No cost ยท No obligation
IT Assessment for New Zealand Businesses
A free IT assessment shows you what you are actually running, where the gaps are, and what it would take to close them. We scan your systems, talk to the people who use them, and give you a written report that we walk you through.
Supporting New Zealand businesses since 1989.
The short answer
What is an IT assessment?
An IT assessment is an independent review of the technology a business runs on: the devices, the network, the accounts, the backups and the security controls sitting behind them. It answers three questions. What have we got, what is exposed, and what should we deal with first.
Most businesses have a reasonable idea of the first question and very little visibility of the second. Software gets installed and forgotten, staff leave with accounts still active, a backup runs for years without anybody restoring from it. None of that shows up in day to day work. It shows up when something goes wrong.
The assessment is not a sales audit dressed up as advice. The findings are the findings, whether or not you ever become a client.
A common mix-up
Is an IT assessment the same as an IT audit?
No. The two words get used interchangeably, and the difference is worth knowing before you ask anybody for either.
An IT assessment is improvement-focused. It looks at what you are running, finds the gaps, and tells you what to deal with first. The output is a plan.
An IT audit is usually formal. It measures what you have against a standard or a policy, and produces evidence that you meet it or that you do not. The output is a record, and the work is often driven by an insurer, a contract, a board or a compliance obligation rather than by a decision you are trying to make.
Most businesses asking for an IT audit want an assessment: they want to know where they stand and what to do about it, not a certificate. If you do need a formal audit against a named standard, say so at the start, because it is a different piece of work with a different output.
The process
How does an IT assessment work?
An IT assessment runs in three stages: a scan of the network, a conversation with the people who use the systems, and a written report we walk you through.
Run the scan
A safe executable runs on your network. It takes between five minutes and two and a half hours depending on the size of your environment, and your team keeps working as normal while it does.
Look at how you actually work
The scan tells us what is there. A conversation tells us what matters. We talk to the people who use the systems, on site where that is useful, so the findings are weighed against how your business runs rather than against a generic checklist.
Report and walkthrough
You get a written report of what was found, ranked by what matters most, and we walk you through it. You are not left interpreting a technical document on your own.
Scope
What does an IT assessment cover?
An IT assessment covers six areas, from patching and firewall configuration through to where sensitive data is actually sitting.
Security patches
Unpatched software and operating systems that leave known holes open.
Firewall and perimeter
Whether your network defences are configured the way you assume they are.
Passwords and access
Weak, repeated or stale credentials, and accounts that should have been closed.
Sensitive data exposure
Confidential business, client and staff information sitting somewhere it should not be.
Malware defences
Whether your security tools would stop a live attack, not just a known one.
Identity and multi-factor
Multi-factor enforcement across administrator and other critical accounts.
The same ground is covered whether you are looking at this as a security question or a general IT one. If security is the specific concern, our cyber security services page sets out what we do about the findings.
A cyber security assessment is a narrower job again, aimed only at how well you are defended. This one looks at the whole environment.
The deliverable
What do you get at the end of an IT assessment?
A written report, in plain language, covering what was found and what we would do about it, in the order we would do it. Nothing in it depends on you buying anything from us.
The report separates three things: what is urgent, what is worth planning for, and what is fine as it is. That last category matters. A report that says everything is a problem is not a report, it is a sales document.
We then walk you through it, in person or online. That is when most of the value lands, because the questions people ask about their own environment are rarely the ones a document anticipates.
A common question
What if we already have an IT provider?
That is fine, and it is a common reason for asking. An assessment gives you an independent view of what is in place, which is useful whether you are happy with your current arrangement or wondering whether you should be.
Plenty of the businesses we assess stay exactly where they are and take the findings to their existing provider. If you would rather we closed the gaps ourselves, that is what managed IT services covers, but the report is yours either way.
Why Exodesk
Who carries out the assessment?
Since 1989
More than 35 years supporting New Zealand organisations, with teams in Christchurch and Dunedin and clients throughout the country.
Independent findings
The report says what the scan and the conversation found, not what we would like to sell.
People you can put in a room
Local teams who can come to you when remote work is not enough.
Questions
IT assessment questions
How long does an IT assessment take?
The scan takes between five minutes and two and a half hours depending on how large your environment is. The conversation and the report walkthrough are arranged around your schedule.
Will it disrupt our staff?
No. The scan runs while people keep working. It reads what is there rather than changing anything.
What access do you need?
Enough to run the scan across the network and to see how accounts and backups are configured. We agree the scope with you before anything starts.
Is the assessment really free?
Yes. The IT assessment is free, and there is no obligation to buy anything afterwards.
Is an IT assessment the same as an IT audit?
No. An IT assessment is improvement-focused: it finds the gaps and tells you what to deal with first, and the output is a plan. An IT audit is usually formal, measuring what you have against a standard or a policy, and the output is a record. Most businesses asking for an audit want an assessment.
What do we actually receive?
A written report of the findings, ranked by priority, plus a session where we walk you through it.
Can we have an assessment if we already have an IT provider?
Yes. Many businesses use an independent assessment to check that what they are paying for is doing what they think it is.
Do you assess businesses outside Christchurch and Dunedin?
Yes. We support organisations throughout New Zealand, including large organisations with multiple sites.
Do you assess medical and allied health practices?
Yes. The same assessment applies, with attention to where patient information sits across clinical systems, shared drives and cloud storage. Our healthcare IT support page covers that work in more detail.
What happens after the report?
That is your call. If you want us to close the gaps we will quote for it. If you would rather your existing provider did, take the report to them.
Next step
Find out what you are actually running
No cost, no obligation, and you keep the report whether or not you ever become a client.
Prefer to email? info@exodesk.com
Book it
Request your IT assessment
Tell us a little about your business and we will be in touch to arrange a time that suits.
Prefer to talk?
Christchurch
Level 1, 85 Riccarton Road
Christchurch 8011
03 343 3124
Dunedin
Level 3, Bartons Building
2 Stafford Street, Dunedin 9016
03 479 2941