As a small business owner, you know just how important the security of your staff, business, and clients are. Protecting sensitive data should be one of your top priorities. To ensure that your security measures are up to the standards of the 21st century, we’re going to share with you some of the best strategies you should be implementing to protect your business from intruders.
Keyless Entry Pads
Most traditional businesses entrusted employees with a set of keys to get into their building. Whether it was giving the key to one person on each shift or each individual person working there, it required the physical transfer of a key. That key could become lost, duplicated without your consent, or handed off to other unauthorized individuals. Past giving the key with a set of instructions to follow, there was really no way for you to control what happened to the key for your building.
With keyless entry pads, you now have options. There are many different models that you can opt to use for your business. These models include the following: pin entry, and employee ID badges. All of these different methods can eliminate the need for traditional key entry into the building. These also allow you to quickly change the authorization for employees. If for some reason you would like to revoke building privileges for a specific member of your staff, you can do so with a click of a button. When you had traditional keys, you had to get them back.
Video Monitoring
Whether it’s inside your building or outside, you should have cameras set up to provide extra security for the property. Having an outdoor camera can help to deter criminals from intruding at your premises. Also, they can provide you with video evidence in the event that an unlawful act happens. You should have a camera set up at the entryway into your building. You should also have one at the inside entrance of your office. This will ensure that you catch any intruders on camera. It’s always a great idea to keep video surveillance at your business as a precautionary measure to protect your employees and your clients.
Increase Your Lighting
Lighting may not be something that first pops into your mind when thinking about security at your business. However, it’s definitely one you should consider. Thinking from the mind of a criminal, are you going to be likely to jump someone in a dark parking lot or one that is lighted? Are you more likely to break into a building that is dark, signifying it’s closed or one that has lights on which makes you think people are still inside? Thinking from the perspective of a criminal can help you to better come up with simple solutions that can deter criminals from doing any unlawful acts at your business.
Train Your Employees Often
Your employees can give a lot away about the procedures of your business without meaning too. By taking the time to fully instruct all staff member on property safety procedures on a regular basis, you can be better assured that they’ll follow your procedures. This could be as simple as reminding employees never to share their pin-entry code. The more often you share about these procedures and what you expect from your employees, the more likely they are to follow your standards. If you only instruct your staff when they’re first hired, they’re less likely to follow your procedures throughout their career at your office.
Taking care of your business, employees, and clients starts with understanding the basics of security. You want to think from the perspective of both a business owner and a criminal. This will allow you to get different perspectives and to formulate various creative ideas, like the ones above, to keep your business safe. Sometimes it’s not just the obvious solution, like a camera or security guard. Sometimes it’s the subtle differences like on-going training and lighting that will do the most.
