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Keeping Your Financial Information Safe and Secure in an Age of BYOD

AccountingDepartment BYODIf you’re a business owner who uses technology (and who doesn’t use technology in their business?) you’ve probably had to tackle the sticky issue of Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policies.

Today’s Small Business magazine wrote about the challenges of BYOD in the healthcare industry, an industry wrought with concerns about security. As much as any business has to protect its data, the healthcare industry has even greater concerns since they must adhere to Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) regulations, and could face legal action if there is a breach of patients’ data. Talk about high stakes.

“So while the hospital is saving money on hardware and time on small issues by instituting BYOD, it has to spend more money to manage data storage and ensure risk avoidance,” the article explains. “Every machine associated with the hospital is at risk to both add a problem and spread a problem.”

Today we often think of security breaches as someone else accessing our data. But breaches in security can also lead to viruses and malware that can cripple your servers. How can you do your best to keep your business safe?

Establish a BYOD policy and make sure personnel are aware of the rules.

Letting employees use their own devices without setting regulations in place is a recipe for disaster. Sit down with your IT staff and decide what terms and policies are best for your company. Is the IT staff responsibility for troubleshooting employees’ devices or offering support? How will you enforce virus protection and other methods to keep devices and data safe? How can you wipe the data remotely if a device is lost? These are all questions to address before putting a policy into place.

Limit BYOD policies to personnel who require mobility.

Limiting BYOD privileges to senior executives, employees who telecommute and other staff members who really need it can alleviate some of the burden on your IT staff. Instituting BYOD policies can add strain to your IT network, but can also provide cost savings and increase employee engagement and job satisfaction. The key is finding a balance.

Choose outsourced services with care.

Remember, even as you’re managing your employees who are using their own devices for work, you may have other contractors, vendors, or service providers also accessing your network for various reasons. It may be harder to implement, and enforce, policies that deal with companies and people outside your organization. Choose service providers carefully to minimize the risk of a security breach.

Consider cloud-based services managed and hosted by your outsourced provider. In the case of accounting and bookkeeping services, look for a company who stores your financial data in the cloud, and whose servers meet all standards for security within a data center.

Of course, it’s your responsibility to restrict access to your cloud-based accounting files. Limit employee access on a need-to-know basis. QuickBooks makes it easy to offer different levels of access via unique logins to different personnel.

Finally, make sure service providers carry E&O and liability insurance so you will be protected in the event of a loss.

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