Integrated ICT and infrastructure provider Vox has introduced its IT Assessment Programme, which is aimed at ensuring that small and medium enterprises’ IT infrastructure is up to date and secure, and that it is maintained in line with global best practice.

“We have developed a software tool that comprehensively analyses the customer’s IT environment and then gives us an overall rating of where their infrastructure stands, allowing Vox to provide them with recommendations on how to improve,” says Barry Kemp, head of managed IT at Vox.

“This goes beyond simply ensuring that an organisation has properly functioning and maintained IT infrastructure. Cybersecurity is a growing threat for businesses of all sizes, and this programme can help ensure that they are adequately protected against attacks, and have the necessary plans and support in place to recover from an attack, should something get through,” Kemp adds.

The tool looks at four major areas, including infrastructure (wired and wireless connectivity, servers, workstations, business continuity and disaster recovery, e-mail exchanges, and more), security (firewalls, antivirus, anti-spam and other protection measures), support services (the level of IT support available, management of software licenses, etc), and — in certain cases — telecommunications (looking at the quality of voice, voice continuity, call rates, etc).

“This IT Assessment Programme is primarily aimed at small to medium enterprises, as they often cannot afford to have dedicated in-house IT resources. You might find infrastructure that was put together years ago, and has been left untouched since. Larger companies tend to have the ability to hire their own IT personnel, who ensure that IT is managed and maintained in a more structured manner,” adds Kemp.

Quarterly

While the IT Assessment Programme — the audit and recommendations — is offered free of cost to existing and potential customers, it is carried out on a quarterly basis for those companies that are Vox Managed Service Provider (MSP) customers.

“For our MSP customers, this regular assessment ensures that their IT infrastructure is maintained at a high standard. We can then develop a full road map of their IT infrastructure, and enable them to decide on what to add, upgrade or replace, depending on budget availability and other factors,” explains Kemp.

The IT Assessment Programme forms part of Vox’s broader IT Advisory portfolio that includes the Cloud Readiness Assessment, which benchmarks an organisation’s IT in preparation to migrate to the cloud. Then there is the Cyber Threat Assessment Programme (CTAP), where Vox raises cybersecurity awareness by using a firewall to help customers see how many attacks their network is subject to on a daily basis.

This test, usually lasting around two weeks, sees a firewall from Vox being installed at a company that does not have any existing solution, or in some cases even behind an existing firewall to illustrate the number of cyber threats that are slipping through their current safety net. In certain instances, while companies have firewalls, these are not configured properly, and they stand to benefit from turning to an MSP.

A further part of the programme is the Virtual CIO (vCIO), a service that can help businesses better understand the impact of technology on the organisation, plan for future requirements, improve internal efficiencies and even interview IT job positions for a business, helping them gain the competitive advantage.