Not too long ago, many organizations treated IT compliance as a once-a-year event, an annual audit to prepare for and then immediately forget about. Some companies still have this mentality, and they are at a distinct disadvantage.
IT compliance is a daily requirement driven by numerous frameworks. And there are ever-present concerns to monitor, such as configuration drift, unpatched vulnerabilities and licensing gaps. Faronics Deploy is a cloud-based unified management console that automates endpoint health. It can help improve and maintain application hygiene, patch management and inventory tracking, transforming compliance from a stressful manual chore into a background routine.
Compliance Today
Compliance is more complex than ever, with many interconnected regulations adding to the challenge. Threat actors are more sophisticated today, from lone troublemakers with powerful tools to international organized crime syndicates. Modern data storage, cloud computing and internal processes are also more evolved than they’ve ever been. And, in an effort to keep up, regulators and councils have developed more intricate frameworks to abide by.
From HIPAA (for organizations dealing with anything related to healthcare in the U.S.) to PCI DSS (for businesses that accept card payments) to GDPR (for pretty much any company with an online presence in the EU), there are numerous frameworks that inform IT practices. Keeping track of them all and understanding which organizational processes they relate to can easily overwhelm IT teams and lead to failed audits — or worse, data breaches.
Eliminating Security Gaps With Automated Patching
It’s useful to know what tricks and tools cybercriminals might use to hack into your organization’s system. Equally important is being aware of the security gaps in your own network and process — and patching them.
But this can require a lot of work and constant vigilance. Faronics developed Deploy to make the ongoing task of gap patching easier and more effective. Deploy can help with:
- Real-time patching: Deploy offers smarter patch control that allows IT professionals to analyze update status by machine.
- The power of automation: By auto-approving critical and security updates — while deferring feature updates — IT administrators can ensure systems are never exposed to known exploits.
- Bandwidth optimization: With cache servers, IT teams can distribute updates locally, ensuring compliance even in bandwidth-constrained environments.
- Compliance: Missing-patch reports provide instant proof for auditors that organizations have met security baselines.
Application Hygiene and Standardization
In IT today, configuration drift is often a silent killer of compliance. When users install their own software or neglect updates, the resulting “shadow IT” can create massive security gaps. Faronics Deploy tackles this head-on by enforcing a rigorous standard of application hygiene through its unified, cloud-based library.
The platform provides instant access to over 1,500 built-in applications. Because Faronics manages the packaging and hosting, IT teams no longer need to spend hours scripting installers or troubleshooting failed silent switches. Instead, they can utilize app presets to define exactly which software belongs on which device. For example, IT administrators can assign the accounting team a specific suite of tools that automatically deploy and stay current, ensuring every workstation in that department is a mirror image of the next.
Beyond deployment, standardization is about visibility. Faronics Deploy provides a real-time inventory that flags unauthorized or redundant software. By identifying and remotely uninstalling this “bloatware,” IT professionals reduce their organization’s attack surface and eliminate potential licensing liabilities. This level of control means that when an auditor asks for a software inventory, the report isn’t just a list of what’s there; it’s a testament to a managed, standardized and secure environment.
Unified Visibility: Managing Compliance Beyond the Perimeter
In an era of hybrid and remote work setups, IT administrators’ jobs have taken on an added wrinkle of complexity. But with the right software, it’s exceedingly rare that helpdesk tickets have to result in an IT professional actually having to physically use the problem device in question. Faronics Deploy eliminates the blind spots created by remote work and complex licensing by merging real-time asset management with cloud-based control.
Real-time asset intelligence compliance begins with a comprehensive inventory. Deploy’s “Smart Grid” provides a live look into the hardware and software health of every endpoint. IT managers can instantly track CPU usage, RAM capacity and software license counts. By identifying under-utilized or over-deployed licenses, teams can remediate financial risks and legal liabilities before an audit ever occurs.
Because the architecture is entirely cloud-based, these insights aren’t restricted to the local office. Whether an employee is at headquarters or a home office, Faronics Deploy enables IT admins to manage them with equal ease. If an audit reveals a non-compliant device in another time zone, IT can use the integrated remote assistance tools to troubleshoot and patch the machine on the fly. This “anywhere, anytime” visibility helps companies maintain an airtight compliance posture, regardless of where different staff members log in.
Be Proactive. Stay Audit-Ready.
The purpose of an audit isn’t to test your organization’s defenses, practices and policies on a given day in a specific circumstance. An audit should not be like a one-time school exam you prepare for over the course of weeks or months — especially not one of the exams with subject matter you immediately forget after passing the test.
These audits test your company’s everyday compliance and security posture. By continuously aligning practices and tools with the frameworks most relevant to your business, you not only protect your organization from cyberthreats and breaches of compliance but also enable staff to operate with confidence.
Deploy shifts IT from a reactive break-fix model to a proactive continuous compliance model. With the right tools and approach, compliance isn’t a hurdle; it’s just the natural result of good IT hygiene.
Want to learn more about how Faronics Deploy can help unlock continuous compliance? Contact us today to find out.
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