You’ve worked hard to build your business up from the ground to get it where it is today but with expansion there is more and more activity going on and you can’t possibly be on top of all of it. So as you grow you need to be more mindful of security and guarding against fraud and so it’s important to have rigorous procedures in place from the start.
Document Security
It’s important to make sure all documents that have any level of confidential or sensitive information in them are kept secure at all times. There should be a strict procedure in place for where documents should be stored, digitally and physically, and who should have access, they should be protected by password or login if digital and should be physically stored under lock and key if physical. Disposal of documents should also have a set procedure involving shredding or proper disposal and ensure no copies are left when they shouldn’t, if not you could fall foul of data privacy laws and be in store for penalties if not.
Hiring Policy – Proper Procedures
It’s important to make sure you hire a reliable work force because all the procedures in the world won’t be of any use unless you have the right people in place who have the inclination to follow them and the resourcefulness to follow them. Planning is key here, research what type of people you want, what qualifications and experience they need and make sure you follow up on their resume and check the references.
Fraud From Customers
Fraud from your customers is always something to be mindful of, especially if your business deals with sensitive information such as medical insurance. It is essential to be on top of this as if you are found to be lax in not spotting this then you could be in trouble alongside the fraudster, check out this example in the medical industry of medicare fraud signs which shows how to be mindful of potential customer fraud.
Financial Security
Be sure to be aware of your financial security in your business. Be very careful about who needs access to the banking and financial documents. To have financial security ensure you have the right plan in place with the right people executing it.
IT Security
It’s very important to keep your business data secure these days as invasions from hackers are more common than ever. It’s easy to keep data secure if you are careful with passwords, install firewalls where necessary and ensure data is not kept on insecure systems. Good procedures followed every time should keep you in good shape.
Payment Security
Be sure to look at security when taking payments from customers, whether being responsible in choosing how to process card payments or cash security for retail operations, make sure a responsible person is tasked with banking money and that there is a record of who has done this and when. Your customers cash and card security is your responsibility.