In today’s digital world,
IT availability is more than just a technical concern; it's a critical factor
that affects your company’s ability to operate smoothly and maintain competitive
advantage. As a CEO, unerstanding how IT infrastructure supports your business
can help you avoid costly downtimes and ensure that your team has the tools
they need to succeed. Here are five essential questions every CEO should ask
about IT availability.
Disasters—whether they
are natural, technical, or cyber-related—can strike at any time. When they do,
a well-structured disaster recovery (DR) plan can be the difference between a
short disruption and a prolonged outage. CEOs should ask: How quickly can we recover critical systems,
and what are our key processes for ensuring business continuity? A
strong disaster recovery plan includes regular backups, offsite storage, and
clear recovery protocols. Regular testing and validation of this plan are
equally crucial to ensure its effectiveness in times of crisis.
Downtime is costly, both
financially and reputationally. A few hours of system unavailability can have
far-reaching consequences, from lost revenue to frustrated customers. As a CEO,
it's essential to ask: What is our
target uptime, and how do we monitor and maintain it? This question
should lead to discussions around service-level agreements (SLAs) with your IT
vendors and cloud providers. SLAs often contain guarantees about uptime,
including penalties if agreed-upon availability thresholds aren’t met. Knowing
these details will help you set realistic expectations and make informed
decisions about where to invest in improvements.
Cyberattacks are one of
the leading causes of downtime and data loss. From ransomware to
denial-of-service attacks, the threats are becoming more sophisticated and
frequent. CEOs need to ask: What
cybersecurity protocols are in place to ensure system availability and prevent
downtime due to cyber incidents? A strong cybersecurity strategy
includes firewalls, encryption, intrusion detection, and regular vulnerability
assessments. Additionally, investing in employee training to recognize phishing
and other common threats can significantly reduce the risk of attacks.
As your business grows,
your IT needs will evolve. This is why scalability is a key consideration for
IT availability. Ask your IT leadership: Are
our current IT solutions capable of scaling with the business, or will we face
performance issues as we grow? Cloud-based solutions, for instance,
provide flexibility and scalability, allowing businesses to adjust capacity as
needed without the risk of overloading servers. Understanding whether your IT
infrastructure is built to scale smoothly is crucial to maintaining consistent
performance and availability.
Proactively managing IT
availability requires continuous monitoring. It’s not just about reacting to
issues but also preventing them from occurring in the first place. CEOs should
ask: What monitoring tools do we have
in place to ensure optimal performance, and how do we measure and improve IT
availability over time? Tools like real-time performance monitoring,
automated alerts, and analytics help IT teams identify and address issues
before they cause significant downtime. Additionally, regular reviews of system
performance, capacity, and resilience should be part of a strategy for ongoing
improvement.
In an increasingly
connected world, IT availability is essential to the success of any business.
CEOs must ensure that their companies have robust systems in place to minimize
downtime, protect against security breaches, and scale to meet future needs. By
asking the right questions, CEOs can make informed decisions that safeguard
their organization’s operations, maintain customer trust, and keep the business
running smoothly.
