You’d hope that everyone that interacted with your business would bring nothing but positivity, but that’s sadly not the case. While it’ll be true for most people, this is the real world that we’re talking about here, and that means that some people will try to take advantage of what you’ve built.
In other cases, your business could be hurt through non-malicious means, though the result could be the same. In this blog, we’re going to take a look at a few essential tips you can take on board to protect your business.
Find Your Flaws
If you’re going to protect your business, then you’ll need to know what your weaknesses are. This could be in any number of areas, that’s what you’ll figure out during the analysis stage. If you don’t know what you’re looking for when it comes to this task, then look at hiring an outside expert to look for you.
They’ll have the expertise needed to tell you where you could be vulnerable. Once you’ve got the information, don’t just sit on it: work hard to shore things up and make your business more watertight.
Who You’re Hiring
By and large, your staff will be wonderfully talented and kind people, but unless you’re taking the proper precautions, then you could find that an outlier makes their way into your company. Did you know that most crime that happens against companies happens internally?
The best way to protect yourself is to be sure that the person you’re hiring is trustworthy. It’s important to look beyond the resume, and perform checks. This will mean following up with any references that they provided, and also performing a more thorough criminal background check, especially if it’s for a powerful position.
Digital Security
Your business will surely have a digital presence, both in the form of a website and internal systems. No matter how reliant you are on your data systems, it’s really important that you take the threat of cybercrime seriously. This is one of the fastest growing crimes, and it’s only projected to become even more common in the coming years.
There are multiple ways to keep your company safe from cyber attacks, including ensuring that your staff are fully trained when it comes to the best data practices (including password security), avoiding connected to public wifi networks when travelling for work, and working with an IT company — there’ll proactively monitor your network, and help to keep any intruders out.
Real-World Security
There’s a lot of focus on cybercrime, but it’s not as if the traditional way of committing a crime — in person — has gone out of fashion. Not at all, in fact: it still poses a real and sustained threat to businesses, who have to take steps to secure their premises. So don’t be complacent: while the risk is small, it can always happen, and if it does, then you could find yourself in real difficulty.
One of the best ways to protect your site is to visually deter potential criminals, which you can do by adding exterior motion-sensor lighting and getting a commercial CCTV installation. In addition, it’s recommended that you keep any of your expensive items locked out of sight. The aim is to make it as difficult as people that do make it into your site to cause damage.
Unexpected Threats
Most business owners are guilty of falling into a false sense of security. Things might be going well, but what if things change, as they always do? For the most part, these changes are slow to develop, but sometimes things change suddenly. For instance, you could have a catastrophic roof leak, which damages all of your infrastructure.
Or a supplier could go out of business, or a rival company could open next door. While you can’t always prevent these things from happening, you can control your response. If you have healthy cash-flow, cash in reserve, and insurance, then you’ll be able to weather unexpected problems much better.
Stay Humble
Finally, be sure to keep an eye on yourself too. It seems strange to say, but sometimes business owners are their own worst enemy. A little bit of success can end up going to their head. Stay humble, and also look after yourself. In a quest to find success, some owners work themselves silly, to the point where they’re no longer working as well as they could if they were looking after themselves. Always put your health and energy levels first, and the rest will follow.
