Most businesses are vulnerable to a host of common crimes, including burglary, robbery, arson, equipment theft, and data theft. Fortunately, with the right resources, there are steps your company can take to ensure the risk of these circumstances is as low as possible.
The most effective methods for protecting your business from crime:
Keep yourself and your staff alert. Businesses should always be alert and vigilant. While it’s important to keep an eye out around the clock, the most crucial times for staff to be conscious of their surroundings are during the opening and closing hours. Employers should pay extra attention during these times as well, both to employees and to customers. The added commotion leaves an increased risk of someone taking advantage of distracted workers.
Outfit your facilities with proper lighting. Sufficient lighting should be installed around every door and across the parking lot for the safety of both the business and its employees. Make sure that your business is clearly visible from the street so that any police officers or security guards can observe it clearly. Bear in mind that burglars tend to target locations with decreased visibility from the street.
Employ the assistance of a security company. It pays to have a good security service looking after your business. Getting a reliable alarm system installed on your company’s premises is more affordable than you may think. Considering the dangers it can protect you from, your security system might just pay for itself the very first time the alarm goes off.
Protect and limit access to your sensitive data. The information that you get from your customers, as well as the information you have for your business, should be treated with the utmost care. Don’t wait for a breach in security to secure all of your information. A mistake like that can mean spending a lot of time and money to make up for it. It’s best to always take precautions to avoid leaking sensitive data.
Always use firewalls. The purpose of a firewall is to contain communication within a specified network and to disallow communication with any networks unrelated to the business. Firewalls should be activated for all computers in your business. This is one of the most effective ways to increase your company’s security by preventing any unauthorized access from outside your network.
Have emergency plans in place. Make sure that your company has documents with detailed steps to follow in case of an emergency. It’s best to always be prepared for eventualities such as fire, theft, or floods. Consider having your staff perform drills to practice the steps of your emergency plans. Not only will this allow some extra peace of mind to everybody involved, but it may be necessary to fulfill the requirements of certain fire prevention or insurance agencies.
Conduct company-wide audits. Regular audits should be conducted to account for all of the information and data that your employees store on their computers or computer profiles. Apart from checking digital companies, be sure to also perform audits on hard copies kept in drawers throughout the office as well. Make it a rule that all paper documents containing client or business information should be shredded on a regular basis as soon as it’s no longer needed. Not only will this protect your customers’ information, but it will also protect the company from liability as well.
Get started today with PEAK Alarm business security.