Small businesses like our own make up a large percentage of our customers. Of course, you might not hear the names of these companies as often as their big-box counterparts. However, small companies hold a very important place within our overall economy as well as in the lives of those who work for them. As Forbes points out, small businesses employ nearly 50% of all workers nation-wide. Therefore, we find putting a great effort into securing our small-business brethren a worthwhile endeavor! In this post, we detail some of the many ways we go about creating valuable small business security.
We’ll begin by explaining how small business security differs from other commercial security applications. Then, we’ll discuss the specific steps we take to address these concerns. Specifically, we’ll start by reviewing how access control can add small business security to your property. From there, we’ll detail the security advantages of ineractive monitoring through Alarm.com. After this, we’ll shift our focus to adding fire security even beyond what fire codes require. Finally, we’ll discuss the importance of using safes to secure your valuables against the many security threats your small business may experience. Now, let’s dive in and see what makes small business security unique!
What Makes Small Business Security Different?
Unlike large corporations or chain stores, a small businessdx usually only have one location. If a fire burned down a chain fast food restaurant, for example, it would do very little to affect the success of the entire chain. Therefore, these types of businesses often spend as little as possible on disaster notification equipment. Quickly re-building a few cookie-cutter locations, they reason, still saves money over paying top dollar for security at each building. Of course, small business owners cannot have this mindset. We have experienced the devastation of a fire firsthand, as detailed in our company history. Therefore we know just how much care we should take to prepare for fires, break-ins, and the other disasters that so greatly affect small businesses.
Access control readers allow you to remotely grant and deny access to your employees’ individual credentials using electronic door hardware.
Working directly with small business owners provides another unique touch to working with these businesses. Small business owners and employees take a very hands-on approach to their business security. Managers and employees at larger commercial applications often want as little to do with their building’s security as possible. These locations often ask us to do only what’s legally required and will provide a very basic amount of security. On small business projects, on the other hand, owners often ask for recommendations for additional security above and beyond what is required. In addition, they want full-time, efficient access to and control of their businesses’ security features. Let’s look at some of the most popular small business security measures that we take.
Control Access to the Building Efficiently
Because a break-in at your small business could result in losing everything you’ve worked so hard for, we take several steps to make sure that you can control access to your building. In addition to making sure you keep the wrong people out of your business, you’ll also want to know who does enter the building, and when. We use a couple different methods to get these jobs done. A security system is a small business must-have. Most burglars will turn and run upon hearing a siren blaring. A monitored security system ensures that illegal entry into your business will trigger a siren and a police response. These systems also provide tremendous peace of mind. When you enter your business and punch in your alarm code every morning, you know that you didn’t have any unwelcome visitors overnight.
We also recommend using access control systems to control and track access to your business. These systems generally require a card or fob to unlock the door. (For a more detailed rundown of other technologies available, check out our post on access control uses and features.) Access control systems do more than control access and report on who opens which doors at what times. They also allow you to decide when every employee can enter a building. For example, you can allow managers 24-hour access to your business when they swipe their card. However, you may only allow other employees weekday access between specific hours. This level of functionality makes it easy for small business owners to ensure that only the right people can get into their business, at only the right times. Let’s now shift our focus to one of the more recent additions to our small business security arsenal!
Install a Cellular Dialer with Interactive Services
An interactive cell dialer, such as ours powered by Alarm.com, provides a constant line of communication between small business owners and their security systems. Interactive services allow users to turn an alarm system on and off with a smartphone or computer. Now if you forget to arm your office security system, you can do so without returning to work. Your alarm will also send an alert to your phone if anything does go wrong. Of course, actual alarm events such as a break-in top the list of events you will want to know about. However, low sensor batteries, a power failure, or even an open door in a section of the office you expected to stay closed will also trigger an alert if you wish.
In addition, cell dialers give you a much more secure method of communication between your alarm and our central station. In many instances, security systems fail to create a police response because of phone line failure. Sometimes this is due to bad weather causing phone service interruption. At other times, phone lines simply need repair. In the case of a burglary, phone communication often fails because burglars have cut the phone line intentionally. A cell dialer allows your system’s signals to go through regardless of whether or not your business’s phones are working. Because of the functionality and security they add, we always recommend installing a cell dialer in a small business setting. Next up, let’s check out how we add important fire safety to small businesses.
Fire alarms with devices for detecting and alerting occupants to a fire can save your small business and add important life safety as well.
Consider Fire Detection Above and Beyond Minimum Requirements
You may recall from our posts about Residential Smoke Alarm Requirements in Massachusetts that smoke alarm laws change every few years. This phenomenon holds true for commercial fire detection as well. In addition to meeting minimum standards, however, we often recommend adding additional monitored fire detection to increase business security. IT closets, rooms with combustible materials, and areas with extra electrical equipment all deserve extra attention. Target any area of your business that a fire could start in most easily. The sooner a smoke detector catches a fire, the greater the chance of saving your business. A quick response from the fire department saved our business a little over twenty years ago. When that happens, the relatively small cost of a few additional fire devices suddenly seems completely insignificant. Up next, let’s see how adding a safe can prepare you for a variety of security threats.
Lock Up Your Valuables in Case of a Break-In or Fire
During a burglary, thieves generally try to get in and out of a business as quickly as possible. For this reason, adding a safe to secure valuables can save you from having these items stolen. The extra time it takes for a burglar to break into a safe can make them settle for taking more convenient items and then leaving. This is especially true if you have an alarm siren blaring during the few minutes they have in your store. Knowing that the police will arrive shortly, thieves may well abandon their thoughts of getting to your most valuable items in order to avoid being caught.
Of course, safes can help secure your valuables from more than just burglary. Our company has experienced the value of installing a fire safe firsthand. When our original location burned down, the business was able to survive because we used fire safes to store our company’s customer records and information. Although the building burned down around them, the company documents (and therefore the business itself) were saved by the safes. Consider the specific risks you wish to prepare for, then feel free to read up on the different types of commercial safes we offer.
Putting our Small Business Security Tips to Work for You
We hope that this post helps you see the many ways that we can add small business security for any application! Additionally, we also encourage you to contact us with any questions this post raises for you. We will happily answer any and all of your security inquiries. Moreover, we also offer free site surveys to both new and existing customers alike. We’ve helped hundreds of small business owners increase their security using a variety of approaches and solutions. Together, we can create a complete plan to keep your own property as safe and secure as possible!