Two of the focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. As a business owner, you want to always be conscious of threats to your operations and to be proactive about them. The following contributed post is entitled, 3 Threats That Could Bring Your Business To Its Knees.
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When it comes to running a company, it certainly can be a risky business! In fact, there are often all sorts of threats that loom over your business, that could quickly bring everything you have worked so hard and so long for, crashing to the ground. Fortunately, proper planning can significantly minimize the risk that such threats pose to your company. A topic you can read more about below.
Compliance Risk
Compliance is how well your business meets the laws and guidelines set out by the countries and sectors that it operates in. For example, in many places, companies will be expected to protect customer data, protect employees’ health and safety, and protect service users by acting within strict guidelines and operating codes.
Additionally, if your business fails to meet such codes, you make yourself vulnerable to many risks. The first of these is the fine and punitive action professional organizations, governments, and private citizens can take against you. While the second is that by intentionally or accidentally not complying, you can jeopardize the reputation of your business. Something that can lead to a lack of customer trust and so negatively impacts on success.
Therefore, always familiarize yourself with the codes relating to your business. You must also demonstrate that you are doing all in your power to meet them while also keeping the necessary documentation. Of course, if you are unsure or unclear on any official rules or guidelines, consulting a legal specialist in the areas in which your business operates is best.
Physical risk
Another type of threat you must plan for when running a business is physical risk. There many of these that need to be considered depending on your location, including flooding and earthquakes. Then there is fire, which is not so location-dependent and is a threat that can wipe out your assets and pose a genuine threat to the life of your employees and clients.
The good news is that there are several actions you can take to minimize the risk of a fire occurring and the risk of it causing damage and injury. One such step is to ensure that any buildings you own or lease are constructed with fire safety in mind. Something that may mean using resources such as fire curtains in large open plan spaces. The reason being that they block space off, preventing a fire from spreading and making it much safer.
Security risk
Finally, when it comes to threats to your business, you must carefully consider any security risks. This means dealing with both real-life perils such as burglary, and vandalism, and cybersecurity issues.
To that end, you must give as much attention (if not more) to your online security as you do the protection of your buildings. Something that means you will need to consider tactics such as two-factor authentication for users, and robust cybersecurity policy and training. Also, finding data storage providers that use the most up to date cybersecurity systems possible is essential here too.
