In the last 10 years we have seen some significant changes in the way that small and medium businesses and not-for-profit organisations have used technology and the digital world to increase their footprint in the business world.
The problem associated with small business are not necessarily based on the digital components.
When it comes to the digital world all organisations have found ways to utilise those digital components to improve their bottom line, increase revenue and drive profit.
One of the biggest problems for small and medium business is they have to be constantly keep looking for ways to improve the utilisation of the digital components whilst also having an eye on how much it costs.
There are seven mistakes that SMEs make when it comes to business and digital protection.
Set and forget
The problem with set and forget philosophies is that the digital world is ever changing.
There is constant change to the way systems work, how the systems fail and the way the Bad guys are targeting those systems.
By thinking that installing some level of protection into an organisation then walking away from it is the best solution is incredibly bad.
Lack of awareness
Awareness of the capabilities of the bad guys have shown that they are constantly thinking outside the box.
Lack of awareness also shows that we think we buy a solution for a problem but that solution can be leveraged to attack your systems through known and unknown vulnerabilities.
Thinking that you can do it alone
We all need help.
When it comes to the awareness around business security and the digital world it is an area of expertise where we need a lot more help than normal. When it comes to other expertise services for instance solicitors, accountants or even mechanics we approach their knowledge with an understanding that they know what they are doing.
For some reason when it comes to business security we apply a totally different principle in our understanding of the digital world.
I know computers is not something that differentiates a professional SOP security expert from a person on staff who plays games.
Not using professionals where necessary
Understanding that the professionals are there to help, even though they cost money, is something that is kept in the back of the mind of most business owners, sealevel executives or board members that they are a necessary evil to doing business.
Understanding the risk associated with today’s business using the digital environment is a complex process.
Embrace change, but listen to the market
There is a fine line between using old technology to do business and spending large amounts of money on cutting edge technology.
Old systems when employed in business have a number of known problems.
They include old hardware, old software, known vulnerability problems and slow and problematic systems.
Cutting-edge environments are important but they should never be the driving force of how you do business.
Where to start?
One of the questions that we are always asked, for a small business, is where to start.
The first place to start is to step back from your organisation and to look at it with an eye of what if.
The first thing that needs to be done is to define the risk associated with the business and what your appetite for risk will be.
reinventing the wheel!
With the changes in technology one of the things that you don’t want to be doing is reinventing the wheel every two or three years.
The idea behind future proof in your organisation is to have the policies the technology and the people in place that allows you to replace or upgrade systems without having to change the way you do business.
When it comes to protecting organisation it is