What Role Can Proxies Play In Business Growth?
Are you a business owner and conduct most of your business online? If yes, please pull your chair closer and give us 5 minutes of your time. You will want to read this article because of the impact it could have on your business.
The digital space is like a bag of goodies that has the power to transform a business. There are tons of free marketing and advertising opportunities available.
Communication is easier in the online space. Gone are the days of needing to transfer physical files from one place to another. There is quick access to information, even from remote locations. All one needs is internet connectivity and the right device to work.
But, within the bag of goodies are some things you must be very afraid of. We are talking about cyber criminals. These nefarious individuals target all types of businesses were they big or small. It would be easy to think that the latter are exempt.
After all, larger, more established companies have more financial might. Thus, it makes sense to think they would be a better target for hackers. Yet research shows that as of 2021, there were 847,376 small business cybercrime reports.
Small and medium businesses lost over $212,000 due to cyber incidents. The hackers targeted the data sharing with suppliers. By 2025, the cost of cybercrime will be as high as $10.5 trillion.
The onus is on you, as the entrepreneur, to take steps to protect yourself from cybercrime. Installing suitable security measures is critical. And one of the most effective methods is proxies. Our article will touch on the role of proxies in cyber security. We will also delve into how they can help in business growth.
Understanding Proxies
Proxy servers are intermediaries between your server and the remote servers. They are critical in filtering data that comes into or out of your browser. That keeps you safe from malicious content that could affect your systems.
Another critical role of proxies is they provide online anonymity. By assigning a different IP address, the remote server will not know your exact location. You will understand the importance of this later in the article.
Take time to understand the types of proxies when shopping for one. Public proxies, for example, are cheap. But there is a high risk of breaching because you share them with many other users.
Dedicated or private proxies are more expensive. But they are the best because you do not share them with any other user.
It is also possible to get free proxies. But you must be careful about the ones you go for. You could place your business at significant risk of breaches with the wrong one.
Please click on this list of free proxies for the best. The platform gets the proxies from different sources. It also updates them every few seconds. That way you always have a fresh list of usable free proxies.
The Role of Proxies in Business Growth
- Cyber Security with Proxies
As we stated above, proxy servers filter content coming into your browser. They can block out any attempts by hackers to introduce malware into your systems.
As we know, business operations depend on data. The loss of such can have a significant impact on your business. There could be financial implications if a customer sues for a data breach.
The loss of reputation can also sound the death knell for your business.
- Monitoring Employee Internet Activity
You can’t stand over your employees’ shoulders to see what they’re doing on their computers. Some of them may try to access sites that could put your organization at risk of cyber attacks.
Indeed, insider threat is a huge concern for many businesses. An unintentional act, like clicking on a link, provides a doorway for malware.
Statistics show that insider threats account for 34% of cyber breaches. Since 2020 there has been a 44% increase in such a threat. As of 2022, the cost of insider threats stands at $15.38 million.
Proxies can help with the monitoring of online activities. You can even block out sites that you deem inappropriate.
- Proxies for Market Intelligence
You cannot operate a successful business if you do not know what is happening in the market. There is a lot of research necessary to collect information in the market. This also includes competitor intelligence.
It goes without saying that you will need a lot of data. Yet you don’t always want other people or competitors to know what you’re up to. Proxy servers give you anonymity while online. Some will mask your IP address by assigning you a different one.
You can collect data without the remote servers flagging the requests as suspicious. In other cases, they can ban your IP address, thus zero access.
Proxies also help circumvent geo-restrictions. The business can collect data from all over for market intelligence purposes.
- Proxies for Social Media Marketing
Social media provides a powerful marketing tool. You get access to a broad audience base and tons of marketing avenues, both free and paid. The challenge is you cannot open too many accounts on one platform using the same IP address.
But, a proxy will hide your IP address or assign you different ones for every action. That way, there is no risk of the platforms identifying that it is one person opening the accounts.
- Website Traffic Balancing With Proxies
If you run an e-commerce platform, you cannot afford any downtime. The same applies to slow-loading pages. Yet, a surge in traffic can result in any one of the scenarios.
Due to frustration, customers can leave and go to your competitors. Proxy servers help balance traffic by determining how much goes in at any one time.
Data caching capabilities of proxies also help avoid redirecting requests to main servers. It does this by storing data subsets in high-speed data storage layers in the proxy server. The system can retrieve such information faster. The direct result is reduction in delays for information requests. Further, you don’t use as much bandwidth resulting in greater speed and reliability.
Final Thoughts
Using proxy servers can assist in business growth. One of the most critical ways is by ensuring online security. Others are online anonymity for market intelligence, marketing, and employee internet usage monitoring.
Also, please use the free proxies list we shared. Indeed, there is no reason not to have this fantastic innovation working for you.