Thinking of Buying a Hotel? Here’s Why You Need a Network Assessment
Do you want to buy a hotel? Are your systems able and ready to handle the increased traffic and activity you will be experiencing? There’s only one sure way to know — conducting a network assessment.
Your network supports almost every aspect of your business. From product development to marketing and HR, every unit in your organization counts on a reliable IT to enable optimum performance and productivity.
Why Do You Need a Network Assessment Before Buying A Hotel?
When you buy a hotel, you’re most definitely considering integrating new technologies. You wouldn’t want to place them on a shaky IT infrastructure. It’s also inevitable that more people will be visiting your network, all thanks to the new venture. However, with this proliferation in traffic also comes the challenge of sustaining site uptime and managing the increased responsibilities. What’s at the center of all these — your network. Are you trusting it to meet the changing and growing support needs? Will an evaluation be necessary before you buy that hotel? Absolutely.
In case the hotel was already operational, you also need to assess its current systems. You may be surprised at the wealth of intel an evaluation will provide. Is the hotel’s network infrastructure stable? What’s the extent of vulnerability of its systems to external interference? How efficiently is the network performing? These metrics should be keenly analyzed by competent IT experts even before deciding on making the purchase. Why? Because no organization can successfully operate on a failed network.
What Should You Expect In A Network Assessment?
Preparation Stage: Just as the name suggests, this is where you decide on logistics and what the assessment will cover. You also daft things like the scope, duration, and objectives of the evaluation in this stage.
The Actual Evaluation: To conduct a full assessment, you must exhaust four key areas:
- Infrastructure: This involves having an inventory of all equipment constituting the hotel’s network alongside your existing systems. You look at the types of apps, OS versions, circuits, and their compatibility with your current network. This will help you identify the additional equipment that you need to acquire and those deemed redundant.
- Security: Here, all the network end-points, applications, and servers are reviewed for backdoors and weak points. Are you considering working with some of the hotel’s old workers? This is a good move since they know their way around most operations. However, they also pose a security threat that must be checked. As a security review is being conducted on the network, the staff must also be evaluated on cybersecurity awareness. How ready are they to respond to a breach? Experienced IT teams will include a simulated attack in the network security assessment program to evaluate your staff.
- Management: How often is the network monitored, maintained, and patched?
- Performance: The data obtained will be integrated with an in-depth traffic analysis to gauge the networks’ efficiency.
Post-Assessment Stage
With your service provider’s help, you try to make sense of the information collected. Consider the following questions to guide you through this stage:
- Are there any underused/overused equipment in the networks?
- Which improvements do you need to make to the network infrastructure before buying the hotel?
- Are there any obsolete devices or overused servers?
- Is the network able to support you as the hotel grows?
The end-goal is to have a network that can meet the hotel’s IT support needs to the fullest. As you must have noticed, network assessment can be a little nerve-wracking. If not properly conducted, it may not achieve the desired results. Let HRCT save you this hassle.
Give us a call now at (800) 319-1878, and let’s discuss how we can help you through a seamless and constructive network assessment.