How To Protect Your Business Against Criminals
As a business owner, you will have worked hard to build your company and achieve your goals, so making sure that you protect it is essential. There are a few factors when it comes to security that are non-negotiable if you have premises, like CCTV cameras, alarm systems and even cast-iron bollards to protect the surrounding area. With a lot of business being carried out online, your staff must know how to protect themselves and the information that they’re sharing – criminals aren’t always how you’d expect, so you need to be prepared for online attacks too. Read on for more information on how you can protect your business against criminals.
Make sure your building is secure
No matter whether you have a retail business or an office space, making sure that your premises are secure is essential. Make sure you have suitable locks on all doors and shutters if you have window space. You can even get strengthened glass so that your business is further protected from vandalism and break-ins. If you have a lot of employees, one of the best ways to keep your business safe is to install a system in which employees need to swipe a card or key in a password to gain access to the premises. This means you can deter others that are not permitted from entering the building. This will not only mean your business is more likely to remain secure, but it also means that your employees will feel safer in their environment.
Protect the perimeter
It’s important that you do all you can to secure the inside of your premises, but what about the outside? Criminals that can access your property externally can cause damage to your premises, so it’s essential that you consider how to secure the perimeter too. You can do this by adding bollards around walkways to protect customers from vehicles, and so that cars cannot drive up to your building. You could also install security lighting that turns on automatically when it detects movement – this works well for deterring potential criminals from approaching your premises at night. Security lighting will also help your employees to feel safe when leaving the building in the dark.
CCTV and alarms
These two elements almost go without saying. CCTV is essential – it helps to deter criminals and help to give you more information if you think an incident has taken place. CCTV has become more modern over the last decade, transforming so that you can see what’s going on in and around your premises when you’re not there by simply looking at your smartphone. Alarms are also a great deterrent and go hand in hand with CCTV. If a criminal thinks you have an alarm set on your premises, they are a lot less likely to try and break in, and they know they will get caught. These examples of technology are just as important for deterring crime as they are when it comes to identifying it.
Protect documents
Whilst it is important to protect your premises, it is also essential to protect other elements of your business too, like the information you share online, and paper documents. You should make sure that you have all the necessary security implemented into laptops and computers, like encryption, as a way of deterring cyber-attacks that could be detrimental to your business. You should also make sure that your employees are aware of online best practices and how to keep important information safe in emails and messages. When it comes to paper documents, you should make sure you protect them and safeguard customers’ and clients’ information by installing filing cabinets that are locked and shredding any waste documents to ensure no one will be able to take advantage of them.
