From the moment that you start your business, your top priority must lie with security — your business protection. Cyber attacks are becoming more prevalent in recent years, it is believed that 43% of cyber attacks target small business and in 2020, there could be a $150 million payout alone to businesses affected by fraudulent activity. In the initial setup of your business, looking at your demographics, your data and your finances is key and protecting those to the best of your ability will be paramount.
Business protection strategies
You must analyse the following information when you are deciding on the best business protection tactics:
- Establish employment agreements.
- Ensure that your employees are forbidden from revealing any confidential records.
- Apply for trademarks, patents & copyrights.
- Secure your information.
- Sign confidentiality agreements.
- Incorporate your business.
As a business owner or manager, it is our duty to be well aware of the people who are working for us. You must be very sure of who you are employing and the jobs that they do. Sometimes fraud can occur via someone who is already in the business and uses their power and information to do such an act. This is why it is important that the right staff have access to the business protection they should and that they are not left to do tasks that aren’t their jobs and left to find information that they should not have any access to. Conduct frequent and independent checks serve as a deterrent to fraud.
People must know that their work is being watched and this way, they are less likely to commit fraud. Set the tone at the top and implement this daily. You should analyse the data from all your staff and monitor any activity that seems to not fit the tone of their job or what they should be doing.
Also make your team very aware of the fraudulent activities that could occur as well as having them take extra caution and safety measurements, which may even include setting strong passwords as business protection.
Business protection for the lesser discussed types of fraud
There are many factors to consider for business protection, some of them you may not have even considered previously. However, it is also important to protect your insurances. Insurance fraud is any act committed to defraud an insurance process. This may occur when a claimant attempts to attain some information, money or advantage that they are not entitled to it. This could be a very concerning thing to happen in business. Be very aware of the following:
- Application fraud. Application fraud is when you knowingly provide incorrect information to your insurance company when you’re applying for a policy.
- Claims fraud.
- Forgery.
- Phony policy fraud.
For more information relating to this and the ways in which to prevent insurance fraud, please look at visallo.com. Insurance fraud impacts your business by possibly increasing premiums and can be damaging to your cashflow.
Will my business really be affected by fraud?
It is more than possible but it really is dependent upon the type of business that you have. If you are digitally based and you have a lot of information stored such as private information of people’s financial accounts, you may be more susceptible to a breach of data. Fraud of any kind can affect operations, opportunity cost of missing sales, losses of stock and your staff may become demotivated and lack passion for work again. To look at the bigger picture of fraud, it damages the industry in multiple ways. It is very expensive and decimates accounts, ruins reputations and can cause a decrease in morale. Businesses, owners and investors have lost billions over the past decade from the theft of cash and other assets. This means a lack of business opportunities and any pending business opportunities could be quashed instantly. This is a very difficult thing for any business to look at which is why prevention is better than the cure and you need to be well aware of the types of fraud as well as the things you are likely to come across.
Being armed with information is vital in order to be prepared for any type of data breach. Any type of attack could mean a loss of customers which could be catastrophic. You would not want to lose sight of your business goals and lose trusted customers as well as a damaged reputation which could hinder you in rebuilding your customer base. Be prepared for every eventuality and be focused on the things that matter.
