There are so many challenges you might have to face as a business owner that the last thing you’ll want to think about are any issues coming from within the business itself. You’ll want to be able to trust your team and let them get on with their work so you can focus on everything else that has to be done – you don’t want them to be the cause of any challenges themselves. 

However, it’s sometimes the case that the biggest – and potentially most far-reaching – problems that a business will face will come from the inside. These can range from unintentional mistakes made by well-meaning employees to deliberate actions that come from someone trying to get something for themselves or even exact revenge. Because this isn’t an issue you can ignore, it’s wise to understand what you can do to minimise this issue (and ideally make it entirely disappear) so you can focus on growing the business rather than protecting it at all times. Read on to find out more. 

Photo by cottonbro studio

Use Access Control

Access control is an ideal way to keep your business as safe as possible from employees and their plans or errors. It involves controlling and managing who can access specific resources, systems, and data within your business, and by limiting access to only those who need it to perform their roles, you can create a much safer business. If it sounds like it might be complicated to set up, don’t worry; you can hire experts to help you get it right and ensure you give access to the right people. NTI Business Phone Systems & Access Control is a great example of the kind of professionals you might want to work with. 

If you have access control in place, don’t forget that you’ll also need to regularly audit and monitor it to minimise issues. If someone leaves your business, you’ll need to remove any access they might have had straight away. If someone new comes in, they’ll need to be granted access – although you might choose to make it limited to start with. Keep up with changes, and everything will run more smoothly. 

Multi-Factor Authentication 

Multi-factor authentication, or MFA, adds an extra layer of protection by requiring users to provide more than one form of verification before they can gain access to a system, folder, or anything else. This can be used to make access control even stronger so that even if someone does technically have access to something, they still have to go through some extra levels to actually be able to open it, read it, download it, or use it. 

When you think about it, MFA acts as a kind of barrier so that even if someone’s credentials are compromised in some way (perhaps a security pass was stolen, for example, or they accidentally gave away their password), the unauthorised person still wouldn’t be able to get into the network or systems. 

Encourage Reporting 

We’re often told not to tell tales when we’re children and that it’s a bad thing to do, which is why it might take a while to really get to a point where you can actively encourage your employees to report their colleagues if they think there is a problem. They need to know for sure that reporting any suspicious activity is a good thing and that there won’t be any retribution. 

It might seem like a big step, but forming a whistleblower programme that gives people a confidential way to report issues can save your business and minimise threats, especially if it means you can act sooner rather than later, so you might want to consider it.