Exclusive: How strong cybersecurity measures improve businesses

Most business leaders focus much of their time and energy on growth and profitability. However, they forget the importance of cybersecurity.

Cyber-attacks can strike at any time and, unfortunately, tend to target employees. Businesses that enact strong cybersecurity measures protect themselves from risks and add higher value to their company.

1. Reduces cybercrime financial impact

According to a Data Breach Report by IBM, the average data breach cost increased by 10%, from $3.86 million in 2020 to $4.24 million in 2021. Essentially, the more records a hacker steals, the higher the incurred costs. Furthermore, businesses and certain industries that depend on technology are at higher risk.

Even small businesses can shut down for good because of the rising costs of a major data breach. However, these risks can be mitigated by following the best cybersecurity practices and the latest solutions. For instance, creating a robust business continuity plan can mitigate ransomware attacks and other disruptive forces.

Essentially, strong cybersecurity measures help businesses save money when they can eliminate threats.

2. Increases business revenue

Threat protection can facilitate business growth which is important for companies that plan to get an appraisal. A valuation will determine the business’s market value and cybersecurity makes an important factor in the total worth.

Organisations can’t grow without customer loyalty and cybersecurity is the cornerstone of establishing trust. People are wary of doing business with others due to the millions of breaches that compromise their sensitive information. However, they truly value a company’s transparency in using and protecting data.

Strong cybersecurity measures enable trust and earn loyalty from customers and stakeholders.

3. Strengthens Business Strategy Solidarity

Business strategies have strength when they account for the organisation’s cyber-risks. Companies often conduct regular IT risk assessments to learn about them and map them to business outcomes.

Companies aware of the risks are ready to come forward with an action plan that remediates them. As a result, the organisation has a strong business plan and can better prepare for decision-making.

In context, this means security is no longer an afterthought.

4. Allows employees to focus on their core skills

Cybersecurity is crucial and all employees play a role in it, but this doesn’t mean they should be spending their valuable time protecting the company’s data. Strong safety measures should be in place to prevent workers from taking risky workarounds.

People may try to fix issues themselves. Therefore, employee productivity comes to a halt, wasting even more time and effort. According to a 2021 survey by Egress, 94% of companies experienced an insider data breach within the last year and human error was the top cause.

Employees with a cybersecurity plan have substantial training against scams and account hijacking. Essentially, they know what to do to prevent errors and can get back to focusing on the important tasks at hand. They’re not constantly distracted by IT matters.

5. Enables growth without additional risks

The more entry points an organisation adds, the higher the potential for hackers to exploit. For instance, newly connected devices, user accounts and vendor partnerships add security risks.

It becomes even more difficult for fast-growing companies since it is nearly impossible to manage many single points at a larger scale. Businesses have an easier time with scalability when they improve the information security infrastructure. They’ll design and implement data privacy and security controls by default. That way, they’re not adding risk to their organisation and they have more room to grow.

6. Inheriting more business value with cybersecurity

A business’s worth heavily relies on the value it can offer to clients and stakeholders. One of the top ways to achieve this is by putting cybersecurity first and maintaining a keen track record. Developing strong cybersecurity measures shows a business’s commitment to keeping its customers and partners safe.

Furthermore, companies can set themselves apart from others that lack security measures. They improve their business overall and can scale at a higher growth rate than without it.

Devin Partida is a technology writer and the Editor-in-Chief of the digital magazine, ReHack.com. To read more from Devin, check out the site.