Building a business from the ground up takes a lot of patience and strategic decisions. You’ll spend time developing marketing plans, hiring new employees, training staff, and so much more. The road from the floor to the sky is filled with challenges, but one of them that you don’t want to neglect is security for your technology and data.
It’s far too easy to write it off as one of those things that only happens to other businesses, but sleuthing hackers are constantly looking for opportunities to steal data and wreak havoc. And if you don’t have adequate managed detection and response for your business, you’re their perfect target. Here are the top reasons why security for your business is essential.
Protects your reputation
You want customers and clients to trust you. If you have a major security breach, then it’s not something you are going to be able to keep quiet for very long. If you remember the big breach from Target, it led to a lack of trust for quite a while. Their profits sank by a whopping 43%, and this huge dip set them back for a long time.
It also started a series of high-profile attacks, too, which led these businesses to realize how inadequate their policies and safeguards were at the time. Many of these businesses lost their reputation for a while, and they had to spend time earning back their customers’ trust again.
Safeguards you from data loss
Aside from copying and stealing data, hackers can go in and corrupt data, as well. Data loss isn’t just about someone else having it, either. It’s also an issue that they have access to it and can change or destroy it. By having a security plan for your business, you better protect your data so that you have access to it when you need it.
Keeps your client data protected
Think about all the stores with store credit cards. They have access to sensitive information. For instance, they have their clients’ home addresses, names, and social security numbers on file. Furthermore, they have information that can be very valuable to online thieves.
Having good security in place helps keep that data protected and ultimately protects your customers and clients, as well. You can help protect others from identity theft simply by securing their information online.
Puts money in your pocket
You might think that good security costs too much money, but the truth is that it costs too much money not to have good security. A well-designed system with all the right safeguards automates many of the tasks that used to be done by a large team of people.
This automation means that the skilled tech team you do have can be better suited to other tasks. This ultimately puts more money in your pockets, as you aren’t paying salaries and benefits to a computer for the services they provide. It’s an example of working smarter not harder.
Protects employees
Not only does your company store customer information, but it also has important data on your employees. When you have insecure systems, that data is at risk. With a good security plan in place, you can be sure that your employees will also be protected. It’s critical to create a technology plan that includes the best security. You wouldn’t want to put your employees’ financial future at risk because of your naivete that everything will be fine.
Helps your business stay up and running
Product-based businesses rely on e-commerce to keep everything running. While your databases need to be strong it’s also important to include the right safeguards on your website. If you don’t, it can impact your ability to take orders, process them, and even ship them. If hackers broke just one part of your process, they would effectively be shutting down your business — at least temporarily.
Boosts productivity
Systems without good security typically tend to run slower. Improved speeds and uptime mean that your employees can get more work done quickly. This means that the technology at work won’t be the cause of slow work speeds. With increased system reliability, employees can be more productive with their time.
Final thoughts
It’s evident that having the best tech security is essential for your business. It protects you and your customers, and it also improves your reputation. When your customers and clients know that their data is protected, then they are more likely to do business with you. And in turn, they might also recommend you to their friends, as well.