Starting a business can be a dream come true. Whatever be the domain you plan to enter, it is filled with certain known and unknown risks. Some risks are only found to be more dangerous when compared to others. Hence, you need to prepare for the worst. Risks posed in your business might not allow you to achieve your established goals. When risk management is concerned, you need to take some crucial steps.
5 business risks you should be aware of
1. Compliance risk:
Businesses are required to comply with several government laws and regulations. Payment processing and data protection compliance is likely to impact significantly how certain aspects related to operations are managed. You need to be aware of the federal agency established laws like EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) and OSHA (Occupational Safety & Health Administration). It also includes local and state agencies, thereby reducing compliance risks. Otherwise, you may face hefty penalties and fines for non-compliance. You can consult the professionals specializing in compliance.
2. Economic risk:
With the global market fluctuating sharply every now and then, economy tends to change constantly. The economy can gain from some positive changes. However, sales volume is likely to be impacted negatively by negative events. To identify as well as plan for economic downturn, watch developing trends and changes. Prepare for the worst and save money to manage steady cash flow as it can help overcome economic risks. Implement lean budget, emphasizing on low overhead and reduce unwanted expenses.
3. Financial risk:
It involves your company’s debt load and credit given to customers. Another threat posed is interest rate fluctuations. Your business plan should have major adjustments to avoid unwanted loss or harming cash flow. Reduce debt as much as possible and come up with a viable plan to reduce that load at the earliest. Relying on just one or couple of clients for income will pose financial risks. Diversify your base to minimize losses.
4. Fraud and security risks:
This is another business risks Customers in huge numbers are using mobile and online platforms to share their personal data. This automatically increases hacking threats. There are reports of payment frauds, identity theft and data breaches from every part of the globe. Such risks tend to impact significantly company reputation and trust. Moreover, the organization is liable financial for all data frauds and breaches. Hence, to ensure effective risk management, you need to focus on fraud detection tools, security solutions, etc. Also do educate your customers to identify potential threats and steps to take a cautious approach.
5. Operational risks:
Business risks posed can be external, internal or involve different factors. Certain aspects may result you to experience business continuity loss. Such unexpected events might be some natural disaster, fire, etc. It might destroy or damage your physical damage. Even some technical problems, power cut or scrupulous people may cause server outage. Most operational risks are stated to be people-related. Human errors are likely to result in waste of precious money and time. Such operational risks if not mitigated may impact adversely your business concerning reputation, time and money. Business continuity plan and training can help address such issues. This way, you get to know what is going wrong as well as establish proper proactive measures or backup system. This ensures smooth business operations. Most businesses these days are found to implement Cloud storage to safeguard their sensitive data. They hire remote team members to ensure smooth operations. With more processes being automated, people failures can be reduced to a large extent.
You will be constantly facing business risks throughout the tenure. But you need to devise smart contingencies and plans to mitigate them.
