BusinessHub

As the 21^st century progresses and moves forward, our reliance on technology has grown at an exponential pace. As a result, hackers have become some of the most dangerous criminals in the business world. You can’t see them and you don’t know where they’re located, but they manage to access “secure” networks, steal sensitive data, and interrupt monetary transactions. No matter the size of a company, a cyber attack can cause catastrophic damage to a business.

Cyber attacks and data security breaches have become a recurring trend in today’s society—just ask Facebook’s, Mark Zuckerberg. This year alone, there have been well over 100 noteworthy data breaches or leaks across a broad spectrum of industries, including major brands such as Blackrock Inc., Instagram, Dunkin Donuts, and Fortnite¹.

I just returned from the American Society of Safety Professional’s (ASSP) annual conference in New Orleans. It was a massive event with over 5,000 people in attendance. The conference included a great exhibit hall with 200+ exhibitors from around the globe. The speakers and breakout sessions were great, which brings me to the reason for this blog post.

Running a company is no easy task, especially in our ever-changing business landscape. The law is constantly evolving, and with the myriad of options for providing employee benefits, it can be difficult for business owners to keep up! Between health benefits, tuition reimbursement, paternity leave, and retirement savings plans, how are business owners supposed to keep track of what benefits are required by law?

In 2006, the Pension Protection Act enabled employers to automatically enroll their employees in a 410(k) plan. Since then, businesses have increasingly been automatically enrolling their new team members into 401(k) plans during their onboarding process.

There are six common misconceptions that business owners make that can compromise their company and personal finances. Each of these highlight common missteps in running the financial side of your business, which in turn can affect your company and your future.

Are your employees familiar with the benefits that your company provides? Is there ongoing communication with your employees throughout their employment, or is it something that is only ever discussed during the onboarding process? Do you have a benefits communication plan in place to keep employees informed about updates or changes to their benefits? Do your employees know enough about their benefits to keep them from being lured away by more competitive offers?

Exit planning is complex. Between establishing your exit goals and transferring your business, you’ll attempt to build business value, find an appropriate successor or buyer, navigate taxes, and keep your key employees happy enough to stick around, just to name a few tasks. With so many considerations and activities surrounding your business exit, it's smart to consider creating an advisor team.

Data is everywhere. We store it in our internal business systems and in the cloud. We collect it from our clients and share our data with business partners. Leaders need data, value it, and are able to amass it. We carry data with us and leave a digital footprint every day. Technology providers help us store it forever and share it globally. In the data breach era, leaders face greater risk if they fail to protect data throughout its lifecycle.

Planning for major events often falls victim to procrastination. Whether it’s planning your next career move, a long vacation, or your business exit, it’s easy to put off progress, thinking you'll wait until you have more free time. While planning a business exit should never take over your entire life, once you've decided on your exit goals, you'll see greater success when you keep your momentum going instead of stopping and starting your activities.