The Imperative of a Robust Offboarding Process: Safeguarding Your Business in a Dynamic Landscape
As we kick off the new year, businesses are unfortunately having to lay off employees. It’s important to have a comprehensive offboarding process that involves both HR and IT. Recent high-profile cases of disgruntled ex-employees causing data breaches and sabotaging company operations highlight the pressing need for a robust offboarding process. The risk of legal repercussions and damage to the company’s reputation is more pronounced than ever.
Check out the article below to learn more about how to safeguard your company during this time.
In the fast-paced world of business, where onboarding new employees is a well-established practice, the significance of a comprehensive offboarding process cannot be overstated. Over the last two decades, our IT Consulting business has collaborated with numerous companies, emphasizing the importance of gracefully bidding farewell to employees. In this extended exploration, we delve into the crucial aspects of offboarding, incorporating recent news to underscore the evolving need for a proper termination procedure.
1. The Disgruntled Employee Dilemma
Picture this: an employee, disgruntled and on their way out, still harboring access to sensitive company information. Without a proper offboarding process, your business is vulnerable to data breaches, sabotage, and potential legal fallout. It’s not just about protecting your data; it’s about mitigating risks and ensuring a smooth transition.
Recent News:
According to court documents, LaHiff was employed as a desktop and network manager at an Essex County public high school until he was terminated in June 2023. After he was fired, LaHiff allegedly used his administrative privileges to deactivate and delete thousands of Apple IDs from the school’s Apple School Manager account – software used to manage student, faculty and staff information technology resources. LaHiff also allegedly deactivated more than 1,400 other Apple accounts and other IT administrative accounts and disabled the school’s private branch phone system, which left the school’s phone service unavailable for approximately 24 hours.
Former Public School Information Technology Manager Charged with Damaging School’s Computer Network
2. The Intersection of HR and IT
Effective offboarding is a collaborative effort between Human Resources (HR) and Information Technology (IT). HR ensures the legalities are covered, while IT manages the technical aspects of revoking access, retrieving devices, and securing data. A seamless partnership between these two departments is essential for a comprehensive offboarding strategy.
When an employee leaves or is terminated, we recommend you fill out a form so your IT department or provider (MSP) can properly revoke access to their computer accounts, email, data access, phone system, and remote access (VPN) and determine what to do with their data or document files.
For our managed IT clients, we provide these recommendations; however, each business is different and unique, and thus it may not apply to you. We cannot make the decision without your approval. It is your responsibility to tell the business tell IT provider what you need and the goal is to keep your business running safely when there is a change.
The mistake we often we see is business owner or the decision maker does not provide inform the IT provider an employee leaving. As a result, the account is left active and the password is not changed, this creates a security risk for business and unnecessary expense because they continue to pay for the service such as Microsoft 365 Email Account.
3. Protecting Company Assets
From login credentials to company-issued devices, there’s a plethora of assets that need to be secured during offboarding.
Highlight the importance of promptly revoking access rights, collecting hardware, and ensuring that ex-employees no longer have the ability to compromise the company’s digital infrastructure.
Because of the time sensitive nature, it is imperative that HR or decision maker or business owner notifies the IT personnel in advance when to terminate access, change account passwords and remove connection.
This is reason why we recommend having a termination process to include:
- Termination Date
- Former Employee Full Name
- Do you want to forward the terminated employee email to another employee?
- How long do you want to keep the data for email, cloud storage (OneDrive, Google)?
- Should Anyone Else be given access to their files?
4. Legal Implications
5. The Cost of Ignorance
Bring attention to the financial repercussions of not investing in a robust offboarding process.
Calculate the potential costs associated with data breaches, legal battles, and the impact on company morale. Demonstrating the tangible benefits of a well-executed offboarding process can be a compelling argument for businesses to prioritize this often-overlooked aspect.
Conclusion
In the grand scheme of business operations, offboarding may seem like a small detail, but its significance cannot be overstated. A well-orchestrated offboarding process, involving the collaboration of HR and IT, not only protects your business against disgruntled ex-employees but also safeguards its reputation and financial stability. So, let’s bid farewell to outdated offboarding practices and usher in a new era of secure and seamless transitions.
After all, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Book A Call Today to learn more or if you have questions.
Frequently Asked Questions
eSudo is a local managed IT & Cybersecurity services (MSP/MSSP) company that helps businesses make technology seamlessly work over the last 22+ years in Silicon Valley. What sets eSudo apart is we focus on security first, and IT support happens to be part of the security services.
Our team of experienced and certified computer engineers understands that no two businesses are alike, that’s why we partner with our clients to develop efficient and cost effective computer networks, cloud solutions, network security, and phone solutions that help you run your business.
As a local Microsoft Partner and Cloud Technology Specialist, eSudo has the knowledge, skills, and commitment to help you implement modern technology solutions that match your exact business needs.
Our goal is to Keep your IT Systems running and data Secure (KISS) so you can focus on running your business safely!
We specialize in working with professional service organizations like law firms, accounting firms (CPAs), and wealth management. However, eSudo have helped other business such as non-profit organizations, manufacturing and other small businesses after we have reviewed their needs and determined if they are good fit for our services.
eSudo is not a traditional IT support company; we focus on security first, and IT support happens to be part of the security services. In the dynamic landscape of network security, a proactive approach is key to safeguarding your business. It’s not a one-time event but an ongoing commitment to keep your systems resilient against evolving threats. With the rise of a mobile workforce and the omnipresence of phishing attempts or social engineering or AI, educating your employees, continuous monitoring and proactive support are vital to prevent data breaches.
If your business is looking for break-fix support or hourly IT services, we may not be for you because we cannot fully manage your risks and more importantly, it creates a trust issue in our relationship. Under a “break-fix” model, there is a fundamental conflict of interest between your business and eSudo.
“Over 97% of American businesses in 2023, operating in a digitally-driven landscape, heavily rely on the Internet for essential functions such as productivity, performance optimization, streamlined communication, bolstered sales, and various other facets of their daily operations. This heightened dependence on digital infrastructure, however, comes with a notable caveat: more than 87% of small businesses are entrusted with customer data that could be potentially compromised in the event of a cyberattack.”
We keep your IT Systems running and data secure with our proven IT Strategy, Managed Security, and Proactive Support & End User Management. Our Strategy focuses on identifying, prioritizing, and recommending the right technology for your organization. Our Managed Security includes data backup, device encryption, zero-trust access management, and policies & procedures. Our Support includes a live phone help desk, 24/7 monitoring, on-site support as needed, employee onboarding, and asset procurement.
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- Proven track record: We have been building our loyal customer base since 2001 in an industry where IT consulting firms come and go. Our customers, vendors, and employees stay with us because we build and value long term relationships with them. With operations all over the San Francisco Bay Area, eSudo provides reliable IT support to Northern CA-based businesses and beyond. We’re big enough to offer the facilities, services, and expertise you expect and small enough to provide the support and attention you deserve.
- People & Process: Over the last 22+ years, we have created and adopted a proven process to ensure success in our operations and have trained our people to follow our proven process to provide consistent results for our customers.
- Quality: We do not sell what we have not used or have tested. We recommend industrial and commercial-grade products for small businesses to provide uptime and reliability for our customers.
- Responsiveness: A live person will answer your call, and emergency response time is one hour or less guaranteed. We use the most current remote support technology which lets us log in to your computers remotely to address many issues without the need to wait for a technician to come on-site.