Use of personal cell phones and other mobile devices at work has become so common that many businesses have developed policies and procedures around the use of them during business hours. If you don't already have such policies in place, this article may motivate you to make it a priority.

As of October 2014, 90% of American adults had a cell phone. 64% of American adults had a smartphone, and 42% of American adults owned a tablet computer. Why should you care? Because all of these devices can be used by your own employees to ruin your business and your reputation.

Case Study

When two employees failed to show for work, business owners became concerned. They checked the offices and found that the desks had obviously been cleaned out and personal effects removed. Suspicious, they checked the office computers and found that the accounting and invoicing system had been altered and many documents were missing. When they contacted us to help, we examined the computer systems and established the dates the files were accessed and deleted, which coincided with the last night the employees 'worked late.' Armed with our findings, the business owners confronted the then-employees. When threatened with a civil suit, the now-former employees admitted to stealing invoices, client lists, order history and other proprietary data with the intent of opening their own business and approaching the existing clients. Result: disaster avoided and reputation saved.

Most business owners house an incredible amount of vital information on their computers, including sales data, customer information, inventory management, passwords, proprietary data, research projects, business expansion plans, competitor's information, and financial records. Much of it is password-protected to maintain the integrity of the information and to limit who has access to different pieces of your business. You probably can't imagine running your business without computers anymore. If you can't afford to be without the information in your computer system, then you certainly can't afford for someone else to get their hands on it. Not intruders, not competitors, and not your employees.

Maybe you think you have sufficient security for your sensitive data. Maybe you think none of your employees would ever do anything to hurt you or your business, and maybe you think you would know if any of them tried. Maybe you're right. Maybe.

Case Study