“In the Midst of Chaos, there is also Opportunity”

Sun Tzu

The words of Sun Tzu above, legendary Chinese master military strategist, ring eerily true with the world seemingly in turmoil at the moment. 

The Ukraine – Russia war is currently putting (no pun intended) the entire world rightly in a massive frenzy with businesses across industries affected directly (Russian business owners read Oligarchs who have been barred by Western countries) and indirectly (businesses that are affected by other variables like high gas prices as a result of the war), after just recovering from one of the most devastating pandemics in history. As a result of the war, Oil prices are spiralling out of control, same as commodities like wheat, Russia and Ukraine together exported more than a quarter (25.4%) of wheat in 2019, according to the Observatory of Economic Complexity. 

The story is equally not savoury back home, the price of diesel has more than doubled in the last fortnight. The country is also currently under its usual siege of petrol queues as a result of petrol scarcity. These issues coupled with the country’s mounting debt profile and a spate of insecurities have made it imperative for business owners to start thinking of possible bunkers somewhere to crawl into.

Bunkers aside, how do business owners protect their assets during these wild uncertain times? How would they form a massive moat around their assets and insulate them from this chaos? Not to worry, we’ve put together 5 great ways you can secure these assets and none of them includes hiding somewhere in that bunker.

1. Put it in the Cloud

If you haven’t stored your business’ or company’s assets/data which include important business documents, projects documents, email communications, etc… on the clouds, you could be casting a dark cloud in the long run over your business or company. The concept of storing data in the cloud using cloud computing software has been around with us over the last three decades since the inception of the internet and it has grown astronomical. 

Last year, cloud computing marketing was worth over $370 billion (N153.9 trillion) and is expected to more than double by 2025 with the top three Cloud computing companies (Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud) having a combined market share of about 60%. These staggering stats prove that businesses across all industries are adopting cloud computing technology at a fast pace to safeguard their data, especially during these uncertain times.

Thankfully, we offer cloud computing services to help small and big businesses like yours manage their data and assets more efficiently.

2. Subscribe for That Cybersecurity software Now If You haven’t Yet

One of the most popular tools deployed for modern warfare during a time of uncertainty is cyberwarfare. It’s no surprise the use of cyber warfare tools grew at the height of the pandemic two years ago and is set to continue the upward trajectory as the war in Ukraine rages on. 

Already, it is estimated that almost 60% of small companies go out of business within the first six months according to data gathered by National Cyber Security Alliance, a nonprofit organisation. This is quite telling as hackers tend to focus on startups without the necessary security structure compared to much more entrenched companies. But this is not to say big companies are not susceptible to cyberattacks. 

Making it even more imperative for companies of shapes and sizes to protect their online assets with the best cybersecurity software we have on offer.  

3. Adopt a Digital-first Approach

This is an obvious no brainer, especially in an age where everyone is talking and experimenting with the concepts of having their social identities in a virtual reality world read Metaverse. But the right structure must be put in place for a successful digital-first approach adoption. 

For example, companies that have gone fully remote have put in place the right interactive and collaborative software to aid seamless interaction among employees outside the office. At the moment, no thanks to the pandemic, more than 16% of companies worldwide are fully remote, this is according to a study carried out by Owl Labs in collaboration with Global Workforce Analytics. Some Ukraine based software companies didn’t have their services disrupted by the war as they already had the remote structure in place.

We can help you make that transition if you haven’t hopped on the digital train yet by signing up on this link.

4. Don’t Panic!

So much negativity from tumbling revenue numbers for businesses due to high oil prices to the high cost of commodities like gas, high inflation cost by these growing costs and economic downturn will be aired repeatedly by news outlets across the media like TV and podcasts during these uncertain times. It is very important as a business owner, you practise the art of calmness by switching your focus to other relaxing and meditative activities. You can also visit places with rich natural habitats that will refresh your thought process and improve your emotional intelligence to avoid making rash decisions.  

And remember this as a rule of thumb; whatever choices or decisions you make during these moments, make sure you avoid pushing that panic button! 

5. Diversify Your Assets

This is probably the most essential safeguard of all especially if you want to come out on the other side of these uncertain times smiling. Thankfully, there are so many investment opportunities to try out; from the conventional ones such as stocks and real estate to disruptive ones like cryptocurrencies (Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana and others), the much talked about NFTs and Metaverse. 

There are a million more ways you can diversify your investment, but it is very crucial to note that whichever way(s) you choose to helps you limit your exposure during a time of crisis.

