---
title: "Guides"
description: "Plain-English guides for owners, CFOs, and controllers on technology, cyber risk, and AI."
url: "https://northcreektechnology.com/guides/"
---

# Guides

Straight answers to the questions owners, CFOs, and controllers ask about their technology and the risk that comes with it. Each guide says what to check, what to ask, and what you can do with your own team first.

- [Is your cyber insurance application true?](https://northcreektechnology.com/guides/cyber-insurance-application.md): The insurer reads your application again after a claim. Before you sign the renewal, check every "yes" against what's really turned on, starting with multi-factor sign-in, backups, and monitoring.
- [How to answer a customer security questionnaire honestly](https://northcreektechnology.com/guides/customer-security-questionnaire.md): A security questionnaire from a large customer is a promise you make in writing. Answer what's true today, put a date on what isn't yet, and build an answer set you can reuse for the next one.
- [How to tell if your IT company is doing a good job](https://northcreektechnology.com/guides/evaluate-your-it-company.md): Most guides on this topic are written by IT companies that want your business. Before you switch, check eight things you can see for yourself, and give your current provider a fair chance to meet a written standard.
- [After a near-miss on a fake vendor payment](https://northcreektechnology.com/guides/vendor-payment-fraud.md): A near-miss on a fake bank change is a free warning. This week, find out how the attacker got the details, write down one verification rule, and put your bank's fraud number where accounts payable can see it.
- [How much should a company spend on IT?](https://northcreektechnology.com/guides/how-much-to-spend-on-it.md): Percentage of revenue is a starting point, not an answer. Industry changes the number more than size does. What matters more is what you're buying, what it costs per employee, and the risk you're carrying by spending too little.
- [Technology due diligence when you buy or sell a business](https://northcreektechnology.com/guides/technology-due-diligence.md): In most deals, technology gets a slide and a questionnaire. The surprises show up after close. A short, plain review before the deal tells a buyer what they're inheriting and gives a seller time to fix the cheap things first.
- [An AI policy your staff will actually follow](https://northcreektechnology.com/guides/ai-policy-for-employees.md): Your staff are already using AI tools, some on personal accounts. Banning them rarely works. Give people an approved tool, a short list of data that never goes in, and one page they can remember.