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I know that risk management sounds very corporate, and you probably haven’t given it much thought, or may have put it off for now as you are only a small-medium sized business.
However, not putting risk at the centre of strategic decisions is a HUGE mistake for any business founder and invites in preventable disasters.
You may have that niggling thought at the back of your head…‘this will never happen to me…my business isn’t big enough to be a target of some cybercriminal’.
It’s become an unfortunate fact in today’s world where cybercrime has become a business model, it’s not a matter of IF you become a target, it’s WHEN.
According to Forbes, small businesses are becoming more frequent targets of cyberattacks because of the hybrid working model. Unfortunately, it is becoming well known amongst cybercriminals that smaller businesses do not have proficient protections in place.
With an estimated liability of more than £100 per compromised record (multiplied by hundreds or thousands of customer records), the cost of a single data breach incident can be financially devastating for a small business. And this is before you consider the reputational loss that accompanies a data breach.
A report by Hiscox backs this up as it found that small businesses actually face a greater financial impact from data breaches than large companies. Here’s how you can avoid them!
Finally, a survey by The Wall Street Journal found that nearly 25% of businesses never recover following a major unforeseen event.
Consider this: when you have a team, suppliers, and clients, your responsibilities increase significantly. They all rely on you to meet your commitments and ensure smooth operations. It’s a reminder that in business, careful planning and resilience are vital, helping you navigate unforeseen events and keep your promises.
Your business is the result of all your hard work, grit and sacrifice and it deserves to be protected…
The best defence against disasters such as a cyber-attack or an operation service failure is to put measures in place to prevent them from happening in the first place.
Implementing a solid IT function in your business is a necessity today.
Why?
How many departments can potentially kill your business if not functioning correctly?
Your sales team could lose a few sales due to poor training, but the business can sustain itself and fix the issues with better training.
Your marketing team could run a bad campaign that could result in some backlash, but with the right response you can easily move on and restart.
Your finance team may get some accounting wrong which can have some repercussions but is recoverable.
What if your systems went down and you couldn’t pay your suppliers? How could this damage your credit rating?
What if you couldn’t pay your staff on time?
What if you couldn’t receive invoices or payments?
What if there was a fire in your office and it wipes your server out which means your entire business operations go down – and you have no data backups in place, so the data is not recoverable?
What if you are the victim of a cyber-criminal and have your cash reserves stolen, or you suffer a data breach and receive a hefty fine as a result?
If any one of these incidents occurred, your business would suffer a significant reputational loss and most likely a financial loss too – could you recover from this?
If you cannot communicate with clients because your email is down; you cannot make or receive payments; or access significant data when you need it – how risky is this to your business?
To a small-medium sized business, having sub-standard or insecure IT poses the biggest risk to your business.
Too many businesses today have an exposed IT infrastructure, and they are sitting on a ticking time bomb, without realising it.
Let’s reemphasise, not putting risk at the centre of strategic decisions is a HUGE mistake for any business founder and invites in these preventable disasters listed above.
After you have read all that, you may be thinking ‘I have no idea about IT, and I don’t know where to even start and it’s just going to overwhelm me.’
Do not worry as we have created some content for business founders and leaders to help you to understand your options so that you do not get overwhelmed.
Take our quick fire, no email address needed, 2-minute quiz to receive some personalised resources on dependent on your situation to help you to relieve some of your IT frustrations.
Click here to take Are You An IT-Lost Business Leader quiz now!
Lumina Technologies have taken the time to understand the requirements of our business and work as our strategic IT partner, enabling us to concentrate on delivering a high quality service to our clients and focus on our growth strategy. They have delivered a 100% cloud solution to our business with no underlying infrastructure costs or maintenance, which gives us scalability for our planned growth. It also means our business critical applications and data are securely accessible from virtually all our user devices. Lumina’s professional approach and strategic expertise is highly valued and their management of our IT – based on their in-depth knowledge, leaves us confident that our systems are available 24×7.
Luke Harrison
Keidan Harrison LLP
Lumina have supported us so well through the difficult circumstances of 2020. They worked extremely hard to ensure we were able to work remotely and continue to operate our business successfully. The support team are very friendly and knowledgeable, and have excellent response times.
The team have also enhanced our cyber security which is so important in the legal sector, and they continue to provide high quality advice to help us move forward with our IT goals.
Robin Illingworth
Managing Partner, Adams & Remers LLP
The quality of IT Support provided by Lumina Technology is of the highest standard and is complemented by effective client liaison with impressive response times. Trap Oil Group plc has no hesitation in recommending Lumina as a dedicated and specialist group of IT professionals.
