| All is fair in love and war. So goes the cliche from | | | | often comprised of business trade secrets. They exist |
| antiquity. Well, the same could be said of doing | | | | as computer files and/or hard copies. Does your |
| business. As your business grows, you need to | | | | business have any method for securing these? Does it |
| recognize and deal with business security issues that | | | | even have a policy regarding whether employees can |
| will inevitably arise in and for your company. | | | | copy said files and take them off the premises? If not, |
| I always laugh when I read the statements offered up | | | | what is to keep a disgruntled employee from heading |
| for incorporating a business in marketing pieces. They | | | | over to your competitor with your business secrets in |
| always tout incorporating as a way to protect one's | | | | hand in an effort to get a new job? Let's look at a |
| personal assets from the losses of the business. | | | | classic example. |
| Okay, but what about the business assets? How are | | | | Formula One is a form of open wheel racing. The |
| you going to pay your mortgage when all the assets | | | | races take place in different countries around the |
| of your business are lost in a lawsuit? It makes no | | | | globe and the television audience numbers are in the |
| sense, just like the way many businesses fail to take | | | | hundreds of millions viewers for each race. The two |
| security seriously. | | | | big rivals are McLaren Mercedes and Ferrari. One |
| There are two types of security issues a business has | | | | year, a disgruntled worked from Ferrari allegedly went |
| to consider. The first is the caveman threat, to wit, | | | | to Mercedes seeking a job and brought copies of a lot |
| someone physically breaking in and stealing something. | | | | of the Ferrari technical data. Lawsuits and |
| This is a viable threat, but one that obviously can be | | | | investigations flew. At the end of the day, McLaren |
| dealt with through a classic security system. The idea | | | | was fined a staggering $100 million dollars and nearly |
| would be to install an alarm system that alerts a | | | | barred from the championship. |
| security firm that an unauthorized entry has occurred | | | | This may seem an extreme example, but is it really? |
| so that the police and business owners may be | | | | Give some thought to the key business assets of your |
| alerted. | | | | company. Who has access to them? What have you |
| The second security issue that arises has to do with | | | | done to secure them? If the answers unnerve you, |
| the key assets of the business. These assets are | | | | they should be a call to action! |