors, but in many cases, the causes are more benign. Most are caused by a lack of planning, maintenance, and education.
The top 8 causes of technology issues affecting business are:
- Outdated hardware
- Software incompatibilities
- Missing updates and patches
- Lack of monitoring of hardware and software systems
- Lack of strategic technology planning
- Lack of technology expertise (either in-house or 3rd party partnerships)
- Lax security controls for networks, systems, and users
- Inadequate endpoint threat management
If any of these issues apply to you, the auto dealer example above should be enough of a reason to start addressing them. To minimize impacts to your business, and your bottom line, start getting the right people and partnerships in place for your business today.
If you aren’t sure where to start, or you would like a free consultation, we would be happy help get the ball rolling. Simply visit our contact us page to get the conversation started.