In our recent post on Creating an Effective Master Key System, we detail how owners of multiple properties can add security by creating a single key system for all of their locations. As complete security integrators, we often help customers secure a number of properties using efficient security methods. Landlords, owners of vacation homes, multiple-business owners, or customers who own any combination of homes and commercial properties rely on us for these services. In this post, we examine one of our top ways to secure more than one location with one convenient service. Here, we examine how to achieve multiple-property security with Alarm.com.
As our preferred means of alarm monitoring, Alarm.com offers many security benefits. We will begin with a look at how this service increases security for our customers. From there, we will look at how customers with multiple properties utilize these services. We will then look at a few different Alarm.com smart device additions. Adding this technology can make managing security at multiple properties easier than ever before. Now, let’s get started with a look at the Alarm.com cellular dialer and smartphone app!
A Primer on the Alarm.com Dialer and App
We have long advised our customers to use cellular dialers, rather than traditional landlines, for security monitoring. Cellular dialers act as a dedicated means of communication between an alarm panel and our central station. Traditionally-monitored alarms do not dial out if a customer’s phone lines go down. Furthermore, many burglars cut a property’s phone lines as a precaution before breaking in. Since cellular dialers communicate through cell towers and not phone lines, these attacks do not have their desired effects. Even without phone lines, an alarm with a cellular dialer will communicate alarm events with our central station, who in turn will alert the authorities and property owners to create an emergency response.
In addition to more reliable communication, our cellular dialer also provides unique other unique features. Select cellular dialers, such as ours powered by Alarm.com, allow for interactive cellular monitoring. This means that Alarm.com customers can control their alarm system through any internet-enabled device. The Alarm.com phone app represents the most popular way to use these features. The ability to arm and disarm security systems remotely can add both security and convenience. This rings especially true for customers with multiple properties. Additionally, Alarm.com customers can receive instant alerts to keep them connected to all of their security panels at all times. Let’s take a closer look at using these alerts to create multiple-property security now!
Alarm.com customers receive alerts that lets them track activity in their homes and businesses.
Creating Multiple Alarm.com Properties and Alerts
The Alarm.com app allows customers to create individual identities for each of the properties they own. This allows users to control every property remotely on an individual basis. Users can scroll through properties to check in on the status of each of their alarms without opening another app. Additionally, Alarm.com allows customers to create and customize alarm status alerts for each house or business they own. So what types of notifications do we refer to here? For starters, these alerts get sent when an alarm is activated. This lets you know which property has a situation, and which alarm sensor has experienced a breach.
Additionally, many Alarm.com customers create different alerts for different properties. For example, you may want a text message every time someone arms and disarms your office security system. However, you may not need these alerts sent to your for your home’s alarm. Customers with multiple Alarm.com accounts can easily make this happen. You can also elect to receive an alert if an alarm event does not happen. Maybe you expect someone to disarm your office alarm by 9am every day. Alarm.com allows you to create an alert if this fails to take place! The security and flexibility this app provides makes it a great way to achieve multiple-property security. Now, let’s look at how smart devices go hand-in-hand with the Alarm.com cell dialer and app.
Staying Connected Through Smart Devices
We’ve seen how Alarm.com creates a secure connection between your alarm, our central station, and property owners. Now, we will examine how this same dialer can connect users to their properties through the installation of smart devices. These devices communicate to our Alarm.com dialer, allowing you to control them through the Alarm.com app. In this section, we will look at a select few of these products. Let’s begin with a look at how smart locks can increase multiple-property security for our customers!
Smart locks, such as this model by Yale, allow users to grant access to their properties via keypad codes or through real-time remote smartphone control.
Smart Locks
We discussed keypad locks in our post on Key-Free Lock Control for Your Business. Keypad locks allow for code-based entry to a building. This allows business and home owners alike to provide codes, rather than keys, to grant entry to a property. Since people often copy keys for future use, installing keypad locks can increase security. Once someone no longer needs access to your property, simply delete their code!
Smart keypad locks take this security one step further. These locks allow users to lock and unlock doors using their smartphone. Owners of multiple properties often feel they must be in more than one place at once. Maybe different contractors require access to multiple business locations in the same timeframe. Or perhaps a pet sitter needs to get into your home while your family stays in your vacation home. Smart locks allow you to unlock and lock up doors for people at multiple properties at once. Furthermore, now you can do so without giving away a key or a code! Next, let’s look at a smart device that allows you to check on and control the environment in multiple locations.
Smart Thermostats
Alarm.com’s smart thermostat has saved our customers a tremendous amount of money on utility bills. Owners of multiple properties know how expensive it gets to maintain a safe and comfortable temperature in their homes and businesses. After all, building owners generally like to keep their spaces comfortable enough for employees, contractors, or visitors. Now, customers can use their Alarm.com app to create temperature schedules. This allows empty buildings to maintain a safe, but low, temperature during overnight hours and days when nobody will be on site. As the hours approach when people start arriving, the temperature rises to a pre-set, comfortable level. Furthermore, users can also remotely change a property’s temperature “on the fly.” For example, what if unexpected building maintenance occurs on a Saturday? Simply pull out your phone, select the proper building, and raise the temperature right then and there!
Alarm.com’s smart thermostat can also communicate with you if the temperature gets too high or low at any one of your locations. If a property’s temperature wanders outside of a customizable range, you will receive an alert. This allows you to keep the temperature in check at multiple properties all at once. The ability to manage the environment at multiple locations make smart thermostats a powerful way to achieve multiple-property security. Let’s take a look at one more smart device which has seen a huge jump in popularity in recent years.
Alarm.com allows you to control your alarm systems and connected smart devices through one streamlined app.
Smart Cameras
Both commercial and residential surveillance systems have long been a staple of our customers’ security plans. In recent years, smart cameras have made a huge splash in the surveillance market. Unlike traditional security cameras that security companies hardwire into a recorder — generally at a substantial cost — smart cameras can be installed at any spot inside or outside a property that has a strong Wifi signal, without the need to run wires back to a common location. This provides greater flexibility when choosing locations for camera installation.
Like with many other smart products, Alarm.com has created a camera that works on the Alarm.com app and integrates with your existing security measures. These cameras come with an array of features that can add security to your properties. For example, Alarm.com cameras can send live motion-activated clips to your phone upon sensing motion. This means that you can catch suspicious events at any one of your properties in real time. Furthermore, you will have access to a month’s worth of video clips right on your Alarm.com account. This makes it easy to view and save any video you may wish to present to the authorities if something happens on any one of your properties! The ease of installation, unique feature set, and additional security offered by Alarm.com smart cameras make them a very popular choice for those looking to conveniently monitor multiple locations.
Creating a Complete Plan for Connected, Multiple-Property Security
We hope that this post has given you some ideas for creating multiple-property security using Alarm.com. If you have any questions about the material presented here, please do not hesitate to contact us. We will be happy to answer any queries you have about Alarm.com or about security in general. Additionally, we provide free site surveys for both new and existing customers alike. While visiting your properties, we can address any security concerns you may have. Furthermore, we can make suggestions of our own based on what we find during our visit. Together, we can create a plan to keep all of your properties secure as effectively and efficiently as possible.