Is your business losing money but you have no idea where it’s going? Do competitors seem to have an inexplicable knack for preempting your every move? Has your store been the focus of more than one robbery? Windows 8.1 Professional Key If you’re having trouble seeing to the safety and security of your business (and your employees), then perhaps it’s time to implements some safeguards to protect your company assets. Here are just a few steps you may want to take in order to ensure that your business continues to function and remains financially solvent.
For starters, you need to protect your physical location, especially if you’re operating in an area that suffers from a high crime rate. Locks on the door may be enough for some areas, but if you’ve been the victim of break-in and theft in the past, you’ll need to take stronger measures. This could mean installing security gates, an alarm system, and monitoring devices such as surveillance cameras, or even hiring a nighttime security guard (although this constitutes an expense that most small businesses cannot afford). Since the cost of theft can be high (including damages to property, loss of inventory, and time wasted on recovery and cleanup), it can definitely pay to put these security measures in place.
However, you also need to consider the safety of your employees. Depending on the type of business you run, this could include in-store safety such as an under-counter alarm (to alert police of robbery) or even a screening desk surrounded by a protective barrier. However, in most cases these items won’t be necessary. The more pressing concern for most businesses is the physical safety of employees as it pertains to carrying out their jobs. If heavy lifting is required, for example, you may want to institute protective policies that include safety gear and processes meant to limit liability. Or if you run an office, you might want to purchase ergonomic chairs to ensure that employees are less likely to suffer back problems associated with sitting all day. You simply need to address the potential health and safety concerns of your business environment and address them accordingly.
Finally, there are the material and virtual assets of your business to think about. If you deal in data, you certainly want to ensure that it neither comes under attack nor makes its way into the wrong hands. So you’ll definitely want a secure system that includes a beefy firewall to keep out hackers and viruses. You may even want to install software that blocks inappropriate sites from being accessed by your network (such as adult or spam sites that can compromise the integrity of your system). Of course, you can also use this software to ensure that employees aren’t stealing time by spending all day on social networking or gaming sites.
As for equipment and office supplies, you may want to hire a facilities manager to handle both the building and all of the physical assets contained within.Windows 8 Professional Key
Office supplies can be kept in a locked cabinet and doled out upon request while larger items like furniture and computers can be tagged with equipment labels, complete with a barcode that is scanned and linked to the name of the employee using them. Protecting your assets doesn’t have to be difficult as long as you put in a little forethought and implement the policies and systems needed to secure your small business.
Carol Montrose is a writer for SeaReach a manufacturer of labels, tags, and security documents.