By Devin Partida, Editor-in-Chief, ReHack.com
As more people get vaccinated and states lift their pandemic restrictions, businesses must reconsider their security protocols. Whether that’s taking new preventive measures or upgrading current systems, now is the time to make changes.
Businesses in all industries had to keep up with federal and state mandates. COVID-19 caused some enterprises and companies to shut their doors on customers. It was a challenging time for everyone, especially those who had to halt their business operations.
It’s still unclear what standards businesses will have to follow in a post-pandemic environment. Will face masks be required? Do customers need to be six feet apart? It’s normal for business owners to have these types of questions.
If your business plans on reopening in the coming weeks, there are some security measures you can take to improve your bottom line and thrive again. Before diving back into your daily responsibilities, assess your current security situation. It may be time to rethink your existing security strategy.
Here are five tips to follow if you plan on reopening your business in 2021.
1. Upgrade Your Surveillance System
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, businesses needed to protect themselves from theft or customers tampering with products. As a result, many retail stores installed surveillance systems to catch customers trying to pocket small items sneakily or commit theft on a larger scale.
Although many parts of the country are slowly returning to business as usual, you must take an active role in preventing new cases in both employees and customers. You’re able to keep a close eye on them with advanced cameras and monitoring devices, making sure there’s enough distance between them.
2. Install Automatic Doors
During the pandemic, businesses had to upgrade their cleaning and sanitizing standards to reduce the number of droplets that landed on common customer touchpoints.
Although research shows that transmission isn’t as likely to occur through surfaces, it showed us the value of limiting contact with these frequently touched areas. In addition, it requires less care when there aren’t as many surfaces that need to be cleaned.
Consider installing automatic doors that sense customers walking in or out. It can also be beneficial to use sensors on items that will alert you if a customer walks through the door without paying for an item. Eliminating the need to open a door manually and protecting your products is a win-win situation.
3. Retrain Your Employees
If it’s been a while since you’ve opened your doors, there’s a good chance your employees could use a refresher on how to reduce shrinkage and improve security for your business. Be sure to give employees a heads up that reopening means retraining.
Retraining employees offers an array of benefits. Increased efficiency, better customer service, and improved productivity are all positive contributions that well-trained employees make to your business.
4. Create a Cybersecurity Plan
In addition to the physical security measures you can take, you must protect any information on your central computer system. Cybercrime is prevalent in the United States and continues to be an ongoing risk. Hacking is so common now, and updating passwords sometimes isn’t enough to protect you.
Thankfully, there are resources available to help you formulate a plan to limit cybercrime at your business. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) allows companies to use their Cyberplanner. This online tool will enable you to assess current risks and provides steps for you to take in limiting them.
5. Protect Sensitive Data in the Cloud
More information is being transferred between customers and businesses, primarily through payment methods. That information has to be kept private and inaccessible to outside parties.
Whether it’s installing virus protection on your computers or emphasizing security to your IT person, be sure to protect any sensitive data. It may be helpful to open an account with one of the many business cloud platforms out there. It’s a good idea to identify what information you have access to, store it safely, eliminate any unnecessary data, and create a plan for any security breaches that may occur.
Improve Your Safety Measures
Through all the excitement of reopening, it’s vital to remember that you must protect your businesses in more ways than one. Simple security measures may not be enough, so consider upgrading your current technology or installing new systems.
Take the guesswork out of your reopening plan by first assessing security threats and finding ways to eliminate them.
Devin Partida is an industrial tech writer and the Editor-in-Chief of ReHack.com, a digital magazine for all things technology, big data, cryptocurrency, and more. To read more from Devin, please check out the site.
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