In the current technological landscape, businesses are moving more and more data and content to the cloud. This can take the shape of a cloud computing, virtual desktops, VoIP phone solutions, or a range of other Internet-based systems. However, with so much mission-critical company information being stored and accessed through the Internet or other virtual platforms, it can sometimes be difficult to have a complete picture of the organization's assets. For this reason, many enterprises seek to improve the visibility of their virtual resources to ensure that nothing slips through the cracks.
As a growing amount of files, applications, and other materials are migrated to virtual environments, administrators need strategies to help them maintain visibility of these items. The following approaches can help business leaders and employees stay apprised of these essential items:
Create user profiles
In order to prevent unauthorized access to and have better insight about who is connecting with sensitive materials, administrators should create user profiles for each employee. Staff members will then enter these credentials when accessing any files, applications, or information within the enterprise's systems. This way, decision-makers can clearly see who is accessing what information.
Classify data and users
Administrators should also categorize the information within the company's systems, as well as the user profiles that have been created, to increase total enterprise visibility. Bradford Networks recommends classifying data based on its risk, including assigning a higher level to information that is incredibly sensitive—like customer details or financial data—and a lower level to less important information like internal newsletters or calendars. Users can be categorized in a similar manner with a higher classification awarded to enterprise leaders that have full access to any and every sensitive resource. Typical employee users can be categorized according to their department, and guests that request network access will receive a special classification, allowing them only general Internet access. With these categorizations in place, administrators can rest easy knowing that each worker has a specific level of access and that information is categorized better for overall security and visibility.
Utilize a job scheduler
In addition to information access, administrators also need visibility over the jobs taking place under their supervision and what resources are being consumed. Many organizations these days utilize enterprise resources planning systems, which increase visibility of the enterprise processes. The benefits of an ERP increase when the company leverages a job scheduler program, too. A job scheduler ensures that decision makers always know what is taking place within their company and how assets are being utilized.
In addition, job schedulers automate IT processes, which not only adds visibility for IT administrators, but ensures that all background activities—ones that do not necessarily need manual interaction—are carried out on schedule. For instance, system updates can be automated with the job scheduler program to take place when no users need to access it. In this way, the process takes place on schedule and doesn't interrupt regular day-to-day tasks.
Automated job scheduling is one of the best ways to achieve enterprise visibility. To find out more about how this technology can benefit your business, start a free trial of Automate Schedule today.