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Key Takeaways
- Why digital access has become an overlooked vulnerability that can cripple a business as quickly as cash flow problems.
- The practical steps every founder should take now to protect their business from lockouts, losses and avoidable digital disruptions.
Cash flow problems have long been cited as the biggest challenge facing entrepreneurs, and the most likely reason a company could fail. While the risks associated with cash flow management certainly won’t go away, today’s founders must prepare for an equally important risk: the loss of digital access.
Losing digital access can ultimately be as devastating to your business as running out of money, leaving you unable to access important files or manage standard business operations. This is especially true of the ever-growing number of digital tools that entrepreneurs rely on to keep their businesses running.
By understanding the key digital access risks and planning accordingly, you can protect your business as much as you would if you improved your cash flow management.
Related: Why Do Cybercriminals Hunt Smaller Targets?
Strengthen your cybersecurity efforts
Cybercriminals understand how important digital access is to most businesses – and how easy a target it can be. Ransomware attacks often attempt to deny business owners access to their devices, software or files, requiring a hefty ransom payment to regain access.
Without a strong cybersecurity plan, companies are at greater risk of successful attacks that block access and compromise data. Taking steps to strengthen cybersecurity, such as requiring verification and authentication for all network users, keeping software and applications up to date, and consistently backing up data can all reduce the risk of a successful attack.
Naturally, good management of passwords and other login methods is essential to protect digital access. Business owners should set (and follow) strict standards for complex passwords, and use more secure login methods such as biometrics and push notifications.
Remember, a zero-trust system that limits digital access based on what an employee needs to access can help reduce risk, along with consistent training and security protocols. A successful phishing attack on a lower-level employee can still compromise digital access for the entire organization if the internal network is not fully secured. Regular security audits should be part of any digital access plan.
Take control of your password management
Losing track of digital assets can be just as damaging as running out of money. Therefore, understanding basic principles such as: crypto wallet is becoming essential for modern founders. Passwords, PINs, secret recovery phrases, and other private keys help prevent unauthorized access while allowing you to securely access your own accounts.
For business owners, there are two key aspects of digital access to consider: how to keep a record of their various logins that control digital access, and how to restore login information when necessary. This is especially true when most entrepreneurs use dozens of tools for everything from project management and planning to marketing and analytics.
These dual needs form a quality password manager essential for any entrepreneur so you can store and encrypt all your passwords. Your password manager can simply contain a spreadsheet with a complete list of accounts and associated passwords, all protected by the master password. Many password managers use zero-access security and even require you to register new devices when using them.
Of course, you can also go old-school with a written document that is not connected to a network (cloud or self-hosted). This would require a lot more work and the list would need to be kept in a secure location and not on your desk. While this may seem like overkill, some degree of redundancy when storing password information is a good idea in case your primary option is lost or becomes inaccessible.
Related: Every entrepreneur building a legacy should add this one strategy to their playbook
Develop a digital succession plan
In 2019the CEO of Canadian cryptocurrency exchange QuadrigaCX died unexpectedly from Crohn’s disease. Such an incident would be tumultuous for any company, but for QuadrigaCX it was disastrous: the CEO was the only person who had the password that gave access to $190 million in customer funds. His laptop was encrypted and no one knew the password or recovery key. Attempts to break the encryption failed and the enormous losses eventually drove the company into bankruptcy.
It’s a sobering lesson for any leader, yet it’s an area that continues to be overlooked. How many entrepreneurs have a succession plan that ensures digital access if they become incapacitated? While a CEO may not want his credentials to be accessible to others on a daily basis, he simply cannot afford a scenario where no one else can obtain this data when needed.
As this example clearly shows, every entrepreneur should have a clearly defined digital succession plan that ensures passwords and other critical digital resources are accessible to other business leaders in the worst-case scenario. Many entrepreneurs view their business as their legacy, but if they don’t consider digital access as part of their succession documents, that legacy won’t last.
Digital access is sometimes seen as an afterthought, even as the number of logins required to interact with business software, data and finance has grown exponentially. Entrepreneurs can no longer afford to deal with it this way. By making digital access as important as cash flow management, entrepreneurs who become more proactive in this area will ensure the continued viability and stability of their business.