Building your business is only one aspect of corporate success — protecting what you've already achieved can be just as important. In this first of a two-part series on protecting your business, we're looking at how you can protect the intangible assets that are so essential to companies today.

Definitions of intangible assets vary, but generally they include everything that provides value to your business that isn't a physical object or money in the bank. Typical intangible assets include trademarks and patents, customer relationships, confidential data, employee goodwill and expertise, and your standing in the marketplace.

Protecting these assets isn't a matter of keeping them under lock and key -- the most effective protection varies from one type of asset to the next. Here are some suggestions on how you can start better protecting your intangible assets.

IP and corporate data

For many types of companies, intellectual property (IP) and critical business data represent a huge chunk of measurable assets. Yet they have few physical components — while the servers that hold your data are expensive pieces of equipment, they're just holding tanks for your IP. The real value is in the data itself.

One threat every business should be prepared for is destruction of computing equipment or loss of data. Whether it's a natural disaster, a fire, a corrupted hard drive, or just a leaky roof, there are plenty of pitfalls that can result in lost data. It's an unwritten rule of modern business: any company that stores critical information electronically should have backups in remote locations.

The easiest way to do this is to hire a remote backup service. These services create backups of all your data on a regular schedule, and store it securely in protected data centers. For a relatively small monthly fee, they maintain up-to-date backups that are ready at a moment's notice. Get free price quotes on remote backup services and see how little it can cost to protect your data.

One traditional definition of intangible assets is intellectual property such as trademarks, copyrights, and patents. There's no real magic to protecting these assets — just the law. Don't take chances with these items: hire a lawyer to make sure they get the proper filing and protection they deserve.

In addition to data destruction and external threats, it's important to think about internal sources that could damage your critical data or expose your trade secrets. The most common example is dissatisfied employees who either want to take your data to a new job or maliciously damage your business. One way to protect essential business documents is to use a document management system.

Document management systems are ideal for protecting your critical data while still allowing authorized employees to access the information they need. You can set differing access levels for different groups of employees, allowing some people to edit, others to view only, and others not to see the information at all. Many systems also create detailed audit trails that track every user's actions in the system, providing an extra layer of security.

Document management systems include scanners to transform paper documents into electronic format, while document management software is focused on documents already stored in electronic format. Find a document management provider and get control of your sensitive information.

Brand and relationships

The concept of a "brand" doesn't just apply to global corporations that are household names. A brand includes everything that makes up your company's image: your look, reputation, standing in the marketplace, and track record.

For companies that don't have massive advertising budgets — and that's most companies — a large part of your reputation is based on word-of-mouth and personal experience. You can't buy good word-of-mouth if you haven't earned it, so the best way to protect this part of your brand is to stand behind your products and services and answer customer concerns promptly.

In this digital age, the first impression many new customers will have of your business is your web site, and many small businesses have sites that don't support their brands. Just having a site that includes your logo isn't enough. Working with a professional web site designer can make the difference between a site that just covers the basics and one that really shines.

The best web site designers do more than just make your site look good. They'll walk you through the process of scoping out the site, determining what information you need to include and how you can use it to entice customers to call or visit your location. Find a web site designer in your area and start improving your web image today.

Another way you can help protect your reputation is to maintain communications with your customer base. Regular communication via email or physical newsletters can help remind customers that you're standing behind your products or services. You can also use those opportunities to provide additional information or advice — just like BuyerZone's Real Deal.

Sending regular emails or newsletters isn't hard – there are plenty of providers who can help you create and deliver occasional or regularly-scheduled newsletters. To find out more, get in touch with email marketing service providers or direct mail service providers.

Employees

Some CEOs will tell you that their most important asset is their employees: the people define the value of the company more than the money in the bank, the facilities and equipment, or the inventory. While physical protection for your staff will be covered in next month's article, protecting employee satisfaction and well-being can also be looked at as part of protecting your assets.

The most important single step you can take to keep employee satisfaction up is to offer competitive salaries. You don't have to pay significantly more than your competitors – salary is only one part of the decision making process for most employees. Factors like work environment, relationships with co-workers and superiors, and benefits can easily outweigh a small difference in salary. However, if your pay scale isn't at least close to similar businesses, you'll make it hard for employees to justify staying.

Once you're in the right salary ballpark, benefits become much more important. Health insurance consistently ranks as the number one benefit on employee surveys.

The right health insurance plan will offer employees a combination of reasonable costs and extensive options for doctors and hospitals. The best plans vary widely from region to region, depending on provider enrollments, and their relative rankings can vary from year to year.

If you haven't reviewed your health insurance offering lately, submit a free request for health insurance quotes to talk to insurance providers in your area. You may be able to find a plan that offers more for your staff while saving you money.

Sometimes, it's the little things that make employees feel valued, and while office coffee services carry only a small monthly cost, they are very popular with employees. Keeping the office stocked with decent coffee and light snacks helps reduce afternoon coffee runs and shows that you value your employees. Find office coffee service vendors near you and see how this simple service can help protect the goodwill you've built up with your employees.

Protecting your physical assets

In next month's Real Deal, we'll talk about the other half of protecting your business: your physical security, including access control systems, video surveillance, and alarm systems.

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