Cyber Security for Small Business: Importance and Benefits

Business

Joseph-harmon – The development of technology, especially the Internet, has many benefits in all aspects of human life. The Internet can make work easier, shorten communication distances, and become a medium for sharing information very quickly.

Along with benefits, technology has also paved the way for cyber criminals to spread threats that harm many people, including business owners. In the business world, cybercrime takes the form of system intrusion, theft of personal data, and the spread of false information.

To anticipate and deal with cybercrime, business people must improve cyber security to secure data about business. Especially if you are a small business owner, it is important that you properly understand cyber security and how important it is to protect your business.

Through this article, let’s discuss cyber security thoroughly, in terms of understanding, benefits, and how to improve cyber security.

What is Cyber ​​Security?

Cyber ​​security is an effort to protect systems, programs, networks, and other elements from digital crime attacks. These cyber crime usually have the goal of accessing, modifying, spreading, and even destroying important and sensitive systems or information without permission.

Cyber ​​crime has many bad impacts on your business, the worst of which is disrupting business operational activities to the point where you lose money and go bankrupt.

To prevent this from happening, it’s time for you to implement cyber security to protect your business.

Why Should Your Business Implement Cyber ​​Security?

There are still many business people who have not prioritized the existence of cyber security, especially small businesses that are still developing. Usually they only apply cyber security when the company experiences a cyber attack on a computer system or network.

Even if you are just concerned about cyber security at this stage, the burden that your business bears will be heavier, especially from a reputational and financial perspective, than the burden when you implement cyber security from the start.

In essence, efforts to protect your business from cyber crime by implementing cyber security are important and the main things that must be done as early as possible.

Cyber ​​Security Concepts That Must Be Understood

These three ideas are additionally known as CIA ideas. Consider the following explanation to help you comprehend the notion of cyber security.

1. Confidentiality

Confidentiality refers to a technique used to keep data safe from those who are not authorized to access it. As a result, all stored data has to be kept private from outsiders; only admins and authorized users may access, alter, add, or remove them.

By limiting data access to certain individuals, the idea of secrecy is put into effect.

2. Integrity

Integrity is the effort put out to uphold the reliability and consistency of data in order to keep it secure and reliable. This implies that saved data cannot be read, altered, or destroyed without administrator permission.

3. Accessibility

The term “availability” refers to whether the necessary data is accessible. If the individuals who need the data can’t get to it, then the most secure data will be worthless. This implies that in order to be accessible, systems, networks, and applications must be in good working order.

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Elements of Cyber ​​Security

Cyber ​​security has at least six elements that you should pay attention to. The following are the six elements along with their full explanation.

1. Application Security (USA)

This is an element that has the function to add security features in the application during development to prevent cyber attacks. Application security can protect websites and website-based applications from various types of digital security threats that can exploit vulnerabilities in the source code.

2. Information Security (IS)

Information Security, or what is commonly shortened to InfoSec, is an element of cyber security that refers to the processes and methods used to prevent unauthorized access, use, modification or destruction of data by outsiders.

This data can be in the form of personal information, financial information, or even your social media information, and much more.

3. Network Security

Network Security is a cyber security element that functions to prevent and protect data on the network against illegal access.

Typically, this is done by implementing a set of rules and configurations that prevent and monitor illegal access, abuse, and modification of networks and resources, be it hardware or software.

4. Disaster Recovery Plan (DRP)

A Disaster Recovery Plan is a cyber security element that functions as a plan or procedure that must be carried out after a disaster occurs, such as data leakage, data loss, and so on. The plan or procedure must be able to ensure that activities can run normally after a disaster occurs.

5. Operational Security (OPSEC)

Operational Security is a cyber security element that functions as an analysis and risk management for cyber security. OPSEC will identify important information from an organization and develop protection mechanisms to ensure the security of all important and sensitive data.

6. End-User Education

End-User Education is the most important element of cyber security because end-users are the biggest threat of cyber attacks. End-User Education is an educational process regarding data security policies, procedures and protocols to these end users so that they can avoid cyber crime.

Benefits of Cyber ​​Security for Your Small Business

There are lots of benefits that can be felt if your business implements good cyber security. The following are some of the benefits of cyber security for your business.

