The risks that businesses of all sizes face are constantly changing and evolving. With new threats emerging all the time, business owners must keep on their toes to stay ahead and their business in a position to deal with these threats.
The past 20 years have seen the risks facing businesses change at a rapid pace with three areas in particular now of concern in the business community; cyber-attacks, Terrorism and climate change.
Cyber Attacks
Cybercrime is one of the single biggest threats to businesses of all sizes in today’s world. Businesses have become increasingly reliant on IT systems over recent years. The need to be always on and available to customers, the functionality and sophistication of technology, the role of data in a business’s success and the importance of ensuring the security of customer data have never been more important. But with this reliance on IT comes risks.
An IT outage, loss of customer data or a virus or malware being installed across your systems due to a cyber-attack can result in reputational damage, financial consequences and the legal ramifications of a data breach to name just a few, all of which can have devastating consequences to a business’s survival.
Criminals have recognised this is big business and it’s thought that the potential money to be made from cybercrime is behind the rise seen in recent years. Recent Government figures suggest as many as 47% of small and medium sized businesses had experienced a cyber-attack in the previous 12 months. From these figures it is clear to see the potential risk is real and affecting businesses just like yours every day.
Terrorism
Sadly, terrorism and terrorist attacks seem to have become prevalent in our lives in recent years. The human costs of terrorism can be devastating. These attacks can also have a significant impact on businesses. Following an attack, police cordons can be in place for days or weeks after, affecting businesses. Likewise, attacks can reduce trade in areas affected by terrorism for months after an incident.
Small businesses must account for this threat – how would you respond if your business was located in an area affected by terrorism, could you cope with the lost revenue if you were unable to trade for an extended period of time. Insurance should also be a consideration here – specific policies do exist along with a Pool Re scheme offering non-damage business interruption terrorism insurance so may be worth considering or discussing with your broker.
Climate change
Concerns around climate change and the effect we are having on our planet have never been more hotly debated as in recent months and years. Climate change is having an effect on the weather across the globe with extremes of weather being experienced – take the summer of 2018, which was the joint hottest ever recorded in England, along with the increasing regularity of flooding across the year.
With extreme, and unexpected weather patterns and events comes risk. Flooding, long hot dry summers are just two of the areas of concerns which will continue to impact businesses. A recent government report talks about the importance of resilience and adapting to these weather changes wherever possible. As a small business you can’t ignore the weather – there is no escaping it and the impact it can have on a business can be devastating.
If you haven’t updated your business continuity plan in recent years to consider the increasing threat that your business may face from these risks now may be the time to do so. Whilst having a plan is place is beneficial, a plan written 5 years ago which hasn’t been looked at since is unlikely to adequately reflect the real risks facing your business today. This means you will be in a more difficult position should you need to refer to your business continuity plan at the time of a disaster.
First Recovery are specialists in providing support to businesses in the event of a disaster. Get in touch with us today to see how we can help assure your business continuity.