When you own a business the first things at your top of the list are normally focused around the day to day runnings and sales. It can be really easy to forget how important it is to keep your business secure. You don’t want to put a huge effort into your venture to late find that something has gone wrong because you haven’t put the right security measures in place.

Whether you have high-value stock, use online regularly( like most businesses) or are at risk of theft you want to make sure you pay attention. You should be thinking about things such as legal documents, records, marketing data, cash stored on-site, stock and the people who are on the inside of your business. Now think about if you’re doing everything you can to protect them.

From smartphones, doors through to a dispensary security plan, there are things you can do to protect your business from loss. Not every suggestion below will apply to your business, but if you have a look through the list you will be able to take the right steps to protect your business, your people and your assets.

Use Strong and Secure Passwords

You need to have a strong password policy in place for you and all your employees to follow. It might seem inconvenient, but it’s nowhere near as inconvenient as it would be if you experienced a data breach or someone hacking your network. You need to think about using a password strength indicator for both you and your staff to use. It’s a really simple yet effective way of ensuring the passwords that are being used aren’t too simple and are going to protect your data. Once you have passwords set you need to make sure it’s never written down, the reminders don’t include any of the passwords and that they are changed on a regular basis, every three months is best working practice, however, don’t forget that passwords need to be changed if there have been any changes in staff. If a member of staff leaves who has access to classified information or keylog entries for secure doors, it’s imperative that you change them.

Secure Your Smartphone

A responsible business owner will always make sure their smartphone is secure. Every time you get it out to use it, it can be seen as a threat. It can hold a huge amount of data and it most likely holds the key to loads of your business details. Often you will have auto logins enabled on your smartphone for ease of access. You need to make sure you have a secure password or make use of fingerprint recognition. If you have any staff that uses a smartphone for work it’s a good idea to make sure that you have a secure phone policy in place. Let them know exactly what they can and can’t use the phone for. What security measures they need to take such as having a secure password or making sure they’re never left logged into any company sites or applications. Have them sign it and provide them with extra training if needed. You might also want to decide if they’re only to use the phone for work-related tasks or if they are free to also use it for personal use. Some companies offer this as a perk and added benefit.

Keep Track of Company Keys

You should have an up to date and enforceable key control policy in place within your business. It can be too easy to pay attention to the technical side of security and completely forget about the keys in circulation that can make you vulnerable and at risk. How many doors are accessed with manual keys? How many are accessed by key cards? Do you keep track of who has responsibility for the keys? Do you know what level people should be in order to have access? If you use manual keys it can be really hard to keep track of who has been in and out of certain areas in your business, for example, the server rooms or stock rooms. If anything goes missing you have no way to tell who has been in there, however, if you keep a record of key holders and limit the access you are minimizing the threat. You also need to think about having something in place for if keys go missing, sometimes it can be unavoidable but you need to consider the dire consequences that could follow. Have they got into the wrong hands? Or are they just missing within the office and have fallen behind the desk? Have they just being left at home and forgotten. Once you identify what has happened you can assess whether you need to complete tasks such as changing the locks to manual keys.

Create a Social Media Policy

The way that the online world is now has brought a whole new range of security concerns. The technology we have now makes it’s too easy to disseminate information. Once that information has left your building, it can rarely,  be recalled. You need to instill an email and social media policy for everyone in your business to follow. You want to ensure it addresses the appropriate content that you’d expect to see in company emails and on social media sites. You should assume that nothing will stay secure online.

Install a Decent Alarm System

A modern, up to date security system, with an array of electronic components, is designed to decide, sense and act. It will senses events like motion in a room or outside of a property and then decide if the event poses a threat. It will then act on that decision. Having a security system in place for your business is most definitely no a do-it-yourself affair, you need to be able to understand how it works in depth so when you need to have a good line of communication with a security specialist you’re able to explain what has happened. You will also benefit from learning about your security system so you’re able to make the most of your system once it’s up and running.

Alongside a decent alarm system, you should look to install security cameras. They are used for two main purposes; investigation and deterrence. You are able to collect images that can be used in the case of a crime occurring. It enables you to understand why it really happened and how you could help prevent it happening again. It can also be used as evidence to provide to the police for any investigations. The cameras often serve as a deterrent as people who know they’re being watched are usually on their best behavior. Make sure you carefully place them around your premises, you could even include indoors as unfortunately, a high level of theft happens from within a business.

Have a Visitor Management Policy

It’s imperative that you know who is in your building at all times, whether it’s in case there’s an emergency, to protect your staff from threats or protect your stock. Having a visitor that is unescorted or unauthorized can pose a massive threat. You should have your visitors under control, ask for ID, question if you’re expecting them and provide them with a temporary ID card and pass so that you and your employees know that they’re authorized to be where they are. If there are certain areas that are higher risk or confidential you need to consider having them escorted. Show them around the building too, this ensures that they know where all the emergency exits are, where they need to check-in and out and where they can use the facilities.

This is just a short guide to help you make your business secure, do you have anything else that could help? Please share them in the comments below.