1. Protected Data and Information

Data and information is a very important asset in today’s digital era. However, if it is misused, this data and information can be very detrimental, such as losing money and disrupting business activities. Important data and information that is stored, or in transit, can be safely maintained if cyber security is implemented properly and correctly.

Read more : Improving Modern Vehicle Security with Artificial Intelligence

2. Maintaining Consumer Trust

If data and information from consumers can be safely maintained, they will trust your business and possibly become loyal customers. Therefore, you must implement good and correct cyber security.

3. Business Always Accessible

Usually, to access a business, consumers will do it through the business’ official website. So, by implementing good and correct cyber security, the website can always be accessed easily by consumers. So, your business activities can run smoothly.

How to Improve Cyber ​​Security

Here are easy steps from Joseph-harmon.com you can take to improve cyber security, both for yourself and for your company.

1. Realize that everyone can become a victim of cyber crime

Never assume that you are secure online without security measures since online crime is very closely tied to daily life. Everyone who uses software or hardware is at risk of being attacked by cyber crime. This can jeopardize personal and company security.

2. Keep the software up to date

Installing software updates for programs and operating systems on a regular basis is important. You can enable automatic updates to your operating system, applications, and web browsers and their plug-ins. By updating regularly, you will get the latest security system.

3. Use antivirus as a defense in cyber security

Antivirus function to detect and eliminate threats. Currently, there are many antivirus software that have different features and advantages. You can choose the software that suits your needs so that your data will be better protected from various viruses.

4. Use a unique password to strengthen cyber security

Make sure the password you use is not easy for others to guess. You can use a combination of uppercase, lowercase, numbers, and punctuation.

5. Be careful with foreign emails

In addition to telephone numbers, email is an identity that is usually widespread. As a result, it is easy for cyber crime to send malware to your email. Therefore, do not open links or attachments in obscure emails from unknown senders.

6. Reducing the use of public Wi-Fi

Public networks are usually free and not password protected, but they are insecure and can make your device vulnerable to cyber attacks. Therefore, it’s better to use Wi-Fi from a trusted source or mobile data so that your data will be more secure.

7. Do not leave electronic devices carelessly

In addition to technical security, you also have to maintain physical security. When leaving an electronic gadget anywhere, it is best to lock it or switch it off. Make sure that any data you keep on a flash drive or portable hard drive is encrypted and protected.

8. Hold training on cyber security for employees

Cyber ​​security is everyone’s responsibility. All employees in a company must understand cyber security for the sake of data security and shared systems.

9. Perform a risk assessment to support cyber security

There are many threats that can disrupt the security of corporate networks, systems and information. Therefore, identification and analysis of possible threats can help you formulate a security plan.

This is an explanation of the importance of cyber security and its benefits for your small business. Keep in mind that anticipating or preventing is better than dealing with cyber crime. For this reason, it is important for you to implement cyber security from the moment your business starts operating.

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Role of Artificial Intelligence in Business Automation

Business

Joseph-harmon – Artificial Intelligence is something that humans are afraid of on the one hand but also provides many benefits on the other hand. In everyday life and especially in the business world, artificial intelligence provides many advantages, as we will discuss later in this article.

Humans tend to be afraid of what they don’t understand, so let’s learn what artificial intelligence is. Then we will see how the application of artificial intelligence in the business world.

Definition of Artificial Intelligence

Artificial intelligence (Artificial Intelligence) is the ability of computers or machines to imitate human thinking abilities. A human-like intelligence is carried out by robots, computers, or machines. What learning capabilities does AI have? Some of the examples above are as follows.

  • Recognize objects
  • Understanding the language
  • Learn from examples or experience,
  • Estimating trends
  • Predict the future

We already experience AI in everyday life. Some examples are when we do a search using a search engine. When typing the search engine will display any words that we will probably type next. Another example is when the map recommends the path we should take.

Benefits of AI in Business

Artificial Intelligence provides many benefits in the business world. Companies place their hopes on artificial intelligence to generate more sales, determine the most optimal marketing strategy, and also optimize the company’s internal performance.

Below, you can learn how some of your companies can leverage AI for their business development.

