Stopping access to your IT services

The sad day has come when it’s time for Debbie to move on from your business to pastures new. She is leaving on the best of terms, with no hard feelings, it was time to move on.

Even when an employee leaves your business on the best of terms, you still need to shut off any access they have to your IT systems, as soon as they have finished up on that final day.

Likewise, if something not so nice has happened with someone in your business, and you no longer wish them to have access to your systems, then you need to shut the access off straight away, to stop any malice.

Any decent (ahem) IT Support partner will be able to do this in just a few minutes, shutting off access to files, email and any remote systems that you use.

The most important point here is – you have to tell them for this to happen. As good as they are, they aren’t telepathic. You must have a procedure in place, within your business to notify (ideally with some pre-scheduled notice) the relevant provider to stop the access at a set day and time.

Doing this protects your business from malice, loss of business and simply gives you peace of mind. Even for them great members of your team, who have parted on great times, and one day they will hopefully come back to you – it still needs to be done. It’s not just giving you peace of mind, it eliminates any doubt if anything happens in the future, you know it can’t have been that member of the team who left – as you closed off their access.

You can put things in place so email is diverted to someone else in the interim. This can be put in place, alongside removing their previous access. Again, it’s super quick and easy to do in the hands of trained professionals.

The bottom line is, you need to protect your business, and you should keep access at all times where it is built up from no access. What I mean here is, by default, you have no access at all, and over time, as it’s genuinely required, you are granted access to what you need, in order to carry out your work.

Something to think about I’m sure – and don’t forget, to tell your IT Support partner, ideally in advance of something leaving!

Gavin Moorhouse is the owner of Lucid Computer Solutions, which partners with 100+ businesses in the Worcestershire, Warwickshire and Birmingham areas. He has many small pets.