If you have ever had a technology expert take a look at your IT, you might have heard that your IT would be unprepared for an attack, loss of data or another accident that threatens to derail your company.

You might have agreed with them, but upon seeing the price tag that comes with protecting yourself, you might have understandably recoiled and thought that it might be unnecessary.

Looking back at your company’s history, almost nothing bad has happened in terms of technology. Your history can go back 10 years, 20 years, and in some cases several family generations and nothing bad has happened.

“Why is it only now that experts are coming in to tell me that my business is at risk? I can list off several bad things that have happened, from economic crashes to supply shortages and my business has still been around.”

You strongly believe in your business’ ability to come back from even the worst crises, and it is good to have that confidence in your business.

It is also true that if you’re meeting a salesperson for any disaster prevention issue, they will always make it sound like worst case scenario is going to be around the corner. If you are selling anyone anything, your sales team has done something similar, so don’t be too hard on the people saying the same thing in a different industry.

But the reason worst case scenarios are being brought up is because they are becoming a legitimate threat that can bring down even the most resilient businesses. Times have changed, threats to your businesses have changed, as well as the ways to deal with those threats.

Why Would Something Bad Happen To Me Now?

Let’s be clear, I would never hope for an accident or a disaster to happen to your company. That’s not acceptable behaviour or something you should wish for on any company.

However, a rise in businesses using technology means that there will be more targets for cybercrime.

In the past, people didn’t have as much information to work with. You didn’t know how many businesses there were in the world. You didn’t know about what businesses were doing in different parts of the world.

Now, you and I live in a time where everyone has a digital identity and businesses are entering the online market to boost their competitiveness. Most businesses nowadays have a website or use technology to manage their information.

The spread of technology has made business operations simpler and easier. It has even allowed new businesses to operate and connect with customers.

As a result, hackers and cybercriminals are now seeing a lucrative opportunity by attacking companies using technology.

Before, all you had to worry about were people breaking into your property, mismanaging your data or a large natural disaster. You could afford to focus on your business and making sure everything was okay.

Now, there could be threats to your business from all angles and depending on how serious the threat is, that could be the end of your business.

But I’ve Never Been Hit By A Bad Event!

That is a really good thing. Don’t worry, many businesses have never encountered a technological disaster either. It is in everyone’s best interest that companies and businesses never get affected by an external threat.

If you have known a business owner who has encountered a problem though, you will find that a large number of them will tell you that you can’t be too prepared in the event that something happens.

When your data is lost due to a power outage or a natural disaster, having a backup system allows businesses to get back to work as soon as possible. When your office computers are hit with a virus, a good anti-virus strategy will clean up your computers and restore your previous performance.

Now you could say that external threats are not a problem, and in some cases that may be true.

But you also can’t completely factor out internal accidents. Employees may accidentally download a suspicious file, you might misplace an important hard drive or a fire breaks out in your building.

No one would hope for a bad event to happen to you. But with the rise of technology comes an increase in the likelihood that something bad could happen.

The Solutions Being Proposed Are Expensive!

Let’s say you are convinced that security is important and having a good IT department is a must.

But you see the price tag proposed by some companies and you start feeling like people don’t have your best interests at hand. They’re more concerned with the price than they are protecting you.

To be fair, every business does have to keep itself afloat, and employees do need to be paid. That’s how every company works.

It’s also true that everyone wants the best solution at the cheapest price. It’s our instinct when we act to conserve scarce resources.

It’s a good thing that there isn’t just one technology company in the world, so you can and should shop around for prices and see what different people say.

Ask each company to tell you why they believe your company needs each part in a proposed solution. Work through to see if you understand why it’s needed and ask about the cost. Don’t be afraid to ask questions; if a company is confident in their offerings, they should be able to explain it to you.

Don’t just rush for the cheapest company though, there are times where it is worth paying for better quality. Look to see what is right for you and what you can understand.

Yes, safety is expensive. But when you think about the peace of mind it can afford, as well as the ability to recover from what could be a disastrous event, you will start to see why these solutions cost so much.

Worst Cases Can Happen, But We Hope Not

It’s worth stating again that no one wants anything bad to happen to you or your business.

But the worst case scenario isn’t something that is a far away fantasy or something that would never happen to you.

Looking at the recent technology crimes in the past few years should show business owners how dangerous it would be to have something like that happen to your company.

While you won’t need special solutions designed for large companies, you will want to take a good look at which solution is right for you.

You can still wait and see how things happen. But don’t start thinking that what happened to others will never happen to you.