1. Personalize the customer’s shopping experience

When customers receive advertisements that match their needs and conditions at that time, they will be more willing to buy products from these advertisements. Personalized advertising will increase customer engagement with the brand, increase loyalty and ultimately increase sales. Providing accurate offers to customers is a highly sought-after artificial intelligence capability.

2. Automate customer interactions

Companies interact with customers through many channels and with AI all of these channels can be automated. Channels of e-mail, chat, social media, and even phone calls, currently require human involvement.

However, with AI, companies can automate answers to questions that are frequently asked by customers. First of all, the company needs to collect frequently asked questions from potential customers. Then categorize them. After that, the company prepares answers to all these questions.

Based on this data, AI technology will provide appropriate answers to every incoming question from potential customers. The more data the AI provides, the more precise the answers it will give. Now there are many AI chat bots. Artificial intelligence will interact with customers at any hour.

This artificial intelligence will most likely reduce the work of call centers, which often receive the same questions time and time again. Later call centers may only handle questions whose solutions require a lot of human intervention.

Read more : Cyber Security for Small Business: Importance and Benefits

3. Providing assistance in real-time and automation

In today’s online age, people interact with businesses 24/7. However, employees cannot work such hours. Even though there is a 24-hour shift system, of course the cost will be quite expensive.

The application of AI is very useful for business. Customers can continue to communicate with the company without the company having to add employees.

Map applications, and travel and hotel applications use artificial intelligence to communicate in real-time with customers. Based on the current road condition data, the application will suggest the fastest route that can be taken by the user to reach the destination.

Based on visiting data and searching for vacation spots, Artificial Intelligence will provide recommendations for hotels or attractions that customers might like.

4. Maximum data processing

With artificial intelligence, companies are more likely to make important discoveries for their business, such as, market trends, customer behavior, customer shopping tendencies, and many more. This information will help the company decide on the most profitable strategy.

5. Predicting trends

Another advantage of AI is being able to predict things that will become trends in the future. With social listening, customer behavior, and past trends, artificial intelligence can predict product trends that might be in demand in the future.

AI technology can also predict the number of products that will be sold in a certain period. It is estimated that in the next 10 years, artificial intelligence will be able to calculate the amount of stock that must be sold in a certain period. This predictability is not only useful in the retail industry. Artificial intelligence technology is also used in many other industries.

For example, in the banking industry, Artificial Intelligence can predict currency fluctuations and stock prices. In the healthcare industry, AI can predict infection outbreaks by analyzing people’s posts on social media.

Improve the Recruitment Process

In the HR industry, AI technology can help companies automate the recruitment of new employees. With recruitment applications that have artificial intelligence, companies can create intelligent recruitment systems. Artificial intelligence will automatically filter applications based on specifications set by the company.

This system is beneficial to save time, save recruitment costs and also help people. It can quickly screen applications, automatically rejecting those that do not meet company specifications.

The Examples of Artificial Intelligence Applied in Business

Nowadays many brands offer recommendations that are tailored to the preferences/characteristics of customers. In simple terms a personalized offer?

According to research conducted by the sales force in March – June 2017, customers who get personalized offers account for 26% of online store sales.

Here are the examples of companies using artificial intelligence for their business:

Starbucks

Starbuck brands use loyalty cards and mobile apps to collect data and analyze the data. Starbucks predicts the offers customers might like. The message will be automatically sent to the customer when the customer is close to the Starbucks store location. This recommendation will increase the average Rp value of sales.

Alibaba

Alibaba Company opens an artificial intelligence fashion store in Hong Kong. The goal that this store wants to achieve is to create a fashion shopping experience using Artificial Intelligence technology.

The company installed smart fabric tags that can detect when an item is touched by a customer. Then there is also a smart mirror that can suggest clothes that are suitable for the clothes that are being tried on by customers. The third strategy is integrating physical stores with virtual wardrobes so consumers can see again the outfits they have tried on in the store before.

Sephora

Sephora, a beauty brand that sells cosmetics uses artificial intelligence technology in the form of chatbots.

The chatbot can provide suggestions, making it easier for customers to choose the right product for them. This feature is especially important because customers have a large selection of beauty products. From the chatbot data, Sephora gets data about customers, which then uses this data to provide appropriate recommendations.

AI for Helping HR Procedure

How can companies use artificial intelligence for HR departments?

