The best time to start planning to protect your business assets is before disaster strikes. From business information to databases, data and systems documentation, there’s lots of risk in your business assets. The risk is real, but protecting what you’ve built or what you are building can be difficult. Follow our advice on how to protect your business assets and stay protected.
Here, we look at 5 simple but essential steps to start protecting your business assets today. But first, the basics.
What are your business assets?
Business assets are what you have that makes your business unique and valuable. From trademarks, patents and copyrights to customer lists, equipment and other physical assets, these are the key ingredients of your business success.
Assessing and protecting your business assets is vital to help keep your enterprise functioning smoothly, make it easier to acquire additional capital, and can be a critical factor in asset acquisition for a business owner who may want to sell or transfer the ownership of the business.
Why should you protect your business assets?
Your business is your life’s work. A business interruption could be devastating to your livelihood. Protecting your business assets is the best way to make sure you can keep working, growing and converting customers. Whether you’re an established entrepreneur or just starting out with a new business idea, the last thing you need is to lose money because one thing went wrong. When you do the right things at the right time, you are putting your business in the right position for success.
How to protect your business assets?
Protecting your business assets is one of the most important things you can do to safeguard your business for a successful future. Here are a few ideas to help you get started.
1. Choose the right business entity
To succeed, you need the right business structure for your mission and goals. There are several business entities to choose from including a sole proprietorship, partnership, LLC or corporation. Your choice has serious legal implications on things like asset ownership, liability protection, tax status and even loan eligibility.
Business Entity Selection can have a dramatic impact on your finances and level of risk. If you’re starting a new business, it’s very important to choose the right type of entity.
2. Make sure all your paperwork is in order
Government intervention can have a negative impact on your business operations. In fact, if you fail to follow the right processes, you will be putting your business and its assets at risk. You need to register your business to have the proper licenses and registration. To do this, you will likely need a work permit, tax identification number, business license and a whole host of other permits in order to make sure that you can run your business with minimal interference by government agencies.
Everything about setting up a business involves compiling the right information and documenting everything in the correct way. Legal documentation is a must-have when it comes to setting up any business.
3. Purchase the proper insurance
You are in business to protect your assets, to create a competitive edge and to grow your business. When you open up shop, whether that be a brick and mortar storefront or an online store, you are monetising what you know. That information is useful to others, so protecting it is necessary. The right insurance policy will give you the tools to do just that.
There are quite a number of insurance policies for business, but not all of them are vital. Some of the more important business covers can be found at https://www.ami.co.nz/all-insurance so you can have a good idea of where to start from.
Business insurance is a vital solution to protect your business assets and the business itself from risk. The right policy can help safeguard against damage or destruction due to catastrophes, as well as cover legal fees resulting from internal or external legal action brought against the company.
4. Sign confidentiality agreements
Protecting your business assets is a necessity. As soon as you have an idea, it’s time to check the ground rules. By signing a confidentiality agreement, you can protect yourself and your ideas from competitors looking to strike while the iron is hot. Business information isn’t just limited to trade secrets – intellectual property and your valuable business assets also fall under this umbrella.
It is also important to maintain the confidentiality of the information you share with customers. By signing a separate non-disclosure agreement (NDA) for each party involved in your business or project, you are not only protecting yourself from copyright infringement but also gaining a competitive edge.
5. Secure all your business information
Business information is your most valuable asset despite the fact that you may not have tangible items like real estate, equipment, or inventory on your balance sheet. Electronic information is vulnerable to theft. When a thief takes your business information, the penalties may be greater than any other type of theft because it’s easy to create a new identity from a stolen social security number and people use their identity for everything from credit cards to jobs. With so many ways for hackers to get in, from phishing emails to malicious apps on employees’ devices, it’s up to you to protect your employees, sensitive data and reputation from threats.
Make sure your business stands out from the competition by taking security matters seriously. There’s more to it than physical security. Without the right cybersecurity, you could be putting your company at risk. Protect your sensitive information and take steps to prevent cyber-attacks against your business.
Final thoughts
Business is built on trust, and one of the most important elements to maintaining that trust is protecting your business assets against loss or theft. There are many ways to protect your company’s assets, some may be more effective for you than others. It’s up to you as the business owner to decide what makes sense for your operations.
Hopefully, the tips in this article will give you a good place to start from, or you can speak with a professional about how to protect your business assets.
