Unfortunately, the risks posed by hackers have made investments in cybersecurity necessary for most modern-day businesses, siphoning money away from the bottom line. But there's a surprising upside, author Andrew Rinaldi suggests in a recent article for Business.com: You can use your investments in cybersecurity to differentiate your business, turning a new cost into a new profit center.
"Investing in cybersecurity will help you protect against breaches and business losses, but you might not have considered that it could also be a driver of new profits," states Rinaldi, who says companies that want to compete on cybersecurity must first become secure. "Before you can make a point of spotlighting your cybersecurity practices, you need to make sure that you're actually walking the walk."
A managed service provider or cybersecurity consultant can help. "They should be able to offer support by reviewing your current processes and technologies to evaluate [them] for vulnerabilities, helping you establish in-house policies, training your staff on how to be cyberaware, and putting a mitigation and action plan in place in the event of an attack," Rinaldi continues. "Once your IT partner or vendor can give you a positive scorecard on your cybersecurity assessment, you'll have bragging rights to share with potential customers."
Logical places to share your cybersecurity practices and achievements include your website, which should have a page dedicated to them, as well as new-business proposals. "Key features that your customers will care about include whether their data is encrypted, how online transactions are managed, your security testing practices and how third parties may access the data," says Rinaldi, who concludes: "With cybersecurity becoming mainstream, there is no better time to put a cybersecurity plan into action, and spread the word to make the most of your new competitive advantage."
More Tips:
https://www.business.com/articles/use-cybersecurity-to-your-advantage
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