With the cost of cybercrime projected to skyrocket — from $6 trillion by the end of 2021 to $10.5 trillion by 2025 — more and more companies are realizing the importance of cybersecurity. Cybersecurity measures keep cyberthreats at bay and protect sensitive business data from falling into the wrong hands. And if properly implemented, cybersecurity can do much more for your company, boosting its productivity in many ways.
Read also: How to improve your cybersecurity without overspending
Improved computer and network performance
Malware infection can slow computers and networks to a crawl, as it uses up a lot of system resources (e.g., memory, CPU, GPU). For example, ransomware typically has high CPU usage while encrypting files. On the other hand, a computer worm usually consumes much bandwidth as it spreads copies of itself to multiple computers, causing network interruption. With malware hogging resources, there’s often little left for other computer processes. This can lead to the extremely sluggish performance of legitimate programs (e.g., operating system, web browser) and the PC overall, making work practically impossible.
Effective cybersecurity measures can keep malware at bay. In turn, your computers and IT networks will always be optimized so your employees can go about their tasks efficiently.
Limited distractions
It’s easy to lose track of time while browsing social networking apps and other non-work-related sites. To help employees redirect their time back to work, you can add restrictions to your business network that block access to distracting sites and apps, such as Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. Setting such restrictions also saves managers from constantly checking if their employees are actually working instead of wasting the company’s time.
Decreased number of cybersecurity attacks and data breaches
A cyberattack could seriously hurt a company’s productivity. For example, when Universal Health Services — which runs around 400 hospitals and care centers in the United States and United Kingdom — suffered a ransomware attack, their computer network went offline. This forced hospital staff to fall back to time-consuming manual procedures, such as filing patient information using pen and paper. Some medical treatments also had to be delayed since lab test results and medical images could not be accessed.
If your company falls victim to a data breach, you can expect to spend a lot of time and money fixing the issue. And as mandated by the law, you must notify the public that a breach has occurred. This may entail multiple legal consultations, PR planning meetings, and press conferences. You’ll then likely get bombarded with messages and calls from irate customers. Despite your efforts, you could still lose many customers, so you will have to spend more time making up for lost business.
Suffering a data breach is even worse if you’re part of a highly regulated industry since you will be subject to investigation, forcing you to completely stop or limit operations. You may also have to attend court hearings.
The good news is that an effective cybersecurity system prevents you from losing all of that time since it minimizes the number of cyberattacks and data breaches your business faces. The fewer security incidents you experience, the less time you have to spend addressing them, which means you can focus on growing the business.
Effective safety net
Having cybersecurity measures, such as automated backups, in place helps minimize any business interruption. Should a cyberattack or any other disaster cause you to lose access to your business data and system, you will still have a complete backup of these, allowing you to resume operations immediately.
Without such backup, you would lose so much time from not being able to work. Not only that, but you would also have to spend time trying to recover or replace your lost files.
Read also: 7 Layers of Security
You need expert help to balance security and productivity
Effective cybersecurity requires implementing multiple layers of protection, which if done incorrectly, can easily hamper productivity. For example, authorized personnel may end up spending so much time going through many security steps just to access company files. This is why it is better to seek professional help.
When you work with SpectrumWise, you can rest easy knowing that our cutting-edge cybersecurity defenses will keep you safe from cyberthreats without hindering productivity. Get in touch with our IT security specialists today!
