As we’re integrating modern solutions on a deeper and deeper level into the work of our organizations, it’s important to occasionally take a step back and have a good look at what your company is doing. In many cases, people are surprisingly careless about the way they’re handling certain additions to their workflows. And sometimes, the consequences of that can be fatal for the organization.
It’s true that technology can make many aspects of our work and personal lives easier. At the same time though, it opens many potential loopholes for attackers to exploit. If you’re not closely familiar with the technology you’re working with, you’re setting yourself up for trouble. We’re not talking about minor things like having your servers go down for a couple of minutes, either – something like a major data breach can put an end to a modern company in a flash.
Technological Integration Is Inevitable
The first point you have to understand is that this is all inevitable, no matter what your plans for the future of your company may be. Even if you think that you’re going to avoid integrating any new solutions until they’ve been fully field tested for a few years, that’s not always a viable option. If you want to stay competitive in your field, sometimes adopting new solutions is the only way forward.
In fact, those situations are the ones you should be especially wary about. When the clock is ticking and you need to implement something fast, you might be more willing to overlook red flags. That’s exactly what some hackers will be relying on as well, making it important to be extremely careful, and to always have a plan of action for the technological upgrades of your company.
It Takes Time to Get a Grip on New Solutions
Which brings us to our next point. Even if you manage to integrate the new solution into your workflow in time, you still need to make sure that everyone is on the same page with regards to using it correctly. This includes not only the people who’ll be directly working with the new tool, but also their supervisors and high-level management. Training all the right people on a tight time constraint can be a nightmare. But at the same time, you can’t afford to have someone left behind, because they will be a potential weak link in your security.
And that’s just when you’re using an already established piece of technology. When you want to be among the pioneers in adopting something, you should be prepared to face even more issues. The final result can leave your company looking like swiss cheese for attackers, and you may not even be aware that anything is wrong.
Data is a Critical Resource
What’s the most valuable asset of your company? Depending on the specific field you’re involved in, you might point towards one of your products, or a more abstract asset, like a patent portfolio. But in many cases, the most valuable resource a company operating today has is the information it collects and stores. This is valid for pretty much every field on the market. And it’s not a new development either – intellectual property theft and data leaks have always been around, they are just much easier to pull off nowadays thanks to all the modern tech companies are relying on.
If you’re careless about the security of your organization, don’t be surprised if you’re faced with an issue like the ones we mentioned above sooner or later. And because of the nature of data and the way it can be exploited, it can sometimes take months between the time you’re actually breached, and when the data makes its way to the public. It all depends on how much damage an attacker wants to inflict with their actions.
Do You Have the Right Specialists?
Access to training and education is becoming increasingly more convenient and open, and yet at the same time, many companies seem to actually be getting more careless in the way they handle this aspect of their work. If you want to deploy a new solution to your company’s workflow and get it up and running as quickly as possible, the lack of trained specialists is often going to be your number one obstacle.
To this end, look into specialized online training courses that can help you fill the gaps. An online manufacturing degree is becoming increasingly more viable in the current market climate, and it’s just one example of the many kinds of professional degrees that you can acquire entirely online these days. It’s not a bad idea to investigate the option of subsidizing training and education for your most valuable employees. This will ensure that you’re always on top of any potential security risks associated with new tech that you’re using in your company.
Working with Customer Data
Last but not least, consider the case of working with customer data. We already mentioned the huge value attached to company data above, but things get even messier when customer data is involved. One breach can be the end of your company in these cases. It can happen to anyone too, including major companies on the market that are supposed to have many years of experience in handling their security issues.
There’s been a lot of talk about this issue in various circles lately. And the one thing that’s become painfully obvious as a result, is that many companies are frighteningly clueless about what’s going on with the customer data they’re collecting and storing. As you’re probably guessing, this is an attacker’s dream.
Patience is key in all of this. You don’t want to rush your business into any decisions that might compromise its integrity in the future. And the ability to tell those decisions apart comes with enough practice and observation. Of course, having the right kinds of specialists working for your company can make a huge difference too. But in the end, the most important decisions fall on the shoulders of the one at the top.