1. Mentoring Facilities

To have the best candidates, the company conducts recruitment, onboarding, and mentorship. But there are some problems encountered in mentorship. For example, the mentor’s work schedule determines which mentor has the appropriate skills and what topics are needed by the mentee.

There is an analysis report on the progress and continuity of the relationship between the mentor and mentee.

The result of using Ellen is that the mentee will have a wider network within the company, the company’s Employer NPS Score increases by 1.25, and the number of employees is increasingly clear with their career path increasing by 118%.

2. Succession and Employee Career Path Design

Companies have challenges, namely knowing what needs to be demanded from employees in the future. What skills are needed to enable them to face the business challenges of the future?

There are 2 solutions to this problem.

First, the company estimates the business development in the industry. Then estimate the skills needed, map the skills possessed by current employees, and see the gap between demand and availability. Determine who needs to be promoted or transferred, and design appropriate training for the employee concerned.

Second, the employees themselves estimate the skill needs in the future. This only applies to employees who know what their best skills are and have passion for their field of work.

But the problem is that employees who know about their passions don’t know the possible career paths within the company. Employees do not know their best skills because employee appraisal data is not open to the employee concerned.

This is so that the company does not lose a potential employee because the employee does not know that he has the opportunity to develop a career in the company.

Companies can make internal projects that are open to working on by internal employees. AI technology will recommend the project to employees who do have the skills to complete the job.

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3. Screening of Prospective Employees

Growing companies will always be looking for employees, and there will always be work to find the right employees. When the number of applicants increases, Artificial Intelligence technology can facilitate the screening process for prospective employees.

The trick from Joseph-harmon.com is to check the resume and the minimum requirements for a job. The AI technology then provides the best recommendations based on this data. Because AI technology only filters based on the need for the job that needs to be filled, it will not be biased by things that cloud judgment like gender or race.

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Role of Big Data in Business Decision Making

Business

Joseph-harmon – You need to know the basic and also general about what is called data. Data is a collection of information consisting of several facts which can be in the form of numbers, words, or certain symbols. Data is obtained using methods and search processes that are quite selective and also use several different methods according to the needs and target data types.

Big data is known as a collection of data with a very large volume and size according to its name, and some data belongs to the structured type, then there is semi-structured, and some is unstructured and can still develop according to the passage of time.

Big Data Function

After you know what big data is and you also know the characteristics of big data itself, now let’s get into the function of big data. Known big data functions include:

Big data will be used as a tool to predict or conduct an analysis of why a problem could exist in the system. Big data also has the benefit of minimizing the failure rate. The results obtained from the analysis series can be used and then displayed directly or in real-time.

Big data is used as a reference to develop products that are made. Very useful information will be stored in big data storage and then the results of the analysis will be made as a basis for making the most appropriate decision to be able to grow the business significantly.

Big data can reduce time and costs. Costs can be reduced because we take advantage of big data. The process of sending and receiving data will be done more quickly.

So big data is a collection of data that has a very large size, the data consists of structured, semi-structured, and unstructured data. During the data collection process, there will be a development in the amount of data as well. Maybe if there were no big data in todays sophisticated era, we would have difficulty making a choice. Mistakes in making these choices can have fatal consequences for the field being occupied.

Utilization of Technology and Big Data for Companies

In today’s technological era, almost all activities require and utilize technology. Human life cannot be separated from the presence of technology. Technology can also be called the most important aspect of human life today. With the rapid development of technology and followed by the industrial revolution 4.0, companies must be able to take advantage of this as an opportunity to advance their business capabilities, especially in terms of decision-making.

One of the developing and very important technologies used by companies today is Big Data technology. In a sense, Big Data is a very large collection of data consisting of structured data or unstructured data. Sources of Big Data usually emerge from the daily operational activities of companies, for example, operational data, transaction data, customer data, goods data, price data, and many more.

Then, Big Data is famous for its four main characteristics, namely, Volume is about a large amount of data, Velocity is about the speed of processing data, Variety is about the capability of storing many types of data, and also Value is about the producing value or information based on the verification.

