Information Systems Technical Evaluation

Figuring out where you are... discovering where you can go

  • If your server crashed today, how long would it take to recover?
  • Are you sure that a recovery is even possible?
  • Is your server still under any warranties?
  • Are replacement parts available?
  • What can you do to avoid downtime?
  • LIGHTNING! Need we say more?
  • Is your software properly licensed?
  • What to do about spam, porn, security???

Try asking your IT depart or your IT vendor these questions. And then ask yourself, are they going to give you complete honest answers. Are you going to ever develop a plan?

Exertus Consulting Services can help. As an independent auditing firm, we can give you a firm grip on these issues. We are not seeking to replace either your existing network vendor, or you IT staff. Our focus is to 1. Provide a honest, unbiased assessment of the health of your existing information systems; 2. Identify potential problem areas that could cause network downtime, or delay recovery should a problem occur; and 3. To help you establish plans, policies, and procedures for better managing your information technology resources.

Audit pricing is based on the size of your existing installed base, and the audit services you would like to have completed.

Server Audits

Servers are generally one of the most critical pieces of computer equipment in your organization. When a server is down, your employees lose productivity, and your customers are affected by not being able to send or receive your e-mail, or access your web site. ECS Server audit product is designed to evaluate your servers for issues that might affect performance, system redundancy and recovery, and a host of other issues that can have a negative impact on your business. A sampling of areas covered include:

  • Current server health
  • Server configuration issues
  • Server performance issues
  • Downtime avoidance
  • Security issues

Network Systems Audit

Another critical piece of your computer infrastructure is your networking hardware. All the server redundancy in the world won't help if your workstations can't communicate with the server. For many companies, the difference between a network with marginal performance, and a network with great performance is defined by what networking equipment is used, and how it is put together. In addition, networking equipment is often the last area considered for security risks.

Internet access, security, and identity audit

In today's business market, your presence on the Internet is vital. Companies spend thousands of dollars per year on advertising, yet often completely ignore their Internet presence. As valuable a resource as the Internet is, it also brings a whole host of new challenging problems for a company to deal with. Some of the issues reviewed and discussed in this process are:

  • Internet domain name management
  • Spam Blacklists
  • Spam filtering
  • E-mail content filtering
  • Internet Browsing issues
    • Content filtering (blocking porn, gambling, and other inappropriate sites)
    • Logging of employee's Internet activity
  • Acceptable use policies
  • Anti virus issues for E-mail and Browsing
  • Stopping hackers from invading your network
  • Company Web site
    • Effectiveness as a sales tool
    • Backup of web site
    • Do's and Don't's of web site design
    • Search Engine Rankings
    • How to make your site useful for customers

Software Licensing audits

Every year software vendors make licensing more and more complicated. For many companies, it has become nearly impossible to keep track of how many licenses they have, how many they need, and when they need to renew their licenses. ECS licensing audit starts with an inventory of software loaded on stations and servers, an assessment of actual licenses needed, a review of licenses purchased, and then a report that details a strategy for licensing specific to your company.

Workstation inventory and evaluation

Many companies have lost track of exactly what resources they have. This audit examines each workstation, and provides a inventory of each workstation, it's specifications (cpu, ram, disk space, available disk space), and also looks at common configuration issues on workstation. The result is a report that details each station, and recommendations for improvements for each station, or a recommendation for replacement if necessary. We can also address a strategy for workstation replacements.