What Do I Need in a New or Updated Business Security System? June 24th, 2016

If you run a business, keeping your possessions secure while allowing people to access your property, whether it be a building or one of your fleet trucks — is a top priority. Determining what you will need to secure your business can be a pain if you aren’t prepared with some basic knowledge of what you can do with the options available to you today. Think of use-case scenarios, as well as how much space you’ll need to secure, to get a sense of what security technology you could (and should) implement.

Securing and Automating Your Offices While You’re Out of Town

Of course, as a business owner, you’ll need the basics in a security system – door sensors, notifications and alerts of tripped alarms instantly to your smartphone, surveillance cameras, ingress and egress access controls systems and 24-hour system monitoring – but, what about the incidentals? What about security items that are less obvious?

You’re far away on business setting up new clients, and your office or building has a fire. In the perfect scenario, you would have smoke detectors installed and connected to a professionally installed commercial fire system with U.L. Listed 24 Hour Fire System monitoring service. Now you could rest assured that your office or building and employees are safe as well as your other irreplaceable items in your business like expensive server room equipment, customer files, and proprietary company data.

In another scenario, you are away from the office and have an employee who needs access to a part of the building that is normally off limits to them. Going back to the office is not an option and not allowing the employee access slows down your production, but with an access control system and camera system, you could instantly allow access to this door with the push of a button on your smartphone and view the employee in real-time over a simple smartphone application. Not only can these systems provide you with priceless peace of mind but they can save you valuable time and money.

What all would you need in a business security system in order to do that?

First, make sure you are considering how business security differs from home security from our post “Five D’s of Business Security” when deciding on what your ultimate goals are for securing and automating your property:

Deter
Distinguish
Detect
Delay
Dispatch

Then consider the components your business will need to achieve your goals of staying within budget, but not skimping on what you need:

Remote Smoke/CO² Sensors would be a great place to begin ensuring your company has one of the most basic, yet often overlooked options of automated security systems. No one wants harm to come to their employees, nor do they want costly litigation with workers compensation due to injuries employees obtained at the workplace due to inadequate warning of fire and or gas leaks, not to mention trying to replace irreplaceable customer files and documents.

Water Detection Sensors can also play a vital role in protecting a company’s assets. The last thing you want to do is to allow a leak to go unchecked long enough to potentially shut down the office, causing lost time at work and potentially lost business.

Remote Surveillance systems can be set up and used in countless ways— but before you select a system, you will need to understand where you want to place them and what those environments are like. If you’re going to work with an outdoor system, you’ll need to determine if the area is adequately lit, allowing the cameras to see everything that’s going on. Also, since you’ll be accessing the system remotely, you’ll need to make sure that you have the proper connectivity via wired and or a highly secured wireless network. Another factor in video surveillance systems is where to store the videos you’re recording — do you want them stored onsite, or should you use a cloud storage system?

Backup power for all surveillance systems is a must because all it takes is for one of those Texas spring storms to pop up with lightning that’s bound to strike transformers left and right, leaving you powerless to run your surveillance system.

Automated Climate Control Systems that can be set to adjust to patterns observed and learned using one of the many Honeywell systems with built-in and custom thermostat settings. Many offer remote access, so you don’t even have to leave your desk! Aside from the convenience factor of remote access, the cost savings alone will often offset any costs associated with the installation and equipment within a year’s time.

Securing Your Mobile Fleet through GPS Fleet Tracking through GPS Fleet Tracking can save you time and money. Knowing where your fleet is, not only gives you peace of mind, it also saves you time in not having to call and ask where your employees are. With robust reporting capabilities within GPS tracking, you can use your reports to validate where your driver was and for how long, not to mention tracking speeds and utilizing Geofencing technology with alerts when a driver has entered an area they are not allowed to drive. Keeping track of your company vehicles can be easy to setup, especially if you have a well-trained technician to walk you through the process. Tracking your fleet through GPS can also provide most businesses owners with a discount on insurance as well.

You have a wealth of options for securing your business through remote means. Just spend time thinking about what you want and what your overall budget is going to be, so you’re sure to customize a system that’s the best fit for your organization. We can do a free site survey and estimate upon request, just contact us below.

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Posted in: Business Security » by: admin