9 Ways To Protect Your Business From Criminal Activity
Launching and running a business is all-consuming. Business owners dedicated to making their enterprise a success often work 60 or more hours a week focusing on marketing, sales, networking, and so forth. With so many tasks to fulfill, security for the business often gets swept to the wayside.
If you're at the point where you think your business requires protection, here are ten security measure ideas you might want to consider incorporating onsite.
In turn, you can deter criminals from entering your business, approaching staff, and stealing or ruining company equipment.
CCTV
Thieves wanting to perform a quick smash and grab job will be looking for the easiest target they can to steal from.
Photo by Miłosz Klinowski on Unsplash - CC0 Licence
Prevent your business from becoming an easy target by adding Security cameras to the premises, in plain sight for all to see. Moreover, add signs to the premises, displaying that CCTV is in operation. And ample lighting at night, to ensure any suspicious activity the cameras do capture on film will be clear to see.
The initial point of CCTV is to deter criminals from entering the building. No criminal wants to be caught breaking into a building. If there's a risk they could be caught on camera, they're more likely to leave the business alone.
Security Guards
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Layering up your business's security levels will make it difficult for criminals to access your business undetected.
Adding security personnel to keep watch over the CCTV and routinely walk the premises will prevent onlookers from viewing the business as an easy target for crime.
ID Badges
Suppose there's a lot of people going in and out of your business each day. It may not be easy to distinguish who works there and who doesn't—leading to the risk of someone unauthorized walking through the doors.
To prevent this from happening, amp up your business's security by allocating ID badges to staff. An electronic ID system will not allow anyone to enter the building without an appropriate ID.
Secure Entryways
At night time, adding additional locks to the entryways can prevent criminals from accessing the business premises.
Equally, if the buildings' doors are deteriorating and weak, they might be easy for criminals to break into. As a remedy, you may want to consider ordering and installing security doors. They are dense, heavy, and automatically lock once you leave the building at night. Reducing the potential of criminals gaining access.
Lockdown Equipment
One reason why criminals will want to get into your business premises is to steal expensive equipment that they can sell.
Today most businesses have costly technology and equipment. For this reason, you may want to think about securing your most valuable equipment to the premises, from attaching monitors to walls and using chains to fix the PC to the desk.
If you make it difficult for criminals to take things, they'll walk away with nothing even if they enter the premises.
Shred Confidential Documents
Be it letters from the bank, documents detailing customers' credentials, and business secrets on paper. Prevent all confidential information from getting into the wrong hands by shredding private documents you don't need to keep.
If customer data is stolen from your company, your business could lose its reputation and lose customers in the process. Installing simple yet effective security measures like this will ensure your business keeps it's customers and can continue operating.
Backup Company Data
Storing essential company data in cabinets, desks, and on the devices, onsite alone leaves them vulnerable to damage and erasure.
Depending on your business's nature and the extent of digital data, you keep onsite. Considering one or more backup options for your business's intel is crucial.
Solutions for backup include purchasing an external hard drive to transfer data onto as regularly as possible or uploading the data to a cloud computing service. Preferably one that automatically saves business info regularly.
Backing up business data on the cloud will also enable your business to reduce the risk of cybercriminals deleting important data.
Train Staff About Safety and Security
The biggest asset your company has is its staff. Therefore, keeping them safe and secure while on site is your priority.
A few of the above security measures, such as CCTV and security staff, will help prevent criminals from going onsite.
But if criminals are inside the premises while your team is there, your employees need to take steps to keep themselves safe.
For example, if you own a jewelry shop and a robber threatens a staff member to hand over money and jewelry, it's in the employee's interest to oblige. To prevent the risk of being harmed themselves. Otherwise, if the employee refuses, they could be met with physical violence.
Other scenarios should be discussed too. Such as what to do if you witness an unauthorized person in the stockroom. And first aid training, in case an employee is harmed.
Preparing employees with the knowledge and skills they need to keep themselves and others safe in a difficult scenario is crucial.
Annual Security Measures Check
As security technology changes and criminals create new sophisticated ways to infiltrate company premises, keeping on top of new security options is essential.
At least once a year, a thorough analysis and, if needed, an update of onsite security will give you peace of mind you've invested in the best protection for your company. And you are doing everything you can to keep the business safe and free from criminal activity.
Thinking about the prospect of criminals entering your company is frightening. Having worked so hard to build your business from the ground up, it's natural to want to protect it in any way you can. With that in mind, incorporating security measures before it's too late is essential.
While you may not need all of the above, selecting the most appropriate security options will make all the difference. Giving you peace of mind and your employees too.
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