It’s not something that small business owners contemplate: But how are you affected if the one person who has access to your business’ most important online accounts – your company’s social media accounts, online bank accounts and cloud-based payroll software – dies unexpectedly? Are you going to be able to access those accounts? You better, or else your business is likely to be in for some financial pain.
A big issue
The Wall Street Journal recently wrote a feature story on this seldom discussed but important topic. Increasingly today, small businesses are embracing online, cloud-based accounts for everything from their banking to their payroll. And far too often, just one person has access to those accounts, including their passwords. If that person should die, it could leave businesses without any way to access these accounts. That could mean that your business wouldn’t be able to cut checks for its workforce or pay its vendors.
The cloud isn’t fail-proof
The Wall Street Journal says that too many small business owners have a false sense of security when it comes to using the cloud. They don’t worry about losing valuable files or information because, they assume, they’re safely hidden away in the cloud. Even so the cloud isn’t perfect. It, too, can be susceptible to hackers. And because everything stored in the cloud needs passwords, getting access to you important information can prove difficult if the one person who knew all those passwords suddenly passes away.
Solutions
The easiest fix would be to make sure that more than one employee knows the passwords that go along with your online business accounts. You could also generate a list of these passwords and store it somewhere secure, such as safe. Secondly, make certain that your business’ online accounts aren’t registered to only a single employee. Some companies – such as Yahoo! – state that ownership of an account ends once the account holder dies. You don’t want to get into a tricky legal situation. Preferably, make certain that several employees – and, of course, yourself – have legal access to your business’ key online accounts.