Journal :: Why you need an IT Policy

Published: June 7, 2005
Author: Paul Cadde
Category: Back Office
Permalink: Why you need an IT Policy

Does your company have an ?IT? policy statement? One that all employees are aware of? One that is enforceable ? where a breach can be a disciplinary offence?

Perhaps you feel that this is not a particularly important issue, or that it is not so relevant for a company of your size. If none of your staff have access to internet ready computers at work then this may be true ? otherwise, think again!

What would the impact on your business be if your entire computer system crashed as a result of a computer virus infection? And what if, when you tried to get it running again you found you had lost all your data and programmes? Hopefully you have a backup policy that means the most you would lose is a day?s worth of data ( you do make regular backups don?t you?), but none of us can really afford to lose that much data if computers are an integral part of our business. A clear policy forbidding staff to open unexpected e-mail attachments or to download non work related material off the internet could drastically reduce the probability of such a disaster.

Would you be happy paying compensation to a recording artist or record company because an employee had installed file sharing software on a company computer and was using it to swap music tracks? Record companies in particular are now aggressively pursuing this kind of activity and taking individuals to court ? if they realise the software was installed on a company computer and they can therefore go after you as well, don?t you think they are likely to follow that option?

Do you have any female staff? Did you know that if male staff members download pornographic material, a female staff member could sue your company for sex discrimination even if she made no complaint at the time? This was established in the recent case of Moonsar v Fiveways Express Transport Limited. Unless you have a clear policy in place to try to ensure this does not happen you could be held liable even though you were unaware this activity was taking place.

Perhaps now is the time to draft some kind of policy if you do not already have one, and make sure all your staff read it and know they must follow it. If not, your company could be a lot more exposed than perhaps you realised.

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