Unravel Incident Management Process & Best Practices

(INTRO)

Businesses are more reliant than ever on the performance of their IT infrastructures. Should a major incident undermine the operational capability of these technology systems, the implications could be dire – the ability to produce goods, deliver services to clients, or relate information to employees could be significantly impacted. Therefore, senior leadership teams must develop appropriate incident management policies and procedures which serve to mitigate against these risks. By doing this, businesses can suitably prepare themselves for events that cause significant disruption to productivity.

A fit-for-purpose incident management plan enables companies to swiftly identify the scale and nature of an issue, initiate a considered and proportionate response, and later re-calibrate their internal processes in order to reduce the likelihood of a repeat occurrence.

In the following sections, we examine the various aspects businesses must consider when constructing their respective IT incident management procedures, and, by analyzing the potential consequences of failing to placate a threat to business continuity, we shed light on the critical importance of responding effectively to major incidents.

Part 1 : Explanations of Incident Management, the Process, and Worflow

What Is Incident Management, Incident Management Process, and Incident Management Worflow?

The composition of an incident management plan is typically organized under three key focus areas: management (how a specific risk will be dealt with/contained), process (who is accountable for delivering the response) and workflow (what are the physical actions taken in order to tackle the problem). We review each element in closer detail below.

Incident Management is vital that IT teams agree to a general response strategy. This may be partially achieved through the establishment of SLA or ITIL. IT teams will also consider how their approach may alter when addressing potential threats to security; pressing issues may require proactive intervention, whilst a reactive stance may be most appropriate in other cases.

During the Incident Management Process, major incident response efforts usually involve and impact a sizeable number of individuals. Clearly, those who are chiefly accountable for detecting, diagnosing, and tackling systems issues will feature prominently in incident management policies, but other stakeholders must also be factored into planning discussions – employees, suppliers, and clients (and others) may also be impacted. Furthermore, a process for communicating effectively with senior leadership teams during periods of disruption should also be considered.

There must be an established methodology for dealing with each type of incident, supported by an agreed set of response workflow charts. All key personnel should be acutely aware of the specific actions they need to undertake when a particular event occurs – the nature of this activity will depend on whether the problem exists in-house or in a customer-facing environment.

Part 2 : 8 Examples of Incident Management

We’ve listed a set of common incidents which could severely impact a business’ capacity to function.

Part 3 : Incident Management Process: 8 Key Steps

In the previous section, we’ve discussed the three components which must be considered in the creation of an incident management plan – but how does a company harness various elements when attempting to formulate an effective response to a security threat?

We’ve provided a guide below to illustrate incident management process steps:

Part 4 : Best Practices to Create Incident Management Workflow

Composing a credible, relevant, and effective incident management plan is in no way an easy task. Indeed, given the inherent complexity of IT infrastructures, which facilitate intensely inter-connected systems and support a wide variety of technological equipment, business continuity experts must ensure responses are robust, adaptable, and suitably detailed.

When pulling together a set of incident report policies, businesses would do well to consider the following tips and best practices we’ve provided below:

1Define clear roles and responsibilities for Incident Manager and response teams.

This may seem an obvious thing to consider, but in a highly-charged environment, individuals can often falter under pressure when unclear about their own role in the resolution process.

In order to ensure maximum accountability and transparency of duties, the responsibilities of each response team member (including the Incident Manager) should be publicized. This also helps individuals understand which colleague to report to/communicate with when specific situations arise.

2Establish a standardized incident classification system.

As alluded to earlier, in order to calibrate the correct level of response, threats must be filtered through an appropriate classification system. A set of pre-determined indicators should be used to help accurately categorize each risk, which compel IT teams to consider stakeholder impact, operational functionality, and brand integrity.

3Develop a comprehensive incident response framework.

In order to optimize the quality and efficiency of their response to cybersecurity attacks, it’s highly recommended that businesses deploy a remote mobile defense management system. These sophisticated platforms empower companies to protect networked devices without having to undertake any type of manual intervention.

Indeed, remote MDM’s can independently detect, diagnose, and address risks to security, providing relevant updates to IT teams along the way. Furthermore, they can ‘push’ tailor-made security profiles and policies onto specific or groups of devices, ensuring company assets are primed to handle common environmental threats, and end-user access to confidential corporate data is controlled.

