Virtual Entrepreneur

Banking In Cyberspace

TimesOnline:
Switching banks is not a decision to take lightly. Apart from the potential for disrupted financial transactions, there is also the possibility that you may have jumped from the frying pan into the fire. In the case of a small business, the decision becomes even more significant given that a disruption of any kind in a company’s cash flow can have a huge impact on trading and credit.

However, for an SME the move away from the traditional high street and into online banking can prove to be worthwhile…

Online banking can be considerably more attractive and efficient – you’re able to handle transactions as and when you want, check on cash flow and payments at any time you want, and the absence, currently at least, of bank charges. ‘We’ve been able to avoid all late payments since going online. You can get access 24 hours a day, seven days a week so, although we work fairly normal hours, there are times when all hell lets loose to finish a rush job and it’s all too easy then to forgot administrative tasks until it’s too late, but not with online banking.’

But, for all its attractions, online banking must be approached very carefully, with security at the front of considerations. For many small businesses, especially those that don’t handle significant amounts of cash, banking security may well be a fairly new consideration. Cyberspace criminals are often active, trying to get into your computer systems to find out details of your passwords and other information which they can use to make virtual mugging far more effective than physical smash and grab.

Of course, firewalls, physhing detectors, virus jabbers and all the paraphernalia of ordinary online activities are absolutely essential. Spyware that gets into systems and notes details of what is typed in could easily lead to crooks finding out details of passwords and other information needed to gain access and control of your funds. But, this is insufficient for businesses… More.