The cost of crime on any business can be crippling. Regardless of where you are in the world or how small your business is, the impact of a robbery, be it physical or virtual, can be devastating.

To illustrate this point, the British Retail Consortium surveyed some of the largest retail outlets in the UK back in 2013 and found that crime rates are on the up. Not only had crimes against shops increased by 15.6% year-on-year, but the cost to the industry was $2.3 billion (£1.6 billion).

In line with the soaring cost of physical crime against businesses, online security experts McAfee found that the cost of cybercrime is now costing businesses around the world $300 billion every year. Moreover, as stated in a report by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), small businesses stand to lose between $93,000 and $165,000 if their computer systems are compromised by hackers.

Security Can’t be Overlooked

With security now a major concern for businesses on all fronts, new technology is now more important than ever. Indeed, anyone who enters the business world without a security plan risks losing a lot of money. Fortunately, with smart technology becoming more intelligent, there are more ways to protect your business both in the real world and online.

From a physical point of view, the good old fashioned alarm is still a highly valuable tool, but only if it’s smart. A simple siren isn’t enough to deter the average criminal anymore, so it pays to be connected to your system at all times.

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Using a smart business alarm by Verisure allows you to monitor your business using your Smartphone. By installing the alarm and downloading the app you can connect to a live security database which, in turn, gives you an enhanced level of protection.

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Protect All of Your Assets

Like a smart alarm for your office or shop, Web Application Firewalls (WAFs) are now the smart option for those wanting online protection. Aside from being an affordable barrier between your company’s network and the wider web, WAFs are constantly online which means they are continually moving with the times.

Using a WAF from the likes of Barracuda Networks essentially puts you in the middle of a system that’s prevented 11 billion attacks and counting. This ability to offer real-time protection and, real-time learning, is what’s allowing businesses to stay one step ahead of the hackers.

Of course, protecting your business is a game of cat and mouse that never really ends. However, if you don’t take advantage of the latest technology, or invest in something like cybersecurity monitoring from a managed services provider, you’ll quickly find the cost of running your business increases dramatically. In fact, what’s even more impressive about the proliferation of smart security is that it’s now more affordable than ever.

Since everything takes place in the clouds (the Internet clouds, that is), expensive set-up costs are no longer an issue which means there really are no excuses for not protecting your business both online and offline using the latest smart technology.