Martin David
Technical Director, Trap Oil Group plc
Richard and his team are a real inspiration to anyone who meets them and I have watched Lumina’s growth over the last few years with interest and admiration. Richard has been an amazing supporter of the Hospice of St Francis, being a Gold member of the Corporate Partner Network for almost two years. He takes an active interest in the community and is passionate about his company and his town: nothing is too much trouble, he is always willing to help, to give up his time and to provide business advice when asked. Lumina is an inspiration to any company wanting to set up business in Hertfordshire.
Carolyn Addison
Corporate Fundraising Manager, The Hospice of St Francis
Lumina Technologies Prism Hosted Desktop has allowed our business to centralise our global corporate data, allowing much faster access for all our staff – regardless of their location. We have also been able to simplify and reduce our infrastructure and management overhead. With the new Prism Hosted Desktop solution all staff now have simple and secure access to corporate data using any device they choose. Prism Hosted Desktop has increased the productivity of our staff and given us a single, consistent and familiar experience for all users from any device, in any location, 24/7.
Katherine Roe
Chief Executive Officer, Wentworth Resources PLC
The commercially sensitive and regulated nature of Lambert Energy Advisory’s business requires an IT provider able to maintain the highest levels of integrity and confidentiality, Lumina Technologies has consistently been unimpeachable in this regard over the nine years we have employed them.
Patrick Agar
Lambert Energy Advisory
It has been a great pleasure working with Lumina Technologies over the past two years. They have fully committed to being involved in the local community with volunteering and with professional advice and commitment, helping many local charities along the way. As a growing company it proves that being involved in the local community is helping them attract and retain a talented workforce and I look forward to working with them well into the future.
Cindy Withey
Connect Dacorum
Hawkstone Management Services Ltd is a small company for which IT Outsourcing is realistically the only viable option. Lumina Technologies have successfully performed this role for over fifteen years. They also provide innovative solutions to keep pace with technological progress. I would have no hesitation in recommending Lumina to similar sized businesses.
Stephen Pembury
Hawkstone Management Services Ltd
Charles Douglas Solicitors LLP have been using Lumina Technologies for a number of years now and continue to be impressed by the technical know-how and contemporary knowledge of their senior management, who provide a timely, efficient and friendly service. Whether it is a small issue with one computer, or a strategic IT decision, they maintain a current knowledge of available technologies. Lumina are always at the other end of the phone to help resolve issues and minimise business interference. The technical knowledge of Richard and his senior team means that there has not been a problem that they can’t solve to date. I am sure we will continue to use them in the years to come.
Charles Douglas
Managing Partner, Charles Douglas Solicitors LLP
The team at Lumina Technologies have made the Amoun Travel & Tours office IT transition seamless and problem free. The office set-up has been vastly improved and the IT Support services are flawless. No issue goes unresolved, which is extremely reassuring.
Adam Helmy
Amoun Travel & Tours Ltd
Lumina Technologies has been Salamander Energy plc’s IT provider since start-up in 2005 and has supported us in London during our expansion across operational offices in SE Asia. Their professional approach, strategic advice and close co-operation have been essential in making this a success.
John Bell
Group Technical Director, Salamander Energy plc
Richard and his team at Lumina have provided Perrett Laver Limited with high quality strategic and practical IT Services for over ten years. During this period, Perrett Laver has grown from 10+ colleagues based in London to nearly 100 colleagues located in six offices across the Americas, EMEA and Asia-Pacific. Richard and the Lumina team have not just been responsive to our ‘everyday’ IT needs, but have proactively sought to work with us on developing an infrastructure suitable for the type of operation we are today, and are planning to be months and years down the line. I would not hesitate to recommend Richard, especially for small to medium size business with growth in mind.
Clementine McKinley
COO, Perrett Laver Limited
Society Limited has been supported by Lumina Technologies since our earliest start-up phase. From large logistical challenges like an office move, through to smaller fiddly issues like fixing a faulty e-template, we know we can count on their support and advice. They’ve also been able to engage with us strategically on the challenge of scaling-up our infrastructure as the firm continues to grow and evolve. We always feel confident going to Lumina with a problem, since we know they genuinely care about sorting things out and helping us to get on with our core business.
Simon Lucas
Managing Director, Society Limited
The Vita Group HQ staff have worked with Richard McBarnet and Lumina Technologies for over 9 years, with Lumina providing all our PC, server, phone, and software support. The services have included C-level executives based in London, Manchester, the US, as well as supporting home office IT as well. The service provided and intellectual capabilities are outstanding and we would highly recommend Richard and his Lumina team.
Joe Menendez
CEO, The Vita Group
We worked with Lumina on a GDPR Audit. Richard was knowledgeable and professional throughout, and did the best he could to bring a dry topic to life through lots of real life examples and analogies. We were so impressed with the service Lumina provided and the value we got from partnering with them on this project – we couldn’t recommend them enough.
Holly Cottingham, Vintec Laboratories
