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As we move toward the New Year, we are in many ways entering a new world when it comes to protecting your business. Think of a bank for instance, once upon a time, a bank would have had a large vault where it stored its most precious assets – guarded by an incredibly thick door like the one in the photo of this article… yet, nowadays, criminals are focusing more on hacking into computer systems rather than vaults, as this is where the money really lies.
Similarly, with your business, whilst it can be helpful to have a security guard in place if you run a retail store and shutters on the windows for when it’s closed, the most valuable piece in the security puzzle today would appear to be data based. When you think of cybercrime and cyberterrorism – such as what happened with the NHS, it’s easy to see just how catastrophic cybercrime can be.
In this sense, we need to start thinking about how to protect our businesses in the New Year, with a slightly new paradigm.
1. PROTECT YOUR DATA
Of course, we all know the power of protecting our data with anti-virus software and the like… similarly to how we have the importance of making regular backups drilled into us, yet so often, people fail to do these basic things.
2. BE COMPLIANT
You will want to keep in line with all relevant laws. In particular, you’ll want to keep up with your taxes and financial compliance, which is where companies like QAccounting.com can be particularly helpful.
In this sense it really does pay to work with the best professionals, such as accountants and solicitors, you can afford – as they offer a fantastic precautionary measure to ensure compliance and a comforting safety net if you do come unstuck.
3. GET GOOD INSURANCE
A strong insurance product can protect you against most storms and provides a safety net that, presuming they pay out, can make you whole again in the event of an issue.
One of the most overlooked types of business insurance, however, particularly as a freelancer or microbusiness is one that protects you, personally, from loss of earnings as the business owner – due to ill health.
4. PREVENT INCIDENTS
As a business owner, you tend to be vicariously liable for the actions of your staff. This means that even if an employee does something reckless and negligent, you as the employer could be hauled into court, as in law, you are perceived as being liable for the actions of those in your employ.
For this reason, you will want to prevent such incidents happening by providing adequate training, as the best defence to a claim arising from staff negligence is to show that you took all reasonable steps to mitigate (avoid) that particular risk, for instance, by providing adequate training.
5. PROTECT YOUR GADGETS
Many business owners are heavily reliant on a plethora of devices which are exposed to many risks in the course of daily life. Take out a good insurance policy and do what you can to protect your devices (and the data on them) from harm.
You may also like: Audit Log Best Practices for Information Security
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