Is Your Business Properly Protected?

If you're running any kind of business then there's no doubt that it probably means a great deal to you. Your business is likely the result of years of hard work and labor in the pursuit of something that you really care about. Because of that, the idea of something bad happening to your business is something that you would really rather not think about at all.

However, if you avoid thinking about the kinds of things that could go wrong in your business, that's a serious mistake. After all, there are so many risks to your business out there that if you're not making sure that you're taking all of the right precautions to avoid them, you're leaving your business vulnerable. With that in mind, here are just some of the things that you should be doing to protect your business as much as possible.

Hire an attorney

Staying on the right side of the law is always an essential part of a business and something that a lot of business owners take for granted. However, this is a mistake. Sure, you would never knowingly engage in any illegal activity but business laws can be complex and are often changing all the time. From drug testing laws to the current laws around employee wages, you want to be sure that you're always within the confines of the law no matter what. Often the best way to do this is to hire an attorney who can help you stay fully within all necessary legal limits. They can provide plenty of legal counsel and support in the unlikely event that you do get into some kind of legal trouble, but they can also help to ensure that you never end up in that situation in the first place.

Take precautions when introducing new elements

Growth is one of the most crucial parts of any business. This is especially true in the fast-paced modern world. Without growing and pushing forward, your business risks stagnating and falling behind the competition. However, one of the most common mistakes that a lot of business owners make is that they don't think about growing their business in a sustainable way. If you're just adding new elements to your business without giving it all that much thought, then you could end up doing more harm to it than good. The truth is that the more you push your business forward, the more important it becomes to be careful. Introducing things like new technology or new products to your business can be incredibly beneficial but it's important to consider if they're actually right for your business in the first place.

Invest in security measures

All business owners know how important security is and yet it still often seems to end up getting neglected all too often. A lot of the time this is because security is kind of invisible when it's working. If your security measures are up to scratch and working properly, it's actually pretty easy to start to take them for granted. Now, the comfort that your security measures bring is a positive thing but it's important not to let that level of comfort go too far. Never let it reach the point that you forget why you have your security measures in the place in the first place. Whether it's securing the physical premises of your business or making sure that everything is fully protected and backed-up when it comes to the digital side of your business, the right security measures are some of the most important things that you can invest in when it comes to your business.

Create a positive culture within the business

There is no doubt how important your employees are to your business in general. But you shouldn't forget about what a difference they can make to how well protected your business is. Of course, that's only the case if they're fully conscious about safety and security in your business as a whole. The best way to make sure that this is the case is to create the most secure and positive culture possible in the workplace. From simple things like making sure that all of your employees have secure passwords set up and encourage them to back up their data and work as often as possible. Not only that but by creating a culture of security at work, you reduce the risks that your employees pose to your business. If they are all fully aware of the importance of protecting the business, it's far less likely that they could end up leaving in vulnerable, either by mistake or on purpose.

Be responsible

As much as it can often feel as though you're protecting your business from many things coming from the outside world, it's just as important to remember that you have the potential to put your business at risk just as much as anyone else. This is particularly true when it comes to how you present yourself publicly. The things that you say and do will massively impact the perception of your business so make sure that you're being as careful as possible about how you publicly present yourself can make a huge difference when it comes to keeping your business protected.

No matter what, there are always going to be risks to your business. That's just a fact of life and something that you have to come to terms with pretty quickly. But with this advice, at least you're going to be in the best possible position to create a suit of armor for your business that will help you to defend against those risks and dangers as effectively as possible. The key is to make sure that you stay vigilant when it comes to protecting your business. As soon as you become complacent and start to take your business's success for granted is the moment that you leave yourself open to things going seriously wrong. If you're ever in doubt, the best thing that you can do is to lean in the direction of being overly cautious rather than taking too many serious risks.

4 Totally Necessary Security Features For Your New Business Premises

Hotels For 18 Year Olds

Such is the industry today that you might not think you need an office for your business. Plenty of entrepreneurs prefer to go rogue and work from home, coffee shops, or even the local library. However, if you decide to invest in a corporate office, co-working space, or an executive suite, you should factor in IT and physical location security. Making your office the safest possible place for you and your staff is issue number one, yet bosses can let their standards slide. Allowing people into the office that aren’t welcome might turn out ugly, which is why there are specific security features in which you’ll want to invest.

Here are the four most significant ones.

A Receptionist with a Complete Reception Area

Receptionists or reception areas may sound old-fashioned and outdated, but they are excellent at keeping unwanted guests out of a location as well as keeping the building safe. The reason is simple: they have eyes on everyone who enters and exits the premises and act as a security buffer. Therefore, they can stop anyone they deem to be suspicious and ask them for a couple of non-intrusive questions to determine whether they belong in the office. The incredible thing is that by doing their job, it doesn’t make people feel uneasy or mistreated. As long as the person is polite and welcoming, nine out of ten guests will gladly sign-in, adhere to office policies, and interact positively.

Access Control

A more sophisticated option is to install an access control system in your workplace. By doing this, anyone without the right clearance wouldn’t be able to get in the main door, never mind into the hub of the office. Your employees, on the other hand, merely need to bring a retractable key chain with their I.D and the door will slide open. As far as security and accessibility in one go, access control technology is at the top of the tree for small to medium-sized companies, as well as big ones. There’s no reason to rely on alarms and deadbolts any longer!

