Here’s a startling bit of information about cybersecurity for small businesses that everybody should know about:

Nearly 99 percent of business leaders and owners are experiencing losses and slowdowns at rapid rates because of lapses in cybersecurity. You read that right: your small business is most likely experiencing various cybersecurity attacks ranging from ransomware to denial-of-service attacks. In fact, you might even be experiencing one right now.

Now, you may be experiencing a bit of anxiety from thinking about what could possibly be hurting your business’s cybersecurity. However there’s one solution to keep everything safe: a strong Information Technology strategy.

Information Technology (IT) strategies—as simple as they may seem—are an essential component to ensuring the safety and security of any type of business. Fusing an IT strategy with your current business strategy can help tremendously with staying abreast of possible risks while concurrently forging your path to success.

Although comedy sketches and comics typically portray the IT department as a minor function that fixes computers by turning them off and on again, recent years have seen a shift in their importance. Modern business leaders and owners must enlist the help of IT experts in devising strategies for growth and change in the face of a future that yields higher cybercrime risks. In particular a tech company will need a CTO or Virtual CTO to manage the tech strategy. This includes liaising with other company executives on the overall direction of the company, ensuring there is a data protection policy in place, managing IT services and looking after any 3rd party providers.

What makes for a good IT strategy?

In essence, an IT strategy works the same way as a business strategy does: it involves the establishment of goals and of guidelines on how to achieve predetermined targets. IT strategies focus on how IT tools and techniques can be used to protect your business’s systems now and improve them in the future. One of the main goals of the strategy is to adapt to the increasing demands of cybersecurity and ever-evolving cybercrime while inducing an effective change. Any decent CTO will ensure that the tech strategy is inline with the overall mission of company.

What should your IT strategy be like?

There are several different factors that comprise a well-rounded IT strategy. Here are a few ways that you can ensure that your own strategy suits your small business’s needs:

1. Your IT strategy must be iterative

Just like a fine-tuned business or marketing strategy, your IT strategy must be revisited, re-evaluated, and revised on a regular basis to ensure that everything is up to standard. As previously mentioned, IT standards continue to evolve as a means to circumvent the rapid evolution of cybercrime operations. Your IT strategy has to keep up!

2. Your IT strategy must be aligned

For everything to work smoothly and effectively, your IT strategy must complement the strategies of other departments. This ensures that no internal obstacles get in the way. For the most part, IT strategies are never going to be profitable or effective by their lonesome. This renders the concept of inter-department synergy a vital aspect to maintain.

(Pro-tip: To ensure that your IT strategy works well with other departments in the business, get the heads of different departments onboard during your strategy meetings.)

3. Your IT strategy must be well-documented

Admittedly, IT strategies can be quite confusing to work with because of all the bits and pieces that go into creating a robust, proactive, and well-rounded plan. Every decision that you make—along with the changes that you apply—during the strategy-building process must be put in writing.

// Final words

As businesses continue to grow more dependent on technology for success, it is imperative to protect your efforts with an IT strategy that aids them. With the help of a well-rounded IT department, building an effective IT strategy can be done with ease. Make sure to get your plans underway to ensure the safety of your business! We’re a web development agency based in Sydney, get in touch with us today to see how we can help!