Three IT Things Every Business Should Check in Q1

New year, new goals… and probably a few things you meant to get around to last year.

Q1 is the perfect time for a quick IT reset. Not a full overhaul. Not a giant project. Just a sanity check to make sure nothing important quietly drifted off course.

Here are three things every business should check before the year really gets moving:

1. Is Multi-Factor Authentication Still Turned On?

   
   

   MFA is one of the easiest ways to block account compromise — but it only works if it’s actually enabled (and enforced).

   
   

   • Did any new users get added without MFA?

   • Did someone disable it “temporarily” and forget?

   • Are you still using SMS instead of app-based authentication?

   
   

   It takes minutes to verify, and it could prevent a very long week later.

   
   

2. Are Your Backups Still Running — and Restorable?

   
   

   Backups fail more often than people realize. Credentials change. Storage fills up. Agents stop communicating. In Q1, ask:

   
   

   • Did last night’s backup complete successfully?

   • Can we restore a file if we had to?

   • Are we backing up everything that matters?

   
   

   Remember: a backup you haven’t tested is just a theory.

   
   

3. Are Former Employees Fully Offboarded?

   
   

   This one gets missed more than it should.

   • Are old accounts disabled?

   • Is email forwarding still active somewhere?

   • Did anyone keep access to shared files or cloud apps?

   
   

   Former employee accounts are a common weak spot — especially months after departure.

A quick Q1 review of these three areas can prevent major headaches later in the year. It’s not flashy, but it’s effective.

If you’d like help running through a quick IT checkup, Vertechs is always happy to take a look.