New Financial Year: Is Your IT Keeping Up With Your Team?

The start of a new financial year is often filled with budgets, planning meetings, and reviewing business goals. It's a time to look ahead and make sure your organisation is set up for success.

While many businesses carefully review finances, suppliers, and operational plans, one area is often overlooked: whether their technology still reflects the people using it.

Over the past twelve months, your team may have grown, changed roles, moved locations, or welcomed new staff. Some employees may have left the business, but are their accounts, licences, and access permissions still active?

Taking a few minutes to review your IT can help reduce costs, improve security, and ensure your systems continue to support your business effectively.

Have New Starters Been Set Up Correctly?

When a new employee joins, the focus is often on getting them up and running quickly. Email accounts are created, devices are issued, and access to business applications is granted.

But over time, it can be easy for small things to be missed.

Ask yourself:

• Does every team member have access to the systems they genuinely need?

• Are licences assigned correctly?

• Have staff received appropriate security awareness training?

• Have new employees been included in backup, reporting, and business processes?

A quick review can help ensure new team members are productive while maintaining good security practices.

Are Former Employees Still Active?

One of the most common issues we see is user accounts remaining active after someone has left the business.

This can happen for several reasons. The account may have been retained temporarily to access old emails or files. Sometimes it is simply forgotten during a busy period, or the licence has not been reassigned to a replacement employee.

While a single licence may not seem significant, the costs can add up over a year. More importantly, inactive accounts can create unnecessary security risks.

When reviewing your IT systems, check that:

• User accounts have been disabled or removed where appropriate.

• Microsoft 365 and other software licences are no longer assigned.

• Access to shared files and applications has been reviewed.

• Former staff can no longer access company systems or information.

Good user management is not just about saving money. It is also an important part of protecting your business.

Review Who Has Access to What

As businesses evolve, employees often take on additional responsibilities. Over time, staff can accumulate access to systems and data they no longer need.

The new financial year is a good opportunity to review:

• Administrative accounts

• Shared mailboxes

• Finance systems

• File permissions

• Remote access privileges

• Third-party applications

Applying this type of review helps reduce risk by ensuring people only have access to the information required for their role.

Look Ahead, Not Just Back

The start of a new financial year is also an ideal time to think about your future IT requirements. If your business is growing, opening new locations, or planning to recruit additional staff, now is a good time to ensure your technology plans support those goals.

Ask yourself:

• Are you expecting to recruit new staff?

• Will you need additional laptops, software licences, or cloud services?

• Are any devices approaching end-of-life?

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Planning ahead helps avoid last-minute purchases, unexpected costs, and project delays.

A Simple IT Health Check Can Make a Difference

You do not need a major technology strategy review to benefit from a quick check-up.

Often, a simple review of your users, licences, devices, and access permissions can identify opportunities to improve security, reduce waste, and ensure your IT environment reflects the current state of your business.

As your business changes, your technology should change with it.

The new financial year is the perfect reminder to check that your systems, licences, and security settings are keeping pace with your team.

Need a Hand Reviewing Your Users, Licences, or IT Environment?

A simple health check can often uncover unnecessary costs, outdated accounts, or opportunities to improve security.

Our team can help ensure your technology is aligned with your business, your staff, and your goals for the year ahead.