Pikes Peak-area businesses didn’t have to deal with floods and fire this year, and who knows if they will have to again.

But that doesn’t leave them risk-free. There are employees who steal. Bookkeepers who embezzle. Cyber breaches and old-fashioned burglaries.

Businesses will always face risks, which is why the Colorado Springs Small Business Development Center is holding its second annual Business Protection Summit on Friday.

“You have to be prepared for something before it happens, and unfortunately, most of us don’t think about it until after it does,” said Aikta Marcoulier, executive director of the local SBDC. “Being a successful business means being one step ahead.”

The first summit, which attracted about 120 people, took place last year in the aftermath of two consecutive years of wildfires and a summer of devastating floods. The SBDC’s focus then was on business interruptions caused by natural disasters, but Marcoulier said it became clear that many more risks loom large.

“Any interruption for a business can be quite disastrous,” she said. “What if employees are stealing from you? What if your bookkeeper is hiding money from you? What if someone comes and burglarizes you? So there are a lot of different business interruptions that need to be talked about, and how to prepare for that and how to have a good continuity plan.”

The daylong program features several panel discussions with business and government leaders from throughout Colorado and keynote speaker Mary Kelly, a Denver financial and leadership consultant who will talk about the “why” in business preparedness.

The lineup also includes one-on-one consulting and a series of informational sessions on the Community Development Block Grant Disaster Relief program, which is about to make money available for businesses affected by federally declared disasters since 2011.

Honda

ISSEI KATO