Your clients are the most important assets you have if you want to give your business any chance of being a success, so you should always consider securing their personal information just in case your home business runs into any future problems.
When you run a business from home, you’ll always have paperwork lying around with client information present, and if you want to keep your home office and client information secure, you will not only need to prevent criminals from physical access, but you will also need to prevent other potential problems from occurring.
Here are some changes you can make to your home office to keep client information safe and protected.
1. Invest in a Fireproof Filing Cabinet
A couple of common problems that can occur within a household are fire and water damage. Fire hazards can cause damage to paperwork that’s got client information on it and while that’s not much of a problem when compared with information that’s stolen, you could still have invoices that need to be paid or you could have correspondence that you need to see to.
To prevent this from happening in your home office, you could invest in a fireproof cabinet that can provide security from both fire and water damage. It’s an investment that requires a lot of finance but it’s certainly something worth considering if you want to protect your office documents.
2. Secure Your Home
Not only is fire and water a hazard to your paperwork in your home office but so are criminals. In the real world, not many criminals that gain access to your property will be interested in obtaining paperwork from your home office as they will just be after your MacBook or television instead, but if personal information does get into the wrong hands, your business could end up being faced with a lawsuit.
When you run a business from home, it’s important you take no risks when it comes to client information and you secure it as much as possible. By implementing a security system from SimpliSafe you’ll get the house and office monitoring you need to put off any criminals from wanting to attempt theft.
3. Buy a Safe
While a fireproof cabinet can prevent fire and water damage and have locks to prevent human access, they can be easier to break in to than traditional safes. This means buying a safe is another option to consider for your home office. Not only will you be able to keep your most important documents and items in a safe environment but you’ll also be able to keep client information safe from prying eyes.
4. Only Keep Client Information Online
If you have really important client information at hand, there’s no reason why you should keep physical evidence of it in your home office, as without the right security it could end up in anyone’s hands. Another option to protect paperwork is to not print it and instead just keep .PDF and .docx documents on a secure HDD or even online with a secure backup service. You can then print documents as and when you need them instead of having files clogging up your home office that are accessible to everyone.
5. Always Keep Your Office Locked
If you don’t have a lock on your office door make sure you invest in one and always keep it locked when you’re away. There’s no reason why your office should be accessible to family members unless they are employees themselves, let alone any criminals that manage to get into your house.
There’s only so much you can do to secure your home office but it’s important you consider everything so your and your client’s personal information is safe.