Conclusion

These safeguards are not cast in stones and should not be seen as the only way to protect your assets in a time of chaos, as there are several other means of safeguards. But this article will help in guiding you to make the best decisions for your business during uncertain times.

Social media marketing is the use of social media platforms to connect with your audience to build your brand, increase sales, and drive engagement.

This involves publishing inspiring and interesting content on your social media profiles, listening to and engaging your followers, analyzing your results, and running social media promotions.

How to create content for your social media platform:

1. Define your goal

Doing this early on will guide your social media marketing strategy. As Godin explains, “your strategy is like building a ship. You need to know where it’s going to sail before you can start nailing planks of wood together.”

2. Know who your audience is

Understand your audience, what social media channels they are active on, know what makes them tick, what kind of information they like, what type of content they consume (video/words), as this will guide you on what to create.

3. Create a brand persona

Identify the best representation of a typical consumer in the company’s selected target market. The brand persona describes the consumer quite broadly – their lifestyle, purchasing behavior and attitudes that influences their decision making.

4. Create a content calendar

Maintain a social media calendar to let you plan ahead, batch your work, avoid last-minute content creation, drive brainstorming, and note down all your creative brainwaves for later. It’s basically the best way to avoid duplicating content.

How to win the hearts of your audience when creating content for social media:

• Create relevant content:

Remember one golden rule – create content that focuses on your audience and adds value to them. Doing this is more likely to connect the audience with your brand. Be sure to strike a balance between engaging content and promotional content.

• Have an aesthetically pleasing feed:

Your content should be well-organized and easily readable with a good flow. If your content looks attractive, there are good chances that your audience may want to engage with it. If they find your content appealing, they may even share it with friends and partners.

• Create a Call to Action (CTA):

This is the chance to motivate your audience to take real steps toward becoming a customer, partner or ambassador. It can be the determining factor between a lead and a conversion. For example; “Click the link in our bio to learn more”

• Post user-generated content:

This is any type of content that has been created by the target audience. It is great for two reasons – it engages your audience and creates greater brand awareness. According to a study, posting user generated content helps your audience trust you better.

• Leverage influencer marketing:

When an influencer is well known in a specific area, and when their audience sees them give their stamp of approval in that area, it increases trust in that brand awareness and willingness to be associated with it.

The key to the success of this is to: develop a plan, commit the right resources, set a budget, and be consistent with your message.

Just as in personal life, professional life can be filled with questions and pitfalls regarding security-related issues. While people can be tempted to cut costs and corners and hope for smooth sailing, unquestionably the best option is to plan.

Cover your bases, both in terms of general security and in special cases related to your business, and better financial outcomes, as well as lower stress, will inevitably result.

General Security
The most fundamental forms of security in business are going to the most regular. On a basic level, this means keeping all points of access to secure and maintain high levels of password strength. For optimal results here, you’ll want to adopt passwords that are at least 12 characters long. These do not have to be gibberish but ensure they aren’t related to the business itself or family.

Backup Security
Once-daily security is covered, you will also want to consider the possibilities for massive system failure. This can occur as the result of a wide range of unforeseen consequences, such as fires, electrical surges, floods, and malicious unexpected attacks. The best way to combat these problems is to shore up recovery methods beforehand, through the proper application of cloud-backups and software.

Cloud backups are also key. They can be an enormous boost because they constantly run in the background, never requiring much input from the workers of a business. By automatically updating data, any essential databases can then be redownloaded in the case of emergency, such as the loss of regular storage.

Stay Vigilant
Small daily and weekly checks whenever necessary can make all the difference in spotting problems and addressing them before they get out of hand. Stay vigilant, and what will undoubtedly start off alienating and challenging will eventually become simple and second nature. In the long term, your business’s security and health will be all the better for it.

Hire professionals
Cyber threats are always evolving. To stay on top of emerging trends an organization must be innovative and informed, this takes a lot of time and effort. To maintain those capabilities in-house requires a lot of resources. Utilizing a company that specializes in security is more effective as you have access to an entire team of experts that will allow your team to focus on other business-related tasks. Leveraging a team of experts ensures you’re protected by the best.

If and when an attack happens, your cybersecurity firm will know exactly what to do. Should your company suffer from an ongoing data breach, they’ll quickly go into action to resolve the situation as fast as possible in order to close the breach.

To learn more on how you can protect your company, contact us