The Business’s customer relationships and reputation:
Like those of all retail businesses, customer relationships and reputation are very
important to the Business. The Business needs to appear knowledgeable, get orders
out promptly, and satisfy customers’ needs. There are several possible threats to
different aspects of this asset.
Confidentiality of the Business’s customer relationships is not a large factor, as
the Business does not sell things that would generally hurt a customer’s reputation, but
that is a potential threat. A list of the Business’s customers being given to a competitor
(by a disgruntled employee, for example) would make the Business appear to have poor
security covering customer data, making customers reluctant to do business with them.
It is not very likely, however. Not only do employees generally work closely with the
owner and in the same room, but it would be easier for competitors to obtain lists of
potential customers legitimately from various interest organizations than it would be to
steal the Business’s.