Federal budget 2023 is an opportunity to make SMEs cyber secure

If there was ever an iconic Australian image, it’s that of the hard-working small business founder, putting their blood, sweat, tears and money into a business dream, day after day, week after week. 

Time is not a resource SMEs have on their side. Many work alone and every minute is spent on the nuts and bolts of their business: finding customers, sourcing products and suppliers, managing logistics, building a digital presence, hiring people and troubleshooting along the way. If they have a team, it’s usually a small one, without the budget for expertise that larger enterprises may have at their fingertips.

This more improvised approach, built on collected pieces of advice, or sourced from unverified websites, means SMEs can’t always make the most effective and efficient decisions.  

As the 2023 federal budget time approaches, we’re calling on the federal government to make a change to enable easier access to key information. 

Building a constructive landscape

SMEs make up more than 99% of Australian businesses and employ some 7.4 million people. Collectively, they’re the nation’s biggest employers: our job creators, our food growers, our local retailers, and essential service providers. They embody the dynamism and DIY attitude that Australians are so often celebrated for.

As a sector that contributes more than 50% of our national GDP, it is clear that when SMEs prosper, so does the economy. 

While businesses have an abundance of resources from multiple sources, they often don’t know where to start. It’s a challenge to quickly and easily find reliable resources they can trust to provide the right advice. The sheer volume of information, and the limited time to search through it all, makes it difficult to find what they need, when it is needed. It’s time to look at how we can make the most of the resources available, and the changes that will make a meaningful impact. In the context of a challenging economic landscape, how can we make it easier for SMEs to not only survive, but to thrive?

For a SME starting out, this might include making decisions on their website hosting, data management and cybersecurity, understanding the legal requirements around copyright and naming their business, navigating tax and compliance obligations, plus all the complexities around hiring, managing and paying a team. It’s a lot. 

As our recent MYOB Belief Barometer found, seven in 10 Australians believe they can start a business and more than eight in ten (83%) believe they could learn with the right help, but only 21% would say that starting a business is easy. 

We believe streamlining the vital information SMEs need could make a huge difference to the day-to-day running of small businesses, and to the lives of business owners. It could effectively make it easier, so that the 76% of Australians who’ve had a business idea decide to bring that idea to life. 

In the 2023 federal budget, we would like to see a commitment to a ‘single source of truth’ for SMEs. A one-stop shop for government advice and guidance for SMEs, seeking to consolidate across federal, state and territory departments to help time-poor SMEs efficiently access the latest guidance and advice on everything they need to thrive. 

How streamlined resources could keep SMEs cyber safe

A single source of truth will help businesses in many ways. Of particular importance today is cybersecurity, a rapidly evolving challenge. Here the risks are high and the consequences dire. The latest MYOB Business Monitor research found 56% of small business owners became more concerned about cyber in the last year. However, information targeting SMEs is currently spread across multiple sources from both government and industry. 

Small business owners are experts in their own fields, but are not likely to be experts in cybersecurity. They’re also working with a moving target, as cyber threats and security best practices change constantly.

As cyber risks grow and evolve, so too does the need for SMEs to be informed, prepared, and ready to respond. Complexity is the enemy of security, so it’s essential that information on this critical issue is easy to find and easy to understand. 

A simple clean-up of the official resources, tools and information already available to SMEs could have a meaningful and outsized impact on businesses. Freeing them from time spent trawling and translating websites would give business owners more time to focus on what they’re passionate about — running and growing their businesses.

It would make everyday operations more manageable, improve timely access to information on issues like security, and ultimately support the government’s own digital compliance agenda while underpinning broader economic growth.

This 2023 federal budget, as the government seeks to make the most of what we have going for us, we urge them to think of SMEs — one small change could have significant benefits and returns for many.

Helen Lea is the Employee Experience Officer and Government Policy Lead at MYOB.