In today's Biz Pulse, gain insight into how:

• Franchisors must navigate legal landscapes for successful global expansion, laying out strategies for intellectual property protection and avoiding financial fraud.

• The decisiveness in leadership and focused agendas are key to preventing cybersecurity governance committees from losing momentum and efficacy.

• Quantum computing threatens traditional encryption, urging businesses towards post-quantum cryptography to secure data integrity in the future.

Each of these articles is penned by members of Forbes Business Council, successful business owners shaping the future of business.

Let’s dive in!

Navigating Legal Mines in Global Franchising

Expanding your franchise globally is an exciting venture, but it comes packed with legal snares that could potentially damage your brand beyond repair.

From an experienced CEO and attorney’s perspective, here’s a quick guide to steer clear of these obstacles:

🏝️ Intellectual Property Mirage: Securing trademarks isn’t enough. Real IP protection involves a comprehensive strategy tailored to each jurisdiction, ready to tackle enforcement issues and local competitors exploiting legal loopholes.

💸 Capital Fraud Trap: Beware of franchisees using your brand as a facade to raise funds for their ventures. These con artists present a polished front, diverting your brand's value for their gain without actual franchise development.

⚖️ Jurisdiction Trap: Jurisdictions with laws favoring franchisees can render your contracts ineffective, especially when it comes to termination clauses and dispute resolutions.

🐱 Copycat Conundrum: Local laws might protect competitors imitating your brand, leading to prolonged and costly legal battles with uncertain outcomes.

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Revitalizing Cyber Risk Governance: Avoiding Common Pitfalls

Effective cyber risk governance is crucial for cyber resilience; however, many committees struggle due to executive disengagement and a lack of focus.

Here’s a brief guide to overcoming these challenges:

😴 Losing Momentum to Boredom: Cyber risk committees often become hindered by technical jargon and long-winded presentations, causing executive attention to wane.

• Solution: Focus discussions on strategy-relevant topics, such as ransomware defense or supply chain resilience. Have clear, actionable requests for the committee to decide upon.

📉 Delegation Dilutes Decision-Making: When executives delegate their responsibilities to middle managers, it can stall critical decisions and dilute the effectiveness of governance efforts.

• Solution: Craft a concise charter that defines the committee’s remit and ensure C-suite executives’ active participation. This underscores cyber resilience as a key organizational priority.

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Prepping for the Quantum Computing Age: Safeguarding Encryption

As quantum computing capabilities leap forward, the looming threat to traditional encryption looms large, posing unprecedented challenges to data security.

Here’s a proactive guide for businesses to protect against the quantum menace:

🔐 Inventory Cryptographic Assets: Start with a thorough inventory to identify which data and systems utilizing public key cryptography are most at risk, prioritizing them for an upgrade to post-quantum cryptography.

🔄 PQC Transition Plan: Formulate and execute a transition strategy to adopt post-quantum algorithms, leveraging the first three quantum-safe encryption standards released by NIST. Prioritize critical assets for early transition.

📡 Quantum-Proof Communication: Embrace secure messaging platforms incorporating NIST-approved encryption standards to safeguard business communications against future quantum threats.

🛡️ Vet Merchants for Quantum-Safety: Update procurement standards to ensure all vendors are quantum-safe, actively engaging current vendors about their PQC transition plans.

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Wrapping Up

If these articles sparked your interest, we have a network that you will love: Forbes Business Council.

This exclusive, vetted community brings together seasoned business leaders — founders, CEOs, partners, and other senior-level leaders of successful companies.

Put yourself at the forefront of innovation with access to publishing opportunities on Forbes.com, a personalized, SEO-friendly Executive Profile, and the chance to network with other respected leaders in the field.

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