Protecting Your Most Valuable Asset: Business Data and Information

You have built a strong customer base in your CRM system, and all information related to them - Their profiles, their preferences, their interests and their histories. I’m not sure that you can afford to lose any single of them!

You also have plenty of sensitive data stored in your business’ data storage, and your decision making is based on those data and information extracted from them.

The data and information of your small business are very important for the continuity of your business.

Unfortunately, many small business owners neglect the security of their vital information.

Some of the business owners I know not deliberately neglect them - they are mis-informed, as well as, don’t have any ideas what a force majeure or simply a bad competitor can do to your business.

Data protection is often overlooked - enforce it now, before it’s too late

Data Protection is becoming a big issue when your business starts to gain momentum in its growth - revenue is up, customer and client base is well-built, and business communication is becoming more and more complex and crucial for your business.

A possible scenario is as follow:

You are on the go to meet your potential clients abroad. You bring the information needed to pitch your sales to them - some of the information are sensitive and confidential. All is stored to your USB drive.

All of a sudden, out of nowhere, a pick pocket try to strip your cash. Unfortunately, what he gets is your USB drive, not your money! You have your back up ready, indeed - thanks to your cautious nature. However, did you realise you just lost your business sensitive and confidential data to a pick pocket?

You can carry on with your presentation, but your data is, highly possible, not that confidential anymore.

Ouch! You wish you could do something to prevent this to happen.

…and that is only part of the problem

This is why Enterprise Security is very, very important:

What if the pick pocket guy in the scenario above is a smart pick pocket - he access the information in your USB drive, and found out that the information within is very valuable to your competitor?

You could say, “That’s very unlikely to happen!” - I’ll say, “If they can do it with identity theft, they can do it with your business’ top secret information and data theft.”

How to secure your business’ vital information

Backing up your business’ data and information is mandatory, but it is not adequate in itself.

You also need your data encrypted and secured, in such a way, that if the data is stolen or hacked, the data is rendered useless.

There are some companies offering data protection and enterprise security, including Email Security and mobile device security - you can start by browsing the Internet to look for one that might suite your business need.

Do-it-yourself with your in-house staffs could be a good option, but I won’t recommend it to you, for two reasons:

• No matter how skilled your staffs are, experience plays an important role - hiring experienced company which expertise is enterprise security is a more viable option.
• Even if your staffs are highly-knowledgeable in data protection and encryption, having in-house team is not cheap. Outsourcing your data protection to a specialist in enterprise security may saves you a lot of hard-earned cash.

Secure your data, before it’s too late.

Ivan Widjaya
Securing information
Image by CarbonNYC.

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