INSIGHTS

4 Key Small Business Risks and how to protect your business

All businesses, even the small ones, are not successful by accident. Every small business can write a sizeable chapter in its life story about the hard yards involved in being successful. One aspect that all businesses share, irrespective of size, are the risks associated with being in business.

In this blog, we dive into 4 of the more common risks of being in business. We explain the risks and how to insulate your business to protect it against the impact of events tied to these risks. Let’s dive in….

Impactful CRM Changes that you can implement in your small business

Cyber Security Risks

It has become virtually unavoidable for small businesses to operate efficiently without embracing online and accepting that we now engage more and more in a virtual world. Services, software, apps and more designed for a nimble small business translate to personal information requiring higher levels of protection from cyber threats. Cybercriminals are becoming smarter and more sophisticated in their methods.

How to insulate your business: Ensure your cyber security solutions, monitoring and fraud detection protocols are robust and frequently re-assessed.

Reputational Risks

Thanks to the growth in social media and the ease with which customers can review (and criticize) your service, customer complaints and overall bad press has become visible 24/7. It can take years to earn the trust of a customer, only to lose it due to one negative comment left on social media.

How to insulate your business: Developing reputational management strategies will ensure effective monitoring of online and offline activity. Prepare responses for events likely to occur and ensure any negative press is immediately responded on.

Liability Risks

Being found legally responsible for unforeseen events such as customer or employee injuries on duty or failure to meet contractual obligations can destroy a business, regardless of size. These risks are especially costly to resolve as they would usually involve engaging costly legal advisors. Despite one’s best efforts to engage safe practices in the workplace, accidents are inevitable.

How to insulate your business: Liability cover is one of the most affordable insurance covers to have in place. Ensure your insurance broker addresses this in your schedule of insurance covers for your business.

Operating Risks

The recent spate of disruptions caused by riots in KwaZulu-Natal and flooding due to extreme weather conditions have rendered many businesses powerless to trade. Less extreme risks such as supply chain issues can be financially equally devastating.

How to insulate your business: Outsource non-essential services and ensure these services are bound by service level agreements to protect you from non-performance, regardless of circumstances. Ensure your business interruption insurance is regularly updated.

MMS Cloud Accounting is a leader in outsourced accounting services. We are run by a team of entrepreneurs – we think like entrepreneurs too, and this means that we are able to relate to your challenges and design solutions to fit your needs. If you require an entrepreneurial team of businesspeople to support the financial accounting and compliance needs of your business, reach out to our team.