Infrastructure Audit: How to Outsource for Cost & Security
An infrastructure audit can be a major task to take on for a lot of companies, especially when it's combined with a normal workload. However, these kinds of audits are very important.
For businesses with too much on their plate, outsourcing an infrastructure audit can be a good way to make sure that it gets done efficiently and with the correct level of scrutiny while also not taking your engineers away from other work.
Outsourcing infrastructure audits offers a variety of benefits, but like any form of infrastructure or cybersecurity outsourcing, there are also potential challenges or complications you should be aware of.
Today we'll discuss what our DevOps agency has learned through our many years of infrastructure auditing.
What Is an Infrastructure Audit?
An infrastructure audit is a technical evaluation to assess the current status of your systems, applications, workflows, and essential services. These can include the following:
Security audit
IT infrastructure audit
Network infrastructure audit
Cloud infrastructure audit
Data management audit
Infrastructure audits are a way to make sure that all your systems are functioning as optimally as possible to meet your needs.
Infrastructure audits can also help identify potential vulnerabilities and weaknesses in your systems because of outdated security measures or intrusion detection systems that need to be updated to protect against security breaches of sensitive data.
Audits are also a great way to get an outside view that may have been missed due to technical debt creeping in over the years.
An audit is essential for your business to maintain a reliable, up-to-date, and efficient cloud infrastructure because it gives insight into errors and inefficiencies within your infrastructure.
How Do You Know You Need An Infrastructure Audit?
There are a lot of different reasons an infrastructure audit might be beneficial for your company. But the main reason is time.
If it's been a few years since the last time you ran an audit, it's probably a good time for a new infrastructure audit to help you identify weaknesses and make sure your infrastructure is optimized to meet your needs.
If you're planning to update a project, start a new project, or update your core systems, it might be a good time for you to run an audit because it would help you assess your project efficiency and identify any errors.
Another reason you may want an infrastructure audit is the load on your operating systems is very different than what they were originally designed for or your company has gained notoriety. Both can make your systems a bigger target for security attacks that an infrastructure audit can help address.
An outside infrastructure audit can also help suggest ways you could optimize for time and money savings while simplifying your workflows and enabling your developers. An audit can also help you with risk assessment and a disaster recovery plan.
If you have any concerns about your current infrastructure or IT service provider, running an infrastructure audit can help alleviate them.
What Are the Benefits of Outsourcing Infrastructure Audits?
Outsourcing your infrastructure audits to a third party can offer a number of benefits to your business and your audit.
1. Access to Experts
An infrastructure audit checklist will only take you so far.
If you choose infrastructure outsourcing for your audit, you will be able to work with someone who's experienced with infrastructure audits and architectures across multiple cloud providers, tools, and frameworks.
This means you can be confident that your audit is being carried out correctly and extensively. When looking to hire an expert consultant for your audit, you can also look for someone with any special skills that you require just for the task and get the benefits of an outside view of your infrastructure.
2. Cost Savings
Outsourcing your infrastructure audits can save a lot of money when compared to the cost of hiring an in-house team to maintain your infrastructure over time.
Hiring a consultant to be your auditor can give you access to someone with greater skills and experience at a lower cost and time commitment than if you were to hire a full-time employee.
3. Increased Security
Hiring a consultant to complete your infrastructure audit can help your business identify potential security risks and weaknesses in your infrastructure and come up with a plan to improve data confidentiality and eliminate data security risks based on audit findings.
Safeguarding against the potential risks of data breaches are key to business continuity, so being proactive around data protection of critical data is essential.
A comprehensive audit will also include data recovery options, which is another key component of data integrity.
If you have any other particular security concerns, mention them up front, so you can get a tailored assessment of your existing infrastructure.
See also: Application Security Fundamentals: 7 Key Security by Design Principles
4. Scalability
A major benefit of a consultant is their experience with a variety of businesses and infrastructure types—they will have key learnings that are not available in an IT infrastructure audit checklist.
An external auditor will be able to provide you with suggestions in their audit report for easily scalable solutions that will be able to grow with your business as your needs grow and change.
Finding holes in infrastructure standardization, in particular, can help you identify ways that your infrastructure is holding you back from easily scaling.
A good audit team will also make suggestions in their infrastructure audit report that ensure compliance.
5. Improved Productivity
Outsourcing your infrastructure audits will allow your employees to focus on other projects for your business. A consultant can complete the audit process faster while allowing your employees to be more productive with any other business needs you may have.
What Are the Challenges of Outsourcing Infrastructure Audits?
Businesses may have a few concerns or challenges about outsourcing their infrastructure audits.
1. Loss of Visibility and Control
Working with a consultant can be stressful because it involves handing over some of the control of your infrastructure.
A good way to work around these issues is to set clear goals and expectations and have a clear communication path with your consultant.
For example, at OpSourced, after our initial discovery and walkthrough calls, we set up a Slack channel between our engineers and anyone they might need to talk to within a business for every project.
This establishes a clear communication channel and allows for quick and easy visibility and communication on both ends.
2. Compatibility and Integration
Before you start working with someone, it's important to make sure that the tools they use are compatible with your existing environment.
If incompatible tools are used, it could create major problems for you down the road.
At OpSourced, we have engineers who are experienced with a variety of tools and will work with you to make sure everything is compatible and can be easily integrated.
3. Security and Compliance
Opening up your security to a third party can be a security risk.
At OpSourced, security is always our top priority. We strive to exceed the industry standard for security implementation with our other DevOps services and have extensive experience in provisioning and maintaining infrastructures.
Compliance could also be a concern while working with a consultant, depending on your field of work. You may have to meet certain industry standards that other companies might compromise.
All OpSourced engineers are HIPPA-certified and undergo compliance training. We will work with you to make sure that any work we complete maintains compliance standards.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is an infrastructure audit?
An infrastructure audit is a technical evaluation to assess the current status of your systems, applications, workflows, and essential services.
In Closing
Outsourcing your infrastructure audit is a cost-effective and time-efficient way to enhance your security and improve performance.
If it's been a few years since your last audit or you're getting ready for some big changes, running an infrastructure audit with a consulting company might be a good idea for you.
When working with a third-party company, it's important that you find a trustworthy company that fits your needs.
At OpSourced, we offer highly customizable services so that you can find a service that best suits your needs.