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The Importance of Big Data for Companies

Then, why is Big Data important and needed by companies? As we know, Big Data is capable of storing large amounts of various types of data. Data has been considered an important raw material for companies, especially because data is capable of producing important and valuable information for the company itself. The greater the amount of data owned, the company gets more and more accurate information. From this, the company or management can use it in the decision-making process.

Usually, to get maximum results from the information received as a result of Big Data, companies will utilize Big Data Analytics to make information analysis easier. Big Data Analytics itself is information mining process that is used to find patterns (such as customer behavior patterns) or trends (for example, market trends) based on the data obtained. Then, data can also be visualized in the form of graphs, numbers, or charts to make information easier to understand.

In advancing their business, companies, especially Top Level Management, must make important decisions that certainly cannot be taken blindly or without supporting arguments/evidence. In addition, nowadays, changes occur very quickly, both in terms of business operations and consumer interest. Big Data with the implementation of Big Data Analytics will help companies to make the right decisions.

For example, if a company wants to launch a new product, then the company will need various types of data as a guide. Then, there will be lots of questions that arise, for example how is the customer’s interest in this type of product, how much burden will the company incur in making or developing this new product, how is the quality of competing companies’ products, what price do they use or whether this product can last long on the market. These questions will be able to be answered by Big Data as a company decision-making assistant. Of course, it would take a very large amount of data with high quality to produce quality information as well.

If you want to determine customer interest, you can take it from Big Data in the form of sales data for various types of products and compare it with sales data for products that are similar to new products that will be launched. From the sales data, it can be seen how the level of interest in these products is compared to other types of products. The company can then determine whether to launch a new product or develop the product into something new.

In conclusion, in today’s technological era, companies cannot be separated from Big Data. In addition to simplifying the process of storing data, it also greatly facilitates the process of extracting data. Data that has been processed with Big Data Analytics will provide useful information for the Company which is then used as a guide for decision-making. The source and quality of data are also keys to providing the right information so that companies can make the right decisions.

Decision Making Process in the Company

Decision-making is the process of selecting an alternative to ensure the sustainability of the company. In this process, companies must consider internal and external factors that influence decision-making. Internal factors, for example, are the resources needed by the company to make good decisions, while external factors include environmental situations and conditions outside the company that will have an impact on decision-making.

How to make decisions logically and systematically by considering these two factors? Here are the stages:

  1. Making decisions: Before you start, you should make sure that the decisions you make are realistic, measurable, and implemented promptly.
  2. Gather information: You should start gathering information by doing primary and secondary research. For example, you can distribute questionnaires, conduct interviews, or collect external data related to your industry to support decision-making.
  3. Weigh all factors: Take time to weigh all the internal and external factors that influence decision-making based on the information gathered in the previous stage. To help you break down information related to decision-making, you can apply specific tools to specific situations:
  • Cost-Benefit Analysis: involves an analysis of costs incurred and benefits obtained related to decision making. This analysis will help guide companies to choose decisions that provide maximum benefits and minimize costs.
  • T-Chart: comparative analysis to weigh all external advantages and disadvantages regarding decision making.
  • SWOT Analysis: analysis that considers the company’s strengths and weaknesses, as well as opportunities and threats that will be faced when making decisions.
  1. Carry out decision-making: You have to choose the best decision after weighing internal and external factors. The decisions taken must be following the company’s goals and help solve some of the challenges faced by the company. Next, take action on these decisions and make sure you also prepare a backup plan if a problem occurs.
  2. Evaluate each decision: Review all decisions to check whether the goals have been achieved. Also, consider what can be improved for future decision-making by gathering input from other members of your company.

That is the explanation from Joseph-harmon.com in sequence and detail starting from the explanation of the data and big data. After that, they also discussed the role of technology in making big data which in the end was used for consideration in making decisions that determine the development of the company. After that, you can also see the process to be able to make decisions sequentially within the company.

The importance of analysis concerning large amounts of data that have been collected collectively with various variables and data collection methods over the years will be very useful in determining the next steps when carrying out development maneuvers or preventive steps when there is a risk of problems that threaten the stability of the company.

A good company that can last a long time is a company that knows what needs to be done and forms a team of researchers and a team of strategy formulae supported by supporting facilities. Hopefully, the above reviews can be useful for you.

Read more : Cyber Security for Small Business: Importance and Benefits

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