Moneylines: News briefs for businesses

How strong is your business confidence heading into 2012?

The Sage Business Index measures the confidence of small to midsize business owners regarding their business prospects in the upcoming six months. Responses are graded on a scale of 0 to 100, with values above 50 reflecting optimism and those below 50 reflecting pessimism. Regarding expected prospects in the latter part of 2011 through early 2012, respondents had a confidence index of 57.88. Do you share this feeling of cautious optimism regarding your company’s likelihood of success this year? If not, perhaps revisit your strategic plan.

Many companies are rushing into the cloud unprepared

Software security experts Symantec surveyed 5,300 IT and security managers in 38 countries late last year about cloud computing — the practice of storing and accessing critical business software via the Internet rather than on-site. The survey revealed that 19% of the respondents had moved at least some applications to a public cloud arrangement. Meanwhile, 17% were using a private cloud service. Chillingly, however, many respondents admitted to moving to cloud computing even though they were unprepared to do so. If you’re considering cloud computing, make sure you know what you’re getting into.

Small to midsize businesses also vulnerable to corruption

When the topic of corruption comes up, it’s typically associated with large companies. But smaller businesses can suffer at the hands of these crimes, too. And many aren’t addressing the danger. Results of a 2011 survey by the Deloitte Forensic Center found that smaller companies are almost 23% more likely than larger ones to have no documented anticorruption policies. Have you addressed this risk at your business — in writing? You’ll be glad you did if a scandal strikes.

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