How to Secure Your Startup: Your Complete Guide

You’ve already established an awesome start-up, and customers love what you have to offer.

However, the crime rate hasn’t been that great near your company location. And even in the internet world, your business site can still be subject to scams.

How do you stay a step ahead and establish good building security?

Here are ten great ideas you can use to secure your startup!

1. Choose Good Business Hours

Depending on your industry, peak business hours can vary. As you’re creating a schedule for your startup, make sure to keep this in mind.

Avoid leaving only one store worker on a shift that is late at night. If you have a parking lot, make sure to keep it well-lit and also park in those illuminated areas.

2. Incorporate Security Services

Another great way to make your business safer is to access services like this security group. Business security services are a considerable preventative measure you can use to help increase the safety of your building.

There are plenty of options to choose from, so make sure to explore the different types of services to find one that works best for you.

3. Place Cameras in Plain Sight

There is an ongoing discussion about whether it is more helpful to hide security cameras or put them in visible places. The choice is up to you and what you think is best for your business.

However, placing cameras in prominent sight shows a potential burglar that your business is not a convenient location to target in the first place.

4. Add an Alarm System

Having an alarm system can be an excellent investment for your business as it has the potential to discourage burglars. If you go with this option, make sure to choose a system that includes stickers and signs to place around your business, so it will be apparent that you have increased building security.

A drawback to these kinds of systems is potentially encountering annoying false alarms. However, depending on the situation, alarm systems can still be a helpful addition to your business.

5. Keep Everything Well-lit

Good lighting during evening and early morning store hours is a great way to deter potential burglars.

Also, consider making your store set-up as visible as possible, with the register in plain sight.

Who would want to rob a store that can be clearly seen by any passerby?

6. Don’t Advertise Your Vacation Days

Scheduling vacation time off is great for your business because it gives you and your employees a chance to rest and refresh. This way, you can come back to work with even more productivity.

However, as you’re exploring your various destinations, don’t announce it to the entire internet world. This can make both your home and business an easy target for theft since an intruder would know that they are less likely to get caught.

7. Have a High-Quality Door and Lock

Some types of doors and locks can offer you more building security than others.

If you’re already in need of a replacement lock or door, make sure to research all your available options to find one that will work best to secure your business.

Additionally, nice doors help increase curb appeal, making this type of purchase a potential double win if you own your business building.

8. Have a Secure Website

Unfortunately, break-ins aren’t the only potential threat to businesses. Your business website can be an issue as well if you also do e-commerce. This makes it essential to consider increasing security for your business’s site.

One way to provide an extra security measure is to get an SSL certificate because it can encrypt your data so that hackers won’t be able to access it easily.

Another way to secure your website is to work with an expert in website security.

Granted, getting professional website assistance can become costly. However, if your business site is a central component of your business model, then this option can be one worth considering.

9. Don’t Wait Until Later

If you suspect a scam, it is good to deal with it sooner rather than later. Waiting to secure and restore your site keeps it vulnerable. It can also impact your business cash-flow if you do e-commerce.

Another preventative measure you can take to preserve your site’s aesthetics is to moderate the comments.

While some viewers take the time to post compliments or constructive criticism, not all do. Allowing spammy comments on your site takes away from its professional look.

10. Backup Your Data

Few things provide more business security than a data backup, whether it’s an entire website or a small set of important files. Depending on your startup, your website with its content could be essential to the success of your business model.

70% of small businesses close within the year after losing significant data.

This statistic makes sense as more and more companies are shifting their plans to focus on e-commerce. If a website failed, then all their online marketing investments would become ineffective until the site was restored.

Having backed up data is comparable to having a business emergency fund. Though it may take a while to initially set up, the long-term security benefits make it worth the effort.