Trust is a big thing when it comes to the relationships you have with your vendors. What are the things you need to look for to ensure they have your best interest in mind? How can you be sure that they’re qualified to provide services or assess particular needs of your company?
When it comes to a managed IT services provider, how can you trust them with your company’s confidential data and information if they’re tasked to complete a network risk assessment?
If you don’t already know, the best and most qualified IT providers will run a network risk assessment before even beginning to provide services for you and your employees. A network risk assessment actually takes place before you’ve even established a relationship with an IT provider—making the trust factor that much more important.
In this article, we give you some insight into the best way you can make sure your managed IT provider keeps your company’s information safe and confidential. In all honesty, you can trust a managed IT provider—you just have to find the right one to partner with!
By the way, we’ve been in business for 20 years and have been providing office technology solutions to customers in just about every market. Our IT approach is different and is built on a trusting relationship. We’re not just a vendor, but a partner, to our customers.
What Is a Network Risk Assessment and Why Is It Important?
Just to give you a little background, a network risk assessment enables the IT provider to identify vulnerabilities and security concerns across your network. Unfortunately, many of us aren’t even aware that our networks and data aren’t safe from online hackers and cybercriminals. There are a lot of holes in the security of our network that a network assessment helps uncover.
Not to mention, this assessment can even uncover areas to increase efficiency and reduce costs in your current IT environment.
Once the assessment is complete, the IT team evaluates the results and makes recommendations to address risk and cost concerns.
An experienced and well-qualified provider will require an assessment before delivering a proposal, similar to how a doctor does an evaluation before giving a diagnosis and suggesting a prescription.
What Data and Information Are Required For A Network Risk Assessment?
Although every managed IT provider is different, we feel it’s essential for you to know the general information you’d need to provide for a network risk assessment. As an example, we are going to give you a list of what we at AIS require from our customers:
1. Signatures on the Non-disclosure Agreement (NDA) before the assessment. *Make sure to keep reading to learn more about signing an NDA.
2. Addresses and site contact information of all locations to be assessed
3. Access to the server to perform a Network Health Scan. This includes the domain server administrator username and password.
4. Scheduled time for user interviews with all key stakeholders.
5. Access for our Engineers to do a physical site walk, taking pictures of the server closet and other IT-related infrastructure.
6. A date and time scheduled for the review of findings and proposal.
Trusting an IT Provider Through a Non-Disclosure Agreement
As you can see from above, there’s quite a bit of confidential company information needed to ensure a successful network risk assessment. So, what’s the best way to trust the IT provider? The answer is almost always through a Non-disclosure Agreement (NDA).
A non-disclosure agreement is a legally binding contract that establishes a confidential relationship. The party or parties signing the agreement agree that sensitive information they may obtain will not be made available to any others. An NDA may also be referred to as a confidentiality agreement.
Using AIS as an example again, below are the pieces of confidential information that are protected through an NDA when partnering with us:
1. Reports
2. Files
3. Findings
4. Solutions
All of this is information collected during the performance of the assessment and can take either physical or electronic form.
Having a formal agreement in writing like this protects both the customer and the company. Your information is private, especially when it comes to your business files and reports that are shared and saved on your IT infrastructure. It’s critical that it’s kept confidential and remains as internal data only.
Yes, You Can Trust A Managed IT Service Provider With A Risk Assessment!
There are a few different ways you can trust a managed IT services provider with a risk assessment. But a formal Non-Disclosure Agreement is the best way to ensure complete confidentiality, as well as transparency in the services provided.
Now that you have a better understanding of how you can trust an IT provider, you can next learn how to choose the best managed services provider.
At AIS, we’re not just an office technology company—we’re your technology partner. We’re here to provide you with educational information and helpful tools so that you can make the best decisions for your growing business and organization. If you’d like to learn more about a network risk assessment or any of the other technology services we offer, reach out to us today. We’re here to give you peace of mind to help you win more business.
