Category Archives: Technology

Why Businesses Need Password Management

Password Management
Data Backup, Security, Technology, , , , ,

As digital technology becomes more advanced, so do the risks of online security breaches. Cyberattacks continue to be a problem, so businesses need to implement reliable security measures now more than ever. There are many security solutions available. One of the simplest yet most effective is a first-rate password management solution.

What Is Password Management?

Password management is a general term that refers to the steps a business uses to keep passwords secure. It includes everything about passwords, from knowing how to pick a good one all the way to using advanced software to store and regularly update all the passwords.

We all know how important it is to choose passwords that are hard to decipher and to make sure no one knows your passwords. But this is easier said than done. It happens very often that people forget passwords. For this reason, you might have a digital file where you keep all your passwords, or you might write them in an actual notebook. However, these kinds of password storage solutions are not very secure. This is where password managers come in.

Why Using a Password Manager Is Necessary for Businesses

Every business would benefit from a password manager, especially if the operations and transactions happen online. There are a few different managers in use today: browser-based, portable, desktop-based, or cloud-based. Of these, the latter is the most highly advisable and necessary for business use with password management. Why so? Here are some excellent reasons.

You don’t need to remember every password you have

Practically everything we do online requires us to log in for security reasons. This means the average person today would have at least a dozen different passwords to remember. Perhaps you can use the same password for all accounts so you will have fewer to remember, but that is not secure.

With password management, you don’t have to remember so much because the software will remember it all for you. This allows for less clutter in your mind and, ultimately, higher work productivity. One password you have to remember is the one to log into the password manager.

You can access your passwords from anywhere

Since we store the password manager in the cloud, you can access it from anywhere that you have internet access. It’s not just you, either. Any individual with permission will also be able to get access to the passwords.

Password management gives you more security

As with many cloud services, a cloud-based password manager comes with dependable security features that you can trust. Also, if you use the password manager to generate passwords, it will give you something more secure than your birthday for a password. It will generate complex combinations that are virtually impossible to crack.

An Extra Boost of Security

A password manager is of great help in terms of convenience and security. But there are other modern solutions that you can take advantage of as a business owner to ensure your data is secure. One solution today is using biometrics as an alternative login method.

Biometrics uses physical attributes, like fingerprints, facial recognition, or voice recognition, that are unique to the individual, making it impossible for anyone else to access their account.

Another way to elevate password security is via multi-factor authentication. The added layers of verification will reduce the chances that unauthorized individuals might get in.

Protect Your Business by Protecting Your Passwords

To help you understand further the importance of password management in business, we invite you to Watch our Webinar on Digital Estate Planning and why Password Management is a must. It seems like such a minor thing, but keeping your passwords protected is essential to the overall security of your business. Call us today so we can get started!

10 Reasons Why Businesses Need a Digital Estate Plan

digital estate plan
Data Backup, Security, Technology, , , , ,

In the last two weeks, we have talked about digital estate plans and why it is crucial for businesses today to have one. Since most business data is now stored digitally, it makes sense to protect these digital assets in the event the business owner passes away.

If you still don’t have one and are still on the fence about whether creating one is worth your time and effort, we have listed 10 excellent reasons to encourage you to get started soon.

1. Protection of Digital Assets with a Digital Estate Plan

This step is the primary purpose of planning—it ensures that your business and all its digital assets are adequately protected after the owner dies, especially if they are the only ones with access to the business accounts and other online information. Instead of being lost in cyberspace, they will pass the digital assets on to the owner’s chosen successor.

2. Business Continuity with a Digital Estate Plan

The death of the owner doesn’t mean the end of the business. With a well-prepared digital estate plan, you can show your long-term goals for your business and assign individuals to carry on these goals. Hence, your business can continue to prosper years after you are gone.

3. Better Control of the Business

Sometimes a business may carry on after the owner’s passage, but in a direction that differs from what the owner had originally intended. You can prevent this so your business follows your intended path by specifying how you want your digital assets managed in the digital estate plan.

4. Legal Compliance

The law requires businesses to follow specific regulations regarding data protection and privacy. Compliance with these legal requirements is one of the high-priority items in a digital estate planning checklist. When creating your plan, check for local regulations that might apply to your business.

5. Intellectual Property Protection

Most businesses own several digital assets that are intellectual property. These include company logos, brand names, trademarks, and patents. Digital estate planning ensures the protection of all these intellectual properties by enabling the business owner to decide on the manner of their eventual management or distribution.

6. Identity Theft Prevention through Digital Estate Plan

When a business owner dies, the company’s digital assets might become susceptible to data breaches or identity theft unless there is a proper delegation of management roles, which a digital estate plan can help ensure.

7. Dispute Prevention

Just like in a regular will, those left out sometimes fight over the inheritance. The same can happen in a business when the owner passes. As a business owner, you can prevent these kinds of disputes by creating a digital estate plan that shows the roles you want your business partners, stakeholders, and family members to play in the business after you have gone.

8. Tax Liability Reduction

Turning over the ownership of a business can come with hefty taxes, but a plan can significantly help reduce these taxes.

9. Legacy Preservation

Even if you completely trust your successor to do well in your business, it is still something else to preserve your legacy after your death. A plan lets you specify the direction you want to go with your business and gives your successor a guide on managing the business how you would have wanted them to.

10. Smooth and Seamless Transition

With everything laid out in the plan, transferring ownership can go on without hiccups. There will be no wasting of time, money, and other resources. All that has to happen is the execution of the estate plan.

Create Your Digital Estate Plan with Our Help Today

There they are – 10 compelling reasons to prepare a digital estate plan for your business. If you are ready to take the next step, we are always here to assist in any way we can.

