Do you know who has access to your business premises? Physical security is important to protect your staff and business. Here’s how to bolster your security.
You can do everything right as a business owner and still lose it all if your property and information aren’t protected. It only takes one major robbery or security breach to halt your growth and put you in a hole you may not be able to get out of.
It sounds harsh, but it’s true. It’s on you to make sure all your bases are covered. You have to think about how you’re protecting your physical inventory, your people, and the private information of both your internal operations and your consumers.
As critical as this is, it doesn’t have to be complicated.
Here are 5 ways to improve the physical security of your business.
1. Hire Guards
Hiring guards offers a huge sense of security for both you and your staff. It lets you breathe a little easier knowing that your physical property is being watched over, and it reminds your staff that they’re safe in the event that someone tries to rob or otherwise threaten your business.
The thing about hiring guards, though, is that you can’t hire just one. You have to take the time to create a strong security team and make sure they all work well together.
Look for guards from a reputable source and double check that the ones you’re interested in hiring have experience working in your industry. The duties of a bank security guard are not the same as one who works in a luxury apartment building, an event space, or a manufacturing warehouse.
2. Get Security Cameras
Although a team of guards is a set of extra eyes and ears you can trust, it’s worth investing in security cameras, too. This gives your physical security plan the backup it needs to be as effective as possible.
A threat to your business can occur at any moment, but a set of cameras helps you identify and stop this threat even when your security guards aren’t on the