Every business requires investment. It may be in the form of capital that you needed to get your business off the ground. This is likely to be the single biggest uniform sum that you need to invest in your business and will likely represent years of hard work and saving. However, there are also lots of smaller investments that you have to make along the way as circumstances change. You may need to update the technology that you’re using to optimise the processes on which you rely. Hiring more staff may be another one, especially if you want your business to grow. These costs are cumulative and you need to ensure that when you make them, you can offset the initial setback in your projected profits. The reality of business is that these investments are necessary though. If you do not want to be left behind by potentially more innovative rivals, you should consider these important investments for your business:
If you run your own business, you will already be aware of how many regulations and laws you are subject to, from health codes to following guidelines for treating your employees. If you do not meet these stipulations you could be shut down completely, or face legal action from organisations such as trade unions. These sort of legal battles can soon drain your resources and completely decimate any profit that you had hoped to make. Two important things to consider, especially in the modern business atmosphere where everybody is online, are KYC (Know Your Customer) compliance and AML directives. Both are designed to prevent financial crimes which can be a massive expense. In the UK alone, fraud costs the UK economy around £193 billion a year. While technology has created many of these problems, technology has also solved them: identity verification services from Jumio, for example, can save you money and lots of time spent investigating what happened.
In light of the threat of Online Scam, it is important to know that even if you have the most up to date technology, including malware and virus software, the greatest weakness in your defensive infrastructure is the people that work for you. Many scammers take advantage of information that is available online to call and pretend that they are a trusted financial organisation. Dealing with this problem requires that you invest some money and time in training your employees to spot potential scams. One of the simplest precepts to follow is to never give out any sensitive information over the phone. Of course, you should never share your customer’s information without their permission, but you should always be suspicious of anyone who calls asking for any information about you or your business. The best advice, if you want to discuss a matter with your bank, is to book an appointment with an advisor and go to the bank yourself. This is perfectly safe and allows you to have some peace of mind when it comes to your finances.
It is often said that you need to spend money to make money, and this is obviously true, but something that is less often mentioned is that you need to spend money to save money. Many of these investments are going to pay for themselves in time in the sums that you did not have to spend because you were caught out.
