INTRODUCTION
This thread is intended to give businesses a general set of guides to be used for their IT processes. The details here are taken from things I’ve seen in the IT space over the years.
DISCLAIMER
The details here are based on actual things seen. Screenshots are taken from general online resources or edited from sources. This is meant to be a general guide and not iron-clad rules. Always do your research and due diligence.
COMPUTERS
Most if not all businesses these days require computers to work. There’s a generalized guide, but it’s rather broad and more technical focused. Let’s look at a few items quickly.
DESKTOPS
Any desktop PC should do. If it’s a mini-PC or other small form factor (SFF) device, ensure that you can get parts for them locally when they’re off warranty.
Look at CPU speed, cores and threads. The amount of RAM and type of drive. Monitor the drive health periodically.
LAPTOPS
Your laptops are more difficult to upgrade, especially if it’s some of the newer models that have everything built-on. There may only be drive and RAM upgrade options - and even those may be iffy depending on the models.
AIO SYSTEMS
There are times when persons will go for an AIO (All-In-One) system. This may look like a monitor only with ports for various devices (USB, network, etc). Some of these are either very difficult to service (expensive) or have no serviceable components (all built in/soldered on).
Regardless of the system type, you need to check with your IT person to ensure it will do what is needed. For example, persons with a need for large excel files will need a mid-range CPU and more RAM to properly display all the data, rows and calculations. A lot of the sale or budget items will have larger drives or SSDs which will look attractive, but not have the other specs needed to properly open your files and be stable.
NETWORKING
This is an area that persons don’t pay a lot of attention to - or didn’t previously. This is what connects your systems and allows sharing of files, printing and access to other resources within the business. You need to ensure that your network is setup with the proper infrastructure. Yes - you can literally throw some cables up in the roof or on the ground and get an IT student to crimp some cables and connect a switch, but there’s quite a bit more to it than that. It may work when it’s half-baked, but it won’t be secure or properly structured. Some people have basic setups working for years - but all it takes is a single failure to bring the whole system down. Get it done right.
WIRELESS
This is something that people love to use. It’s convenient, but it’s not as fast as wired standards. Yes, it’s true that wireless standards have gotten close to gigabit speeds, but that’s highly dependent on the various manufacturers and the equipment available.
Looking at the chart above, while WiFi-5 and WiFi-6 theoretically support gigabit or higher speeds, this
- A – Old original standard.
- B – Next available standard.
- G – Probably the most common standard with older devices.
- N – Not too old standard which has gained traction.
- AC – Pretty recent standard which isn’t available on all devices.
- AX – The newer standard that’s still not widespread.
- BE – The latest standard.
WiFi-7 is the latest standard up to the date of this post and has a theoretical throughput of up to 46Gbps - WAY faster than the previous ones.
Even with WiFi-5 and WiFi-6, it’s hard to get the maximum throughput due to differences in implementation, differences in manufacturers and overall interference. Can it be done? Yes. It’s just difficult to get it working at the speeds you’d like. We can discuss in more detail if needed.
WIRED
Wired networks will require a physical cable to be plugged into access resources. Limits can be placed using firewall and sharing or domain policy enforcements. This can allow persons to have internet access but no internal network resource access. This can be done on both wired and wireles networks, but has to be set up by your IT person/department.
SECURITY
This is probably the dark area that some businesses avoid, but security is a major item in the IT world today. Prevention of unauthorized access is essential for both business and personal spaces - ensuring that someone doesn’t copy or delete your data is most important. If you handle sensitive data for customers, ensuring that this information is not compromised is paramount.
This includes - but isn’t limited to:
- Blocking external access to internal resources - digitally.
- Ensuring proper physical access to assets and locations - including sensitive data.
- Having password and 2FA options set up for resource access.
- Enforcing password policies.
- Reviewing access and changes.
Basically, you want to ensure that your data is safe - and if someone steals your device, they have little to no access to your data.
SERVICING
You should have general servicing/cleaning done at intervals. A minimum of once per year should do for most businesses, but this will depend on the type of equipment, duty cycle and environment.
That’s it for now. Will add more later or discuss.