Business success is not achieved overnight. It requires years and years of planning and preparation. It requires a good product or service. It requires building a strong employee and customer base. A lot of time and money goes into the successful creation of a business. Now imagine if your business was stolen from you overnight? Imagine if one security or data breach significantly affected your customer?s trust in your business. Imagine if a burglar broke in and stole all of your confidential information. How would you recover? Instead of figuring out how you would recovery from such theft, consider the ways that you will prevent it.
Start with a secure home based office
Whether your office is in your home or in a rented space, it needs to be secure. This is the home base of your office. This is likely where you will store employee and customer records. It might even be where you store confidential product or service information, such as patents or other types of intellectual property. The first step in protecting your home based office is to carefully screen any employees. They will have direct access to the information in your office and careful consideration should go into every hiring decision.
Additionally, you want to protect your home based office from outside intruders. Sound-based verified alarms are a good start. Sound-based verified alarms notify you when something is wrong. It also contacts authorities when the office is empty. In many cases, it even deters criminals from entering the building, as they know that the sound-based verified alarms will go off, and they will have very little time to do anything. In fact, it is estimated that 67% of burglaries can be avoided by the installation of video surveillance.
Use video monitoring
More advanced of sound-based verified alarms include video monitoring. An alarm system simply notifies you that someone has attempted, or did, break into your office or place of business. A video monitoring system reduces the number of break ins, because it also notifies you of the burglar. You have a better chance of catching them and preventing it from happening again. Video based systems can also notify you of any employee involvement. Live feed video monitoring allows you to check in on your place of business, at any point throughout the day or night.
Implement a detailed tracking system
Even with the best hiring practices, employee theft can and still does occur. In fact, 38% of inventory shrink can be attributed to shoplifting, and 34.5% to employee theft. Employee theft is best minimized by a thorough and detailed tracking system. While alarm systems protect the building and its content, income tracking systems protect the cash flow. This is usually accomplished with a type of point of sale program. All transactions must be rung up, and the cash register is immediately balanced at the end of the business day.
Don?t forget cyber security
With the internet being so important in today?s technological times, you need a separate cyber security plan. Theft can occur without ever stepping foot into your place of business, especially if you also do business in an online setting. Choosing a security system should also encompass business security solutions as well. Advanced access control systems can notify you when a security breach has been implemented. When you have advance notification, you can secure your confidential information, as well as important customer information.
When you put a lot of effort into growing your business, you do not want to give anything away for free. This is essentially what occurs when someone steals products or information from your business. In 2013 alone, victims of burglary offenses suffered an estimated $4.5 billion in property losses. Reduce your businesses chances of suffering from a break in or theft by implementing an advanced sound-based verified alarm system. Live video monitoring will give you the best results. It is also important to implement some type of a cyber security system as well.