Door Chimes

Okay, maybe you don’t have offices, but you have a shop in which you do the majority of your business. In this case, the two options above aren’t suitable. You require a security feature that’s effective that doesn’t turn-off customers. The last thing shoppers want to do is have to press a button to buy their bread and milk! Thankfully, humble door chimes are on hand to help. Placed above the main entryway, they sound every time the door opens and shuts, alerting you to new customers. So, you’ll know when somebody has arrived and exited without investing in fancy gadgets.

Exterior Lighting

Finally, please don’t underestimate the usefulness of outdoor lighting. Thieves hate brightly-lit spaces as it gives them fewer places to hide while doing their undercover work. As a result, burglars are more likely to target nearby businesses that don’t have huge lights shining overhead. So, installing lights strategically around the property could make your company, store, or office less of a target. The energy bill might be high, but you can leave them on all night to ensure cameras and passers-by can see thieves trying to case the building.

Can you think of any more that are must-haves for your business?

Staying Cool When Disaster Strikes Your Business

One of the most important things about running a business is being able to keep your cool. Everybody, no matter what industry they worked in, has enough boss-related horror stories to fill several volumes of Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark. These bosses may be successful, but how their reactions impact their employees is anything but. 

If you can stay cool, calm, and collected when unexpected disasters strike, you will be better prepared to deal with them as soon as possible. There’s no point in letting the pressure get to you, and even if it does, you shouldn’t let your employees know this to ensure everybody remains calm. 

To give you an idea of what to do, here are some of the most common disasters founders will face when running their business.

IT Failures

With companies relying on computers and technology more than ever before, it’s easy to fall into a routine of expecting everything to work first, second, and one-hundredth time around. However, as useful as computers can be for day-to-day operations, they are not always perfect. 

Your business will encounter IT failures at some point, and these failures can range from cybersecurity breaches to server downtime to disappearing data to systems just not working at all. This throws a cyber-wrench in the works and can disrupt the workday immediately. 

Without computers and mobile devices, your business may not be able to function, and if your business cannot function, then you could lose out on contracts, clients, money, and precious time. However, you can be ready to overcome these problems by working with companies such as Charles IT that will be prepared to attend to your needs at a moment’s notice, no matter what time of day to ensure the downtime is minimal. 

Losing Your Star Player

Operational disasters are another thing you should be wary of, and one of the critical operational disasters that can affect business, both large and small are losing your star player. This employee could be your best seller, your motivational manager, or someone who helps bring positivity to the office. 

Whenever you lose this player, you immediately recognize a shift in the atmosphere. It’s the opposite of when you lose a toxic employee who brought everybody down. However, while large businesses can often make adjustments relatively seamlessly due to a broader pool of personnel, it is not as simple for small businesses. 

The star will need to give their notice, which is typically two weeks, but sometimes as long as a month before departing, and this will provide you with the chance to vet potential candidates whether you promote from within or bring in someone from elsewhere. If possible, get them started early to work with the departing employee for a few days so that any bumps in the changeover process are flattened. 

Marketing Mishaps

No matter how slick or forward-thinking your marketing department is, there is always a chance that there will be some marketing mishaps along the way. These mishaps can include a lack of research, failing to find a unique selling point, or ignoring the needs of the customer. This can also include an issue when your company is featured in the press—perhaps your company name was spelled incorrectly. Another significant issue is when companies try to jump on new internet trends and miss the mark entirely, sometimes even delivering an offensive campaign. 

They say that there’s no such thing as bad publicity, and as long as they are talking about you, it should be considered a success. However, these mistakes can wreak havoc on your personal reputation and business image, and while people have shorter memories than most due to the frantic 24-hour news cycle, it can still be hard to recover. 

Before launching any campaign, make sure that the plan is seen by everyone who could offer advice and decide whether this campaign is the right one for your business. Doing this will make you more prepared for any backlash, but with the right eye, that backlash should never arrive. So the lesson here is to be smart and prevent issues or crises from emerging in the first place.

Late or Non-Existent Stock

If yours is a business that sells a product rather than service, then there is always the fear of late or non-existent stock affecting orders, both current and future. These supply errors are another thing that can ruin your reputation, even if it is nobody’s fault. 

The most obvious solution is to ensure you have an abundance of stock that will prevent any orders from missing their delivery date. However, this can lead to having too much of this stock, which can leave you with boxes of potentially useless products you will find hard to shift. 

Instead, consider being in constant communication with your suppliers and make arrangements in the event of a missed delivery. You can work out the best way to reimburse or compensate customers, while also ensuring you understand where the missing stock is and when it will arrive. 

Something Kinda Natural

Natural disasters or Acts of God, are something you hope never affects your business or anyone for that matter. However, depending on where your business is based, natural disaster threats, whether a storm, hurricane, or flood, among other issues, may always be present. 

These disasters can prevent your employees from getting to work, or they can cause blackouts and severe damages to your office. It’s important to have a contingency plan to overcome these disasters when they happen to ensure you do not lose any time. 

You don’t want to put your employees’ health at risk, regardless of how important meetings and launches might be. So if they cannot make it to work, do not force them. Likewise, if the office is damaged, then having Work-From-Home procedures in place will allow everyone to carry on without risking their health. 

A Cool Head In Crisis

Keeping your cool won’t just have benefits for your employees but also for you, too. While you can’t prepare for every eventuality, you can still do everything you can to stay calm when they arise. If you are relaxed, so too are your employees, and this will allow everybody to work together to work out your next move and overcome the disaster - whatever it might be - confidently and effectively.