For many New Zealand businesses, the Christmas and summer holiday period means reduced staffing, shorter operating hours and offices that may be unattended for several days or weeks.
While your team deserves a well-earned break, your business technology still needs attention. Cyber threats do not take holidays, backups can fail without anyone noticing, and an unexpected system problem can quickly become difficult to resolve when key staff are unavailable.
Before closing the office for the year, take the time to review these seven areas of your IT environment.
1. Confirm Your Backups Are Working
A backup is only useful if it completes successfully and your business can restore the information it needs. Simply seeing a backup job configured in your software does not guarantee that your data can be recovered.
Before the holiday period, check that:
- Your scheduled backups are completing successfully.
- Recent backup reports have been reviewed.
- Important business data is included in the backup plan.
- Backup storage is accessible and has sufficient capacity.
- Your recovery process is documented and can be followed by an authorised person.
If possible, arrange an appropriate test restore to confirm that critical files or systems can actually be recovered. Follow your normal backup and recovery procedures when testing.
Remember that a backup connected to your network may not protect against every ransomware incident. Review whether your backup strategy includes appropriate isolation, access controls and protection against unauthorised deletion.
2. Review Cybersecurity and Endpoint Protection
A quiet office can make it easier for suspicious activity to go unnoticed. If your team is away and nobody is reviewing security alerts, a problem could remain undetected for longer than usual.
Before closing, make sure you:
- Confirm that endpoint protection is installed and reporting correctly on business devices.
- Review outstanding security alerts and investigate anything that requires attention.
- Check that operating systems and critical applications receive appropriate security updates.
- Review administrator accounts and remove access that is no longer required.
- Confirm that multi-factor authentication is enabled for important accounts wherever supported.
Avoid making rushed changes immediately before closing. Security updates and configuration changes should be appropriately tested, especially on systems that support essential business operations.
3. Check Microsoft 365 and Email Security
Email remains important to everyday business, even when most employees are on leave. Attackers may also take advantage of the holiday period to send convincing invoice scams, impersonation emails and fraudulent payment requests.
Review your Microsoft 365 environment and confirm that:
- Multi-factor authentication and relevant sign-in protections are configured.
- Suspicious sign-ins and outstanding security alerts have been investigated.
- Mail forwarding rules and mailbox permissions are appropriate.
- Shared mailboxes and important business contacts have suitable access arrangements.
- Staff know how to report suspicious messages and unexpected requests for payments or credentials.
If your business uses automatic replies, check that the messages do not disclose unnecessary details about staff absences, travel plans or internal arrangements.
4. Review Remote Access and User Accounts
Some employees, managers or IT providers may need remote access while the office is closed. That access should be deliberate, secure and limited to what each person needs.
Before the shutdown:
- Confirm who genuinely needs remote access during the break.
- Disable or remove access for former employees and unnecessary accounts.
- Check that remote access tools are secured and kept up to date.
- Verify that privileged accounts have appropriate protection.
- Ensure authorised staff know how to request help if access fails.
Do not leave remote access enabled for convenience alone. Review each arrangement and make sure it follows your organisation's security requirements.
5. Install Important Updates and Check Your Equipment
Outdated software and neglected equipment can create problems at inconvenient times. However, installing every available update just before closing can also introduce unexpected compatibility issues.
A sensible pre-holiday maintenance check includes:
- Reviewing pending operating system and application updates.
- Prioritising important security fixes.
- Checking available storage on servers, computers and backup destinations.
- Reviewing monitoring alerts for network equipment, servers and other critical devices.
- Confirming that essential hardware is operating normally.
Schedule maintenance with enough time to test the results and address any problems before the business closes. Avoid unnecessary changes to stable systems at the last minute.
6. Prepare a Holiday IT Support Plan
Even with good preparation, technology problems can still happen. The important thing is knowing what to do if they occur while your usual team members are unavailable.
Prepare a simple support plan that identifies:
- Who to contact if a critical system stops working.
- How to report an urgent IT or cybersecurity incident.
- Which systems and services are essential to business operations.
- Who is authorised to approve emergency work or expenses.
- Where important recovery instructions and contact details are stored.
If your business relies on an external IT provider, confirm its holiday support arrangements, operating hours and process for handling urgent incidents. Do not assume that normal support hours will apply during public holidays.
7. Secure the Office Before Everyone Leaves
Physical security is also part of protecting your IT environment. Unattended offices, server rooms and networking equipment should be included in your shutdown checklist.
Before the last person leaves, remember to:
- Lock server rooms and restrict access to network equipment.
- Secure laptops, removable storage and other portable devices.
- Check that important equipment has appropriate power protection.
- Follow your normal shutdown procedures for equipment that does not need to remain running.
- Confirm that essential services, backups and monitoring will continue operating where required.
Do not simply switch off everything at the wall. Servers, network equipment, backup systems and other critical devices may need to remain powered on to perform their normal functions. Follow the requirements of your particular environment.
Bonus: Make Sure Your Business Can Recover Quickly
A successful holiday shutdown is not just about preventing problems. It is also about making sure your business can resume normal operations smoothly when everyone returns.
Before closing, identify any outstanding IT issues that should be addressed before the new year. Document planned maintenance, check upcoming licence renewals and make sure critical systems have the support they need.
If your business has experienced recurring IT issues during the year, the holiday period can also be a useful opportunity to plan improvements for the months ahead.
Get Your Business IT Ready Before the Break
The Christmas and summer holiday period should be a time for your team to relax, not worry about whether your systems are secure or your backups are working.
By checking your backups, reviewing cybersecurity, securing remote access and preparing a support plan, you can reduce avoidable risks and make it easier to respond if something goes wrong.
You do not need to wait until the last working day to get started. Identify outstanding issues now, schedule essential maintenance and give your business enough time to prepare.
Need Help Preparing Your IT for the Holidays?
Imatec provides IT support for businesses across Matamata and Tauranga, helping organisations maintain secure, reliable and well-managed IT environments.
Whether you need help reviewing backups, checking endpoint protection, maintaining Microsoft 365 or preparing your systems for the holiday period, our team can help you identify issues and plan the next steps.
Get in touch with Imatec before the holiday rush to discuss your business IT requirements.
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