Vegan Trends: a Cyber Security Lesson

I know what you`re thinking!

Veganism and Cyber Security. Really?!

Hear me out...

I recently ran a poll, asking whether business owners or managers rely (trust) hard data or their gut feeling, when making decisions.

The results didn't surprise me - with the majority still trusting their gut over the facts, which (speaking as a former business analyst) is a massive red-light and shows why a better understanding of the human sciences is going to be SO important to how we run businesses in the future.

Me? I like facts, as long as they are unbiased and reliable.

Rewind back to November 2019, when I adopted a plant-based diet. No meat or dairy has passed my lips since. It has made me acutely aware of the UK trend towards veganism, and (frankly) - its big business.

This is why the traditional meat-based global businesses such as McDonalds, Burger King, KFC etc have long embraced the challenge of meat-free alternatives, and why month on month we see more space allocated to meat-free products on supermarket shelves.

Why is ANY of this important in the wider business sense?

Because if you relied on gut feel you`d be clueless that this massive (vegan) change is occurring, and even if your business won`t be affected by the vegan trend.

Ask yourself this question:

What else is going on in the business world that you`re totally unaware of?

Wouldn't you prefer to see or predict changes coming - rather than have them hit your business, shocking your operation to its core - to find you are woefully unprepared for it?

Educated, invested businesses that look FORWARDS, saw these trends coming:

• A record half a million Brits signed up to Veganuary in 2021
• Deliveroo’s vegan orders spiked by 163% in 2020
• 7.2 million British adults currently follow a meat-free diet
• 13 million Brits will be meat-free by the end of the year
• The number of vegans in the UK has increased by 445,428 people (40%) over the past 12 months.
• Vegans and vegetarians look set to make up a quarter of the British population in 2025
• If the 2 million people who intend to become vegan this year do so, the number of vegans will increase by 132%.

They look for the data, they hammer the data, they make predicted outcomes part of future business change (and continuity) part of their core objectives.

Cyber Security is exactly like Veganism.

Cyber Crime has been growing, exponentially, year on year, month on month, week on week, day by day.

If you care to review the cyber crime data - it is truly terrifying. Your business will suffer the affects of a malicious cyber attack - either direct or via the third-parties you trust.

Your business MUST adapt, accept the threat (risk) and make changes across the organisation.

Or, you could rely on your gut feel, decide it`ll never happen to you or your business, and wait for the inevitable. Have a nice cup of tea, wait for all this to blow over...

Thanks for sticking with me on this one, I know it`s an odd combination but we all need to step back and see the wood for the trees. They say the devil is in the detail, but the detail IS the devil - if you don`t see the bigger picture.

For vegan recipes or feedback on how it has helped me to lose 3 stone in weight and feel better both physically and mentally, please contact me at any time.

For cyber security recipes or feedback on why adopting a cyber security-based culture will help your business reduce its risk or threat levels, please contact me at any time.

Speak soon!