Have you started business planning for 2024? The last few months of the year can get hectic, between trying to close out the end of the quarter strong and mapping out your plan to ramp things up in the new year. One area that small business owners often skip over when creating their new year strategy is cyber security planning. Cyber security is NOT an IT decision, it’s a business decision. Your company hinges on your ability to keep your data – and your clients’ – safe from cybercriminals.

The holiday season is in full swing, which means so are the cybercriminals! While you’re making holiday gift lists, they’re plotting and scheming new ways to take advantage of unsuspecting online shoppers. Holiday phishing scams have become an all-too-common threat, targeting customers to steal personal information, financial data and even identities.

One of the most commons questions we get from new prospective clients calling our office is “What do you guys charge for your IT services?”

While price certainly needs to be one consideration, it’s extremely important you make an informed decision and choose the right IT services company instead of using price as the main deciding factor.

“That won’t happen to me” is something many business owners say when discussing cyberscams and the need for adequate protections for their business, but these days it’s getting to be a really, really stupid statement that you definitely don’t want your clients, employees and banker to hear.

Generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools are allowing scammers to produce deepfakes to defraud their targets. Earlier this year, Clive Kabatznik, an investor in Florida, called his local Bank of America representative to discuss a big money transfer he was planning to make.

There is one extremely common threat to our security that nearly everyone has witnessed but hardly anyone talks about – bad bots. These silent attackers are often thought of as annoying spam accounts posting computer-generated comments online. They are so common that most of us tend to scroll by them without noticing, but in reality, bad bots are much more dangerous, particularly for business owners.

When you run your own business, it feels like there are never enough hours in the day. Even when you start early and end late, there’s always something else, another e-mail or task, nagging for your attention. If you want to be productive, and ultimately successful, it’s important to prioritize what tasks you’ll allow to fill your schedule. Not everything needs to be or should be done by you.

Easier said than done.

It’s a special kind of relentless attack all business owners and managers face: the persistent, crazy, chaotic assault on your time and attention. No one is immune, and every business deals with it.

Some leaders handle the constant pressure on their attention brilliantly, keeping the team organized and highly productive. But most people struggle with this and feel crushed and overwhelmed by all the things they have to keep track of and do. This goes double if your business is in growth mode and not “standing still” or casually strolling through its existence.

What if you discovered that all of the hard work, investments and time you’ve put into growing your business is at risk due to a failure of your outsourced IT company, or possibly even your well-meaning (but overburdened) IT department? If you were exposed to that level of risk, wouldn’t you want someone to tell you about it?

This article is that wake-up call.