Understanding The Basics Of Business And Security Systems

Most businesses are made up of some combination of products, people and possibly property. In order for the business to be successful, those components must be protected. One way to ensure the safety of your company is to have a good understanding of the options for business and security systems.

Your exposure to risk can come in many forms. With people, whether employees or customers, it could be their safety at your place of business. With products, you need to be concerned about losses, whether through theft or damage. And with your property, there is the risk of vandalism or fire that could cause enough destruction to inhibit your ability to operate.

There are many types of security to consider. The purpose of this article is to explore some of the more common ones. At a high level, you could say that the reason you have security is to deter, detect, observe, monitor and document. You do this to protect yourself and limit your risk.

The first type of security to consider is often referred to as intrusion detection. This involves placing detection devices that are tied to alarms at key locations of your business. The alarm systems are often monitored at a central facility. The purpose of intrusion detection is to protect you from burglary and unauthorized access to your place of business.

Many burglars and other intruders will be deterred from attempting to enter your place of business if you place signs at your entrances indicating that you have an alarm system that is monitored. If the signs don't work, the blaring of the alarm will likely scare the criminal away before he can take much product.

You can install cameras throughout your business to form a video surveillance system, allowing you to monitor not only the facility, but also to watch your products, customers and employees. By linking the cameras to a recording device you will have a video log of what happened each day. If you have a high value or high risk area of your business, you might choose to monitor the surveillance cameras live.

The benefits of a surveillance system include being able to capture on video someone in the act of trying to hurt your business by stealing products or money, or by trying to claim an accident that never happened which they claim caused them an injury. If your employees know that there are cameras watching everything, they will be less inclined to steal from you, and will often feel that they are being held accountable for their actions. Either way, it can't hurt.

Placing restrictions on who can enter your place of business, or even certain areas of your business, is a form of security called electronic access control. It allows you to secure the most important areas of your company, and then decide who you will grant access to that area. The two components of an access control system are the device reader unit and the access code or card that you give to those people approved for entry. They must enter their code or card into the reader in order for the secured area to be accessible. This may not be appropriate for all companies, but even if it doesn't fit your company in general, there may be appropriate applications of this technology for select areas of your business. An advantage of this system is that you have a log that details all people who entered each secured area.

If you implement some, or all, of these types of business and home security systems you are bound to see benefits to your company. You might be able to prevent burglaries, thus avoiding loss of product, time and money. By making your environment more secure, whether through surveillance or access control, you make it a safer place to work and conduct business. This can improve employee productivity and morale. In addition, if your employees know that there is a surveillance system, they will be less inclined to try to steal from your business, knowing that they are being watched. No matter what type of success you have with any of these systems, you can still benefit your bottom line by the reduction of expenses paid for insurance premiums, as many companies offer a discount if you have security measures in place.