Here is a simple quiz to determine if your company information is as risk:
- Do your employees use their own cell phone, tablet, or laptop for work? (Yes or No?)
- Do you employees have access to your company’s confidential and proprietary information (for example, customer contact information, product formulas, or valuable pricing data, etc.) that if others acquired would be detrimental to your business? (Yes or No?)
If you said Yes to No. 1, then you are at risk of losing your most valuable information to employees who leave and take your information with them on their own devices.
For service businesses, information is the most valuable asset. Do your salespeople have your customer list and contacts on their phone? If so, then if that salesperson leaves to work for a competitor, that salesperson will be able to take the information with them to their new employer and possibly sell the new employer’s products to YOUR customers preventing your company from getting future sales. The salesperson may have the product lists, pricing schedule and other information they can take to the new employer too. This would give them an unfair competitive advantage by selling the same products to your customers at a lower cost.
You need to protect your company’s most valuable asset: information.
By issuing your employees a work phone, tablet, or laptop, you as the employer can control your company’s information. While it may cost more to buy the devices and pay for the information services, it can protect your company better than any insurance policy.
How?
By issuing company devices, you can require that the device be returned at any time, you can erase the information, remotely in many cases, if you need to, and put in protocols on the devices to ensure that the information is not transferred to an external device (Cloud Service, USB or hard drive). You can also protect your information through appropriately drafted employment agreements and equipment policies.
The attorneys at Trimboli & Prusinowski are experienced in preparing the policies and agreements that help protect your company information. For example in a company policy or the employment agreement, you can set policies that will ensure you can retrieve the information at any time or erase the device to be assured that the information is not improperly used.
You have spent a considerable amount of time developing your products, identifying the customers to sell it to and the procedures for making and selling the products. You do not want to lose it due to employees stealing your valuable information.
If you are ready to protect your company’s information, by having the appropriate employment agreements, and company policies in place, call the attorneys at Trimboli & Prusinowski Today at 973-660-1095.
