Decrease Chances Of A Network Shutdown

There are many factors that can contribute to network failure, and the most common among them is human error.

Human errors are inevitable when IT processes and systems are managed by human beings, but they can hurt your company badly if they result in a severe network outage or loss of important data.

Here is a look at how you can reduce the chances of a network shutdown by minimizing human error, allowing your business to keep running smoothly….

Understanding Human Error in IT

In the context of IT, human errors refer to actions, decisions and behaviors that can compromise the quality, safety and security of computer systems.

Some examples of computer-related human errors include system misconfiguration, inadequate patch management, disclosure of information due to incorrect email addresses, loss of computing devices, leaving computers unattended, using personal mobile devices to connect to a company's network, use of easy-to-guess passwords and default passwords, and sharing passwords with other people.

A serious network problem is usually not caused by a single human error, but an alignment of several events that occur concurrently or consecutively, or a combination of security inadequacies and human errors.

Human errors can result in a wide range of IT issues, from network outages to increased vulnerability to cyber-attacks.

According to an article entitled "How to Minimize the Risk of Human Error to Your Network Configuration", a study conducted by the Ponemon Institute in 2013 revealed that about 35 percent of all data breaches were caused by errors committed by employees and contractors.

A network shutdown or data breach can have a severe negative impact on your company, potentially resulting in data, financial or reputational loss.

How to Minimize Computer-Related Human Errors

Use Network Automation Tools

Human errors frequently occur during the process of changing network configurations, and you can significantly reduce the risk of such errors by using network automation tools. Other than reducing human errors, these tools can also increase the reliability, cost-effectiveness and scalability of your network. Additionally, they enable you to perform configuration tasks more efficiently.

Create Policies and Guidelines

The IT room is one of the places in your business premises where multiple groups of employees often work side by side, and each group may have different ways of organizing and carrying out projects and tasks. Your employees are more susceptible to making mistakes if you do not have standard procedures and guidelines for performing IT tasks. Create a user manual that includes IT-related policies, guidelines and procedures, and give a copy to all your IT employees.

Devise a Mitigation Strategy

In order to minimize the impact of human errors, you need to have the necessary detection mechanisms in place to identify them before they lead to serious problems. Some examples of these mechanisms include internal control, system monitoring, breach detection solutions and audits.

Human errors happen in every business or organization, and there is no surefire way to prevent them.

However, the tips above can help you reduce their occurrences significantly.