The Beginner’s Checklist: IT Services Ripe for Outsourcing

In today’s technological landscape, having a robust IT security system in place is no longer considered a luxury, rather a necessity.

Protecting your data from online breaches and hackers are threats that cannot be taken lightly. Security lapses can disrupt normal business operations and have been known to lead to financial losses in the worst case scenarios.

Having the right experts to advise you on IT security matters can be your best defense against any untoward incidents that come with a compromised IT infrastructure.

 

The First Time Outsourcer

 

The main reason business owners turn to outsourcing is to cut costs primarily, but it shouldn’t be your only deciding factor. Going for the first contender or the lowest bidder without thoroughly identifying your needs can be disastrous in the long run—not to mention a waste of time, money, and effort.

Taking the time to choose the right outsourced IT experts can offer not only reduced staffing costs but also add new capabilities to your current IT infrastructure. You can leverage on your combined capacities and expertise while giving you the freedom to focus on your core competency.

As long as you set clear boundaries and communicate your objectives accordingly, you’re well on your way to a fruitful partnership that will benefit everyone.

One way to ensure compliance is by seeing to it that everything’s written down on paper or documented online, whether they are Confidentiality Agreements, Service Level Agreements (SLA), guidelines, contracts, emails, and the like. This way, everyone can read from the same page, and you’ll have documents to go back to ensure that agreements and objectives are met.

In many cases, businesses are not comfortable putting a significant task such as security to an outsourcer because they want to maintain some form of control over their data, their infrastructure and their processes.. While it’s a valid concern, there have been numerous strides through the years that address this issue. For instance, outsourcers must adhere to strict quality standards, especially if they work in industries like finance or healthcare, which involve sensitive data.

There are services offering hybrid models, where you can maintain a measure of control on certain aspects of data while allowing the less critical ones to be handled in the public cloud, VPNs or via remote access.

Technological advances have allowed almost limitless possibilities when it comes to IT security service outsourcing options. High-speed broadband networking and cloud technology have opened doors in the realm of security when it was once limited to brick and mortar locations.

Here are a few of the numerous IT services that you should consider outsourcing to a reputable provider.

 

1. Vulnerability Assessment or Scanning

These services are a good starting point for companies wanting to gauge the amount and level of security that their IT system currently has. Whether on a large scale or small scale basis, this is a good way to check if your current infrastructure management system is up to par and can withstand attacks.

It is also one of the most widely deployed services, allowing an outsourced expert to have a critical view of your network, and to give advice and solutions for improvement.

A large enterprise might require a more in-depth assessment testing while smaller businesses might only need basic assessments.

 

2. Information Security Management Policy Development and Implementation

Infrastructure management can be costly—if done entirely in-house. Depending on your business and compliance needs, there are instances where having a full-time professional monitoring your system round the clock might not be necessary. It can also be a waste of time and resources if your IT experts can be redeployed to perform other critical tasks that will directly affect the bottom line.

An outsourcer can draw out an efficient security management policy specifically tailored for your organization and be tasked to oversee its completion.

 

3. Database Management

Security monitoring is often seen as a tedious but necessary task that can easily be deployed to a trusted third party vendor. They’ll see to it that security logs are adequately maintained, subjected to frequent reviews and quality checks, and analyzed for continuous improvement.

From the simplest monitoring jobs to the most complex tasks that include full security incident and event management, this task can be competently done by an outsourced expert.

 

4. Firewalls and Virtual Private Networks

This service has become so popular and practically risk-free that many organizations have embraced it as a fundamental foundation in securing their IT networks.

Managing your company’s firewall can be outsourced easily with the right partner, and it’s one of the quickest paths to ease the load on your IT labor and security staffing costs.

 

5. Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) Protection

IT security providers can help minimize the incidence of DDoS so that your organization’s available bandwidth and resources are optimized. They can help filter traffic and block attacks before they reach your IT infrastructure.

 

6. Computer and Network Security Forensics

An outsourced provider can filter content from entering your IT infrastructure, so that malicious or unwanted content doesn’t enter your system, or even be expunged is needed. Shared proxy servers can be used to redirect users, and compliance needs can also be addressed.

These are but a fraction of the services that can easily be outsourced to a trusted provider. Some have become so popular and commonplace that they’ve reached commodity status. Regardless of your specific IT security needs, make sure that you talk to your outsourcer and thresh out the details thoroughly.

Be specific about which parts of your organization to outsource, what the provisions are regarding backups, and the next steps to follow—should problems arise.

Do your due diligence to ensure a mutually beneficial relationship with your outsourcer, and they’ll be an invaluable source of guidance in the years to come.