Business interruption is the top risk concern for 41% of business owners. Business security, cybercrime, compliance, market changes, and climate change are some of the other risk concerns.
As soon as you open your doors, you expose your business to certain risks. The art of business is learning how to mitigate those risks so they don’t become major issues.
Failure to recognize these risks is enough to bring down your business. A lack of business security could lead to stolen products, cyberattacks, or engagement of your customers and employees.
Read on to take control of the risks of running a business and learn how to manage them.
1. Assess Your Risks
You can’t mitigate what you don’t know. A business security audit is an assessment of every department in your organization to assess the security risks.
Go through your business and create a checklist for each area. For example, there will be a security assessment of the exterior of the building. Create another one for cybersecurity, employee safety inside the building, document control, and any regulations you have to comply with.
Audit each area of the business on a regular basis to identify the major risks and develop a plan to address them.
2. Create Policies to Mitigate Risks
Businesses need clearly defined policies that instruct employees on how to identify, prevent, and report risks to the business.
Start by developing a cybersecurity policy. This should address who has access to what information, who is responsible for cybersecurity, and how data gets stored.
Employees should receive instructions about business device management and using the network for personal use.
Building access is another form of business security. In your audit, you may have uncovered that it’s easy to walk into your building. It would make sense to control access with key cards.
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Does your office have an emergency plan? Larger offices have designated people certified in CPR and first aid to help people in emergencies. It also helps to have an evacuation plan and response plan.
3. Use a Risk Management Solution
Security isn’t the only risk that you have to manage. Compliance and safety are two other potential liabilities that you have to navigate.
A risk management information system (RMIS) is a solution that allows you to keep your risks in a single place. This allows decision-makers to make informed decisions based on data.
RMIS puts your business in a position to be proactive instead of reactive. Solutions like CBCS and Ventiv are examples of RMIS.
Tighten Business Security for a Stronger Business
You have to know how to mitigate risks in your business in order to thrive. Business security is a great place to start.
Look at all of the threats to your business, create policies for everyone to follow, and use risk management software to be proactive in managing security and other threats to the business.
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