Over our 25-plus years in business, we’ve worked hard to keep our customers’ security measures as current as possible. This means educating them on, and installing, the latest and greatest in security technology. We find the dawn of the new year a perfect opportunity to review potential security updates. In the past, we’ve focused on home security upgrades with our Home Security Resolutions for the New Year. This year, we’ll flip out attention to creating the most effective security in your business as possible. In this post, we’ll share some important tips for creating commercial security for the new year!
First, we’ll focus on security system-related security advances. This will include a look at the features provided by our preferred alarm panels. From there, we’ll also review the benefits of our interactive security monitoring. Then, we’ll look at a couple important forms of key-free door security for commercial applications. Specifically, these will include a review of both keypad levers and access control systems. Now, let’s dive in and take a look at potential game-changing burglar alarm upgrades!
The Latest and Greatest in Alarm Technology
When it comes to securing your business, you should place installing a monitored burglar alarm right at the top of your priorioty list. These security systems create a blaring siren response upon detecting a breach. Moreover, they also call out to our central station who can, in turn, create a police dispatch if necessary. In this section, we’ll look at two security upgrades you can make to these systems to increase your commercial security for the new year. Let’s start with a detailed look at our QOLSYS alarm panels.
The QOLSYS IQ Panel 4 has a range of impressive security features that make it a leading product in the industry.
The QOLSYS Advantage
Every once in awhile, we come across security technology that we truly cannot wait to share with our customers and see in action. This is certainly the case with the alarm technology introduced by QOLSYS in the past couple years. The security panels discussed in this section work as a perfect upgrade for any commercial application. The QOLSYS IQ Panel 4 provides wireless security with some important features. First and foremost, you’ll notice the modern touchscreen interface. This gives you the most intuitive and user-friendly security experience possible. Additionally, this panel also comes with unique “Power G” wireless security capability. The Power G platform of wireless receivers and security contacts allows us to install alarm devices hundreds of feet from our panels with no communication issues. Obviously, this creates an ideal way for us to secure even larger businesses.
As an alternative, the QOLSYS IQ Pro panel provides the best way to upgrade your existing hardwired alarm. This alarm system comes with a traditional hardwired panel board to bring in your existing alarm contacts. Moreover, it also has the same Power G transmission capabilities of the IQ Panel 4. This means that you can keep your existing hardwired contacts, and still add additional wireless sensors wherever you choose! Both of these panels represent the cutting edge of commercial security. Now, let’s see how adding interactive security monitoring can increase your security even further in the new year.
Interactive Security Monitoring
As we pointed out earlier, a monitored alarm can call out for help and set in motion a visit from the police upon detecting a burglary. In order to create this response, we must connect your alarm to our central monitoring station. Traditionally, this process involves tying your property’s existing phone lines to your security panel. Unfortunately, phone line-based monitoring comes with some serious shortcomings. Since this service relies on a working phone line for its monitoring path, any phone outage effectively negates your alarm monitoring.
For this reason, we recommend a more updated and secure monitoring service. Cellular monitoring, our most popular type of monitoring, adds this security. This service involves the installation of a cellular dialer next to your alarm panel. In turn, this dialer uses a cellular network to monitor your alarm. Therefore, cellular monitoring allows your alarm to dial out for help even during phone outages! Furthermore, our cellular dialer, powered by Alarm.com, adds added security and convenience by offering “interactive” security monitoring that puts you in unique control of your security system.
For starters, this service lets you arm and disarm your security system remotely with the Alarm.com app. This means that you can arm your security system remotely from anywhere, at anytime! Moreover, you can also set alerts in case expected alarm events do not occur. For example, if nobody arms the security system after closing time, you’ll know immediately. Likewise, you can also create an alert in case noboy disarms your alarm when you expect your business to open. The potential to control your alarm and receive these alerts makes interactive monitoring a substantial security upgrade. Now, let’s check out a couple lock hardware-related security upgrade ideas.
Key-Free Door Security
No matter how carefully you select and install your locking hardware, it will fail if a key falls into the wrong hands. For this reason, we recommend installing key-free security measures in your business. The security measures discussed in this section will add security by allowing you to create keyless entry into exterior doors or other important areas of your property. In fact, some of these locks will even track who enters specific doors, and when! We’ll get started with a review of the security benefits provided by installing keypad levers.
Some keypad locks, such as this model by Trilogy, allow you to track who enters a room, and when.
Commercial Keypad Levers
Keypad locks allow users to enter a code, rather than use a key, to unlock a door. Business owners install these locks on both interior and exterior doors that deserve extra security. This helps keep customers and lower-level employees from entering areas of your business that they should not have access to. It also adds convenience and security. Using keypad locks allows management to walk around the building without keys. Furthermore, these locks often include the ability to track door activity. If you assign your employees different keypad codes, you can often plug a computer into your lock to see who’s unlocked your door, and when. This combination of security, convenience, and employee tracking make keypad locks exteremely popular. Next, let’s take a look at a security measure that takes these concepts even further!
Access Control Systems
Over the past several years, access control systems have gotten increasingly popular. This security measure involves using advanced lock equipment to control access to your property. Access control systems utilize electronic locking hardware to operate specific doors within a business. Rather than using a key at these doors, users approach a keypad or a credential reader and present either a code or a physical credential such as a card or fob. Users who present an approved credential will then be able to open the door after the reader interacts with the door’s electronics to unlock it. Business owners can allow each credential to open only certain doors at specific times, giving them tremendous control over who can open which doors, and when.
In addition to controlling access to certain doors, access control systems include software that tracks access as well! Every time an employee approaches an access door, it creates a time-stamped event that you can view on a computer by logging in to your access control system. This allows you to easily track employee activity within your business. Furthermore, it allows you to see if anyone tries to enter doors in your business that they should not attempt to enter. For example, if an employee without the necessary permission attempts to use their credentials to enter a secure room, the system will both deny access and “flag” this event. At that point, you will know which employee attempted this breach. The security and flexibility offered by these systems makes them an extremely valuable piece of any commercial security plan.
Creating Complete Commercial Security for the New Year
We hope that this post helps you create effective commercial security for the new year! Additionally, we also encourage you to contact us with any questions the material presented here may raise for you. We will happily answer any and all of your security-related inquiries. Furthermore, we also invite you to take advantage of our free site survey program. We offer complimentary security audits and equipment quotes to both new and existing customers alike. We’ve helped hundreds of businesses beef up their security plans, or even create plans from the ground up when the situation calls for it! Together, we can create a complete plan to keep your property — and everyone on it — as safe and secure as possible.