Below, we’ve highlighted several of the defense mechanisms integrated into remote mobile device management systems – each of these are specifically focused on protecting company assets:

4Establish escalation procedure and ensure smooth communication channels.

As well as being provisioned to directly tackle threats that materialize within corporate networks, pre-installed security profiles also instruct remote MDM systems to escalate specific risks when unable to deliver a solution, or when activity requires some form of human intervention.

Businesses should ensure they have a clear internal escalation process, with relevant stakeholders notified dependent on severity level. An agreed method for communicating issues should also be in place, which sets out how to connect with the right people at the right time.

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5Reviewing performance, and subsequently creating a plan for improvement.

Whenever a major incident occurs, it’s vital that businesses reflect on the quality of their response, investigating the impact any preventative measures had on external parties (i.e., clients, suppliers, vendors), internal employees, and of course, the general operation. When this piece of work is completed, a suitable incident management process improvement plan can be created, detailing areas of the incident management process that require further attention, and any important learnings from the event.

6Regular training.

Establishing a comprehensive internal training programme ensures employees keep relevant knowledge up to date, and acquire new skills and expertise. As a result, IT operatives are better equipped to deliver their role, and are well-positioned to protect the business from current security threats.

Part 5 : 5 Incident Management Process Improvement Ideas

1) Streamline Incident Reporting Process

Simplify the steps involved in incident reporting. And, to establish a quick-and-easy mechanism entry, such as a self-service portal or mobile app.

2) Automate Classification and Ranking

Utilizing AI learning algorithms and cloud computing are effective ways to reduce time, and, further, to figure out solutions faster.

3) Use Point-to-point Incident Management Software

Since unexpected issues are different and happen across various carriers. Use oriented tools can better solve problems.

For instance, AIOps platforms for cause analysis and monitoring; on-call scheduling tools for alert routing and communication; mobile device management solutions for COBO/BYOD devices issues; remote device management solutions for commercial equipment malfunction; etc.

4) Develop a Knowledge Base

Build up a knowledge repository to save occurred incidents, solutions, and best practices. This helps identify similar incidents and make a faster problem-solving plan.

Some MDM solutions are available to create one which applies Chat AI.

Part 6 : Incident Response Plan Example: How to Use MDM Automated Workflow

Incident management includes fields from hardware to software. Devices, as one of the management objects, also require an incident management strategy. To impletement the incident management process, device management solution might be the best tool to help.

A mobile device management solution is able to set up automate workflow and take actions. Here are some examples of using incident response workflow.

Before starting, you need to have a AirDroid Business account and enroll device to the organization. Learn MDM enrollment.

Part 7 : Why Do Businesses Need an Incident Management Process?

So, why is it so important for businesses to install an effective incident management process? What are the potential repercussions of not being able to reduce the risks associated with the outbreak of a major incident?

In the points below, we provide an answer to these pressing questions, and in doing so illustrate just how vital a clear, efficient, and fit for purpose incident management plan can be.

FAQs

What’s the difference between IM, ITSM, ITAM, ITIL?

Maverick

A brief description on each of these processes is provided below:
IM (Incident Management) – The process used by businesses when attempting to resolve issues causing operational disruption.
ITSM (IT service management) – The process used by businesses to identify, organize, and deliver customer support solutions.
ITAM (IT asset management) – The process used by businesses to provision, maintain, and update company assets, whether that work is performed in relation to devices, networks, or other IT-related properties.
ITIL (Information Technology Infrastructure Library) – A comprehensive guide to a business’ IT infrastructure, which is used to help swiftly identify, diagnose, and resolve issues which emerge on corporate networks.

What are some common incident management tools?

Maverick

PagerDuty, VictorOps, BigPanda, ServiceNow, BMC Helix ITSM, xMatters, SolarWinds Service Desk, and you can also use MDM/EMM/UEM solutions like AirDroid Business for remote control and monitoring devices.

How do businesses measure the effectiveness of an incident management workflow response?

Maverick

Investigate whether the issue which caused the workflow to trigger has been resolved, review whether there was any impact on the core operation whilst the response activity was undertaken, check-in with all relevant stakeholders – how did the workflow action effect IT teams, employees, suppliers, and customers.