Average cost of crime for most companies is €47,000

A new survey on how crime affects businesses has found that for 88% of those impacted by criminal activity since January 2020, the cost to the business was an average of €47,000.

For another 5% of those companies who were the victims of crime the cost was in excess of €500,000.

Of the 61 Munster businesses included in the survey, 48% were victims of crime since January 2020, which compared to 56% for Dublin, 35% for Connacht/Ulster and 31% for the rest of Leinster.

The main concerns of the Munster businesses surveyed in terms of criminal activity, excluding cyber security were, burglary/robbery 61%, vandalism 41% and fraud 21%. The survey also found that insurances and public liability requirements influence security arrangements for 82% of Irish businesses. The figure for Munster at 89% was higher than the average.

Key among the findings is that 63% of Irish businesses believe security has become more of a consideration, with business interruption, health & safety and security breach ranked as the top three risks. 60% report that their business now gives security management essential or high priority.

CHANGES SINCE PANDEMIC

One-quarter of respondents said that the level of importance they placed on security had increased since the pandemic. While a similar number who have turned to remote working during the pandemic said that remote working had caused their security needs to change. These changes included increasing security in general, increasing physical measures and increasing remote security.

Antisocial behaviour at 30% was the largest type of crime against business since January 2020.

The survey was carried out to determine the type of crime, the costs and the importance of security among Irish businesses and was conducted by Amárach Research for Netwatch, global leaders in Proactive Video Monitoring.