Risky Business: 4 Ways to Handle Risk

Every business knows about "spending money in order to make money." Dropping cash on advertising and hiring key personnel are classic examples of this. However, "spending money on risk prevention in order to save money by avoiding expensive problems, and thereby making money," isn't as well known. Perhaps because it's harder to explain.

For businesses trying to bolster their budget and find money from new sources, investing in risk management can be like taking advantage of an untapped oil reservoir directly underneath their feet--minus the mess. When it comes to making money by saving money with risk management, there are four ways that your organization can go about it.

Risk Avoidance
Risk avoidance is exactly like it sounds; it's determining all of the risks your company is facing and then taking measures to avoid them. This proactive approach eliminates expensive problems by taking steps to make sure that the risk isn't even on the table.

For example, let's say that your staff wants to bring in their personal devices to work and use them to access company files (bring your own device, or BYOD). At first, you may think that this sounds like a great idea. However, you do some research and learn that BYOD is fairly risky in regards to the security of your company's data. Therefore, you opt to avoid the risk altogether and deny your employee's request for BYOD. Your staff may complain that they're not getting their way, but ultimately, you know that your decision was made for the good of the company. Potential crisis averted.

Risk Prevention
Sometimes, a risk can't be avoided. In a scenario like BYOD, you may have to implement it despite the known risks. Because you did your homework and you're aware of the risks involved, you can now take measures to prevent these risks. Taking risk prevention steps will often cost you money, like subscribing to Digital Seattle's managed IT services. When proactive risk prevention measures are taken and expensive problems are avoided, the money spent on a preventive IT service will be more than worth it.

Risk Retention
Fact: You can't run a business without taking on any risks whatsoever. It's well known by every entrepreneur that the greater the risk taken will yield greater rewards. Retaining the risk means having a plan in place to deal with risks that are unavoidable. Concerning technology, this means having a firewall in place for your IT infrastructure along with an antivirus solution. Unlike BYOD which is optional, your business has to access the Internet, which is full of viruses, malware, and other risks that can compromise your network. Therefore, having Digital Seattle monitor your network in order to detain these risks is your best option to deal with unavoidable technology risks.

Risk Transfer
Also known as "passing the buck," risk transfer is one of the best ways to deal with risk because it moves the risk to an entirely different entity--essentially making it someone else's problem. The classic IT example of risk transfer is with cloud computing. When Digital Seattle hosts your company's data and mission critical applications, we're the one's taking on the risk of hard drive failure and other support issues. Transferring hardware failure risks with cloud computing will cost you a monthly fee that will more than pay for itself because the expensive risk of having your budget busted by a hard drive crash is transferred to us.

By managing risk in all of these different ways, major problems are either dealt with and prevented while they're still small issues, or they're avoided altogether. In business, you have to take risks to get ahead, but you've got a lot to lose by risking your technology and data. Reach out to Digital Seattle at (206) 709-9556 and we'll manage your technology risks for you!