Due to recent events forcing work from home, have you updated your on-boarding and termination processes to reduce spend?

We are living in unprecedented times and whether you already had work from home policies, were moving in that direction, or were forced into work from home policies due to recent events, there are topics you may not have considered.

Unfortunately, far too many companies have either furloughed or laid off most of their employees. There are other companies that may be on-boarding or rehiring employees. In either case, it is important that your processes and policies are updated regarding hardware and software assets to ensure they are cost effective while ensuring the assets and data are still protected. You may also need to consider new technologies to fill the gaps.  Road Map’s Asset Management Program, or RAMP, is designed to create a roadmap for any size company. Our focus is to create a solution that is not only economical, but provides ROI by managing your processes, your policies, and your assets.

In the bullets below, without getting too technical, it will be pointed out the important topics you should be concerned with. Additional technical articles will be released soon that provide those details.

Onboarding

As a result of the recent restrictions due to health concerns or if you’re simply considering on-boarding remote users, there are technical aspects which may help curve on-boarding costs and the time it takes to get the employee working immediately.  Even with the way things are done today, companies will onboard employees that are not productive from the start because of a lack of access, software, and hardware.  Sometimes it can take days. Other times it can be weeks before employees are productive.  How are you educating and measuring new employees on best practices when it comes to cyber security?

Constraints

Now, let’s touch on a few of the top constraints when it comes to on-boarding a user in this new, work from home culture.  Consider the time and overall costs to get the employee working:

1. Hardware
   1. Is it pre-imaged and Configured?
   2. Are devices managed by AD, Intune, or both?
   3. How long will it take to get to the user? Is it drop shipped to the employee?  Are processes in place for auto enrollment?
   4. Is IT positioned to manage these devices remotely?
   5. What is the total cost? Are you taking in account for the time the employee is on-boarded but can’t work?

2. Software
   1. Are users on VPN?
   2. Managing compliance and licensing is also a challenge.
   3. Managing updates and upgrades, especially for zero-day vulnerabilities regarding 3^rd party software.
   4. Reclaiming unused software licenses
   5. Are you assigning employees devices and software based on what they say they need, or have you rationalized assets based on the user’s department or role?

3. Cyber Security Employee Education
   1. How are you educating your employees regarding your policies and safe practices whether it is BOYD or a company device?

4. CMDB (Configuration Management Database)
   1. Do the processes in your CMDB reflect the new way of on-boarding?
   2. What is the time frame for your approval process to enable users and provide equipment?
   3. If the approval process for assets take 2 weeks, that is a significant delay in getting the assets to the employee.
   4. Is your CMDB updated with needed assets for role-based deployment?

Roadmap

It is important to mention here that with the big transition to work from home, companies are overspending in the panic by adding additional devices for each user and duplicating software license spend to keep on the additional devices.

Granted, this is a rough time for everyone.  We’re all getting hit by service providers and vendors with quick fix products.  There are no quick, easy fixes.  What companies need are solutions and these solutions may span multiple vendors and integrate.  It’s recommended working with a trusted IT advisor to identify the most cost-effective solution that can be implemented in a reasonable time frame.  Starting with the low hanging fruit, let’s outline the options.

Cyber Security Employee Education

Look at hosted solutions for training employees that:

1. Cost effective
2. You can manage and report on employee training

Hardware and Software Delivery

Delivering hardware and software to remote users is a complex topic.  Depending on if you’re an SCCM, Altiris, IBM, or Ray ManageSoft shop; there are options. IT may need to reach out to your vendor, or trusted advisor to scope out entitlements and identify if there is a need for infrastructure change.

It is always a good idea to regularly review your entitlements when it comes to hardware and software.  There may be things you can leverage that are already paid for and you may not be leveraging.  Certain features of entitlements that have been shelved, may be relevant and cost effective now.

CMDB (Configuration Management Database)

In our opinion, updating and maintaining workflow and processes in a CMDB is probably one of the most difficult tasks you will need to manage.  If the CMDB has a lot of automation, making changes can be difficult.  You must correlate the CMDB workflow and process with the deployment methodology meaning, if the company wants to move to role-based deployments, the CMDB needs to reflect it appropriately.  Other technologies that need to reflect this methodology are  your deployment platform and Active Directory.

Termination

There may be an unforeseen spend in termination of employees.  What happens when there are mass layoffs?  Are you terminating the entitlements to those employees or are you re-provisioning them to other employees?

This is important because companies tend to continue spending on these after the employees are gone simply because the finance department is not getting the needed information to terminated unused licenses and equipment.  Depending on the timing of the termination, companies can save big dollars by cancelling unused entitlements.

Summary

With proper asset management, you can manage and deliver employee resources cost effectively and with reduce spend.  Reach out to a trusted advisor for assistance with updating your current workflow and processes.  Work with them to identify entitlements you already have but are not leveraging.  This will give you the   best bang for the buck.  Remember, your solution will most likely be a hybrid approach which leverages vendors.

Think about how to reclaim assets after a termination.  In today’s world, terminations can happen over the phone or email.  It is important to include asset management in the termination process.