For more information, download our free Digital Estate Planning Checklist and Password Cheat Sheet right here. Contact us if you have questions! We will help you ensure that your business stays protected, now and after your passing.

Protecting Your Business in Case of Death

Protecting Your Business
Data Backup, Security, Technology, , , ,

It would be a shame and an unfortunate waste if a business cannot continue operating after the owner’s death. Fortunately, we have ways to circumvent this, beginning with a highly efficient thing called digital estate planning. When protecting your business, this is an effective way to prepare before death.

There are a few scenarios where the business can continue past the owner’s death. For example, we have sole proprietorships and traditional partnerships, where the dissolution automatically happens when the owner dies. But for many other cases, digital estate planning plays a role in ensuring the business will continue running under new management in the coming years.

Why Protecting Your Business & Digital Estate Planning Is Important

The main reason digital estate planning is now a critical element for businesses is that most business transactions and operations are processed digitally. Correspondence, marketing, and sales all happen online. This means that the wealth of a typical business’s assets is now digital. That is why protecting your business digitally is now also crucial.

Now, if the owner dies, and he is the only one with access to these digital assets, the people left in the office will have a huge problem. How can the successors of the business continue running the business when they can’t even log into the accounts in the first place?

As the business owner, when protecting your business it is your job to create a digital estate plan so that in case anything happens to you, or even if you are just temporarily incapacitated or unable to run the business for whatever reason, the person who is going to take your place would have all the data to gain access and to run the business.

How to Create a Digital Estate Plan

It might sound difficult, but creating a digital estate plan is straightforward when protecting your business. It is like making a will but for the digital assets of your business. You will begin by taking an inventory of all your digital assets. Make a list and make sure that everything is included. Anything that is in digital form should be on the list and must be planned for accordingly. This includes documents, databases, images, videos, login information for accounts relevant to the business, and so on.

After completing your list, think carefully about what you want to happen to them. In your digital estate plan, name the person you wish to entrust with each asset. Explicitly state what you want them to do to it, how you want the assets managed, and so on. Each appointee should receive a copy of all the login names and passwords needed to fulfill their responsibility.

Importance of Password Management in Protecting Your Business

This brings us to the crucial aspect of password management in digital estate planning. Turning over a list of passwords to your would-be successor is not enough when protecting your business. You must guarantee these passwords are current. Giving them a list of defunct login information is as good as giving them nothing.

The easiest way to ensure this is to use a password manager: a software application that securely keeps all your login names, passwords, and other sensitive information. Each time you change a password, which should be periodically, update the records accordingly.

Be Ready with a Well-Organized Digital Estate Plan

Having a business, you can pass on to your loved ones is a huge accomplishment. But it is just as important that you should be able to pass it on with no hitches. That is why as early as now, you should already start protecting your business and prepare a digital estate plan that will enable your loved ones to take over just as you wanted, after your death.

To help you make some of these business decisions, we’ve created two helpful downloadable infographics: A Digital Estate Planning Checklist and a Password Cheat Sheet. Pass these two resources around the office so everyone is up to speed on these important topics.

Call us any time you are ready to take the next step!

A Step-by-Step Guide to an Effective Digital Estate Planning

effective digital estate planning
Data Backup, Security, Technology, , , ,

In our previous blog, we began talking about the digital assets of a business—what they are, why they are vital to the business, and how to protect them. We have also mentioned how important it is to protect them even after you, the business owner, have passed away, through effective digital estate planning.

A digital estate plan will give authorized people access to business accounts, and all other restricted aspects of the business when you are no longer around or have become incapacitated. But how does one create an effective digital estate plan? It’s not something that you do every day. What are the things to include? How can you guarantee that the business you have worked so hard to build can go on properly? Here are the important steps that you need to take.

Take an Inventory of All Your Digital Assets

First, you need to create a list of all the digital assets of your business, which might encompass a wider range than you think. These are all the digital files that have value for your business, from photos and videos of your products to transaction records and everything in between. It also includes all accounts you maintain for your business. Taking inventory of your assets is an effective digital estate plan.

Decide How to Manage Your Digital Assets

For each item you have listed, you must specify how to proceed with it after you pass. Who will have access? What should be done with them? How do you want them managed? It is important to be clear and concise in leaving these instructions because they will be followed when you are no longer around to make clarifications.

In selecting your designated backup person, the one who will have control over the digital assets of your business when you cannot do so, pick one who is both capable and trustworthy. In addition, they should also be well-versed in the operations of your business.

Keep an Updated List of Passwords for an Effective Digital Estate Planning

Practically everything now is online and requires a login name and password. It is crucial to keep all of this login information in a place that is not only completely safe but also accessible to authorized entities when the time comes.

A great way to store your passwords as an effective digital estate plan is by using a password manager. Here, you can safely store any online credentials. It also conveniently allows any authorized entity to access the login information. With a password manager, you can also easily update the saved passwords whenever you change them.

Strengthen Your Digital Security

When a business owner passes away, there will be quite a few entities with a vested interest in the business. This people will try to get their hands on it. They might think that since the owner has died, no one would watch the gates, and getting in would be easier. This would not be true if you increased your data security as early as now.

Multi-factor authentication is one of the most popular methods people are using today as a login procedure. This is because it can add a robust layer of security to any account. Besides traditional passwords, you should also activate the use of one-time passcodes. This is to ensure that only authorized individuals will gain access to your digital assets.

Final Thoughts for an Effective Digital Estate Planning

Preparing in the event of death is no different with a company’s digital estate. To help you prepare for the inevitable, we have created a Digital Estate Planning Checklist and Password Cheat Sheet that you can download for free.

This guide contains a lot of useful information that you would need to organize a complete digital estate plan. This is one of many things you can do to protect your digital assets. If you have questions or need further assistance, our team is just a call away!