Secure your Wi-Fi and sensitive information, get to know your employees, and remember to count your inventory.

As we mentioned in our April security update, safety and security is a full-time job for us, and for you, so we hope this post gives you some ideas to keep your business running smoothly. We’ll run through a few key areas of interest and provide tips and advice.

Secure your Wi-Fi setup

Your register uses Wi-Fi to connect to ShopKeep, so it’s very important that your register is on its own secure, reliable Wi-Fi network and that you check the connection regularly. While we do allow you to accept payments offline, it’s never anyone’s first choice!

You should set up a password-protected network for your register (NOT using the default router password) and if you’d like to offer Wi-Fi to your customers, create a “Guest” network with a different password. Once you’ve done that, you should remove any previous networks your register device has connected to in the past to avoid confusion and change the password on your Wi-Fi network on a regular basis (every 3 to 6 months should work).

Setting up a secure network is hugely beneficial to a safe and reliable register experience, so we can’t recommend it highly enough! When you do so, we also recommend using Google Wifi for its ease of use, security, and reliability.

Get to know your employees

The security of every business depends to some extent on the integrity and honesty of their employees. Make sure to hire employees you can trust and once they start working for you, get to know them and listen to their feedback on keeping your store secure.

When using ShopKeep, start out by giving each employee the proper privileges for their job role. Next, make sure each employee using the register has his or her own unique PIN. This lets you track their register actions, including cash drawer access, shift summaries, and clock punches directly from your smartphone via ShopKeep Pocket! Also make sure to check reporting regularly in BackOffice to confirm that everything looks as it should.

Track your inventory…then count it

Stock losses in the retail industry can dramatically affect profits, particularly when operating on tight margins. That’s why ShopKeep’s inventory management tools allow you to track each and every item with each and every sale, helping you understand exactly what is being sold and when. Make sure you set it up for all of your items.

However, even if you’re tracking your inventory, it’s still important to conduct regular inventory counts to make sure that every sale is going through your system and no one is selling items off the books. Weekly or monthly counts probably work best depending on your sales volume.

Update sensitive information regularly

In most small businesses, people come and go over time, so it’s important that you regularly update passwords and codes so that your business remains secure. As soon as an employee leaves your business, you should remove their access to your systems, which for ShopKeep means the register and potentially BackOffice. We also recommend changing the password for your Wi-Fi network and any other potentially vulnerable systems.

That’s it for this update. Until next time, we hope you and your store continue to stay safe and secure!

Richard Berger

Richard Berger

Richard Berger translates his years of experience in the startup & small business world into helpful advice for small business owners. As Director of Product Marketing at ShopKeep, the #1-rated iPad Point of Sale System, Richard has an unmatched understanding of POS system technology, and how it can be used to transform growing businesses.