By the Team at Krypto IT | Cybersecurity Experts Serving Houston SMBs

As a CEO in Houston, you are likely comfortable interrogating your sales figures, your marketing ROI, and your operational overhead. But when it comes to Information Technology, many executives take a “hands-off” approach, assuming that as long as the computers turn on and the emails send, everything is fine.

This silence is a risk.

Technology is no longer a peripheral utility; it is the central nervous system of your business. In an era of AI-driven cyber threats and complex compliance mandates, “ignorance is bliss” is a strategy that leads to downtime, data breaches, and stalled growth. You don’t need to be a coder or a network engineer to lead your IT strategy, but you do need to be an effective investigator.

To ensure your business is actually protected and positioned for 2026, here are the five critical questions you should ask your current IT provider today. Pay close attention not just to the answers, but to how quickly and confidently they are delivered.

1. “If our main server or cloud environment failed right now, exactly how long would it take to be 100% operational again?”

Most IT guys will respond with, “Don’t worry, we have backups.” This is the wrong answer. A backup is just a pile of data; Recovery is a business process.

You are looking for two specific metrics:

• Recovery Time Objective (RTO): The maximum amount of time your business can be down before the financial damage becomes critical.
• Recovery Point Objective (RPO): How much data you are willing to lose (e.g., the last 15 minutes of work vs. the last 24 hours).

If your IT provider can’t give you a documented, tested time frame for recovery, you don’t have a disaster recovery plan—you have a hope. A true Managed Security Partner like Krypto IT tests these restores regularly to ensure that “15 minutes” actually means 15 minutes.

2. “When was the last time we performed a formal, external security audit or vulnerability scan?”

An IT provider “checking their own homework” is a major conflict of interest. It is very easy for a busy technician to overlook a misconfigured firewall or an unpatched legacy application because they’ve been looking at the same dashboard for years.

A proactive provider should welcome external validation. Ask for the results of the latest scan. If they haven’t run one in the last six months, your business is likely vulnerable to exploits that have emerged in that time frame. Security is dynamic; a “set it and forget it” mentality is a gift to hackers.

3. “How are we specifically defending against the ‘Human Element’ of cybersecurity?”

As we’ve mentioned in our previous guides, the most sophisticated firewall is useless if an employee clicks a malicious link.

Ask your IT guy: “What is our ongoing program for employee security awareness training?”

• If the answer is “We sent an email about it last year,” you are at risk.
• If the answer is “We have a continuous program of simulated phishing and bite-sized training modules,” you are building a Human Firewall.

In 2026, cyber-attacks are focused on identity and social engineering. Your IT strategy must include your people, not just your hardware.

4. “Do we have a ‘Zero Trust’ architecture for our remote and hybrid staff?”

The old “Moat and Castle” approach to IT—where everything inside the office is safe and everything outside is dangerous—is dead. With Houston’s thriving hybrid work culture, your data is being accessed from home Wi-Fi, coffee shops, and mobile networks.

Ask if your provider has implemented Zero Trust principles:

• Identity Verification: Is MFA (Multi-Factor Authentication) required for every login?
• Least Privilege: Do employees only have access to the specific files they need for their jobs?
• Device Health: Does the system check if a home laptop is updated and secure before letting it connect to the company drive?

5. “How does our current technology roadmap align with my business goals for the next 24 months?”

This is the question that separates a “technician” from a “partner.” An IT guy fixes what is broken. A partner helps you scale.

If you tell your IT provider you want to increase revenue by 20% or open a second location in Sugar Land, they should immediately be able to tell you how the current infrastructure will handle that load. They should be talking to you about cloud scalability, VOIP integration, and automation—not just about buying more RAM for old laptops.

Conclusion: The Answer is a Partnership

If your current IT provider stumbles on these questions, or if their answers are vague and technical, it may be time to reconsider the relationship. You deserve a partner who speaks the language of business and understands that their job is to protect your bottom line, not just your circuit boards.

At Krypto IT, we lead with these questions. We believe in transparency, documented recovery times, and strategic alignment. We don’t just manage your IT; we empower your leadership.

Are you ready for the truth about your IT health? Contact Krypto IT today for a complimentary “CEO Technology Audit” and let’s get the right answers for your business.