Despite what you may think your most valuable content is not the articles you have created or the information you have put on social media. It’s not even your products and services that you sell. All these things are useful to the success of any business. But, they are not the most valuable content, that’s your customer data.
Your customers are essential to your ongoing success. If they are happy they post positive reviews and this reverberates around social media and even person-to-person. The result is increased business through new customers. Don’t underestimate the power of recommendation!
Equally, if your most valuable content, customer’s data, is stolen or hacked, your customers will feel exposed and are unlikely to use you again. The trust will be broken. That’s why you need to protect this valuable content.
Invest In A Shredder
The first step is to take a look at the industrial shredders and choose one that is within your budget. Industrial security shredders generally cut documents into small pieces and work horizontally and vertically at the same time.
This makes it very difficult for anyone to put a piece of paper back together. A good quality shredder means you can confidently bag and throw the waster away afterwards.
Password Protection
In most cases, customer’s sensitive data is on your system, saved in digital format. To ensure this remains safe you need to create a separate folder and create a secure password that no one else knows. If others need to have access then they can have their own user idea and password. This makes it easier to track who has been in the file, that’s useful if there is a data breach.
Of course, keeping this information on your hard drive is dangerous as it could be hacked. That means you should keep a copy of everything on a digital file. By doing this you can ensure you still have access to your information even if a fire wipes out the physical record.
Naturally, you’ll need a secure password for your digital file and ensure that the cloud service provider you are using has a good security record. This information is too important to go missing.
Intellectual Property
It should be noted that while customer data is the most important content you own, you should also spend a moment thinking about your intellectual data.
This is information that has been created by your business, including patents and unique designs. These should all be properly registered to ensure that no one else can claim credit for your ideas and steal your thunder, or your customers.
Alongside this make sure there is a section on your website and on official paperwork that covers the terms and conditions of your business. This is essential as it prevents other people from using your intellectual property.
You can also use the T&Cs to indicate what you will accept, such as people reprinting your content as long as there is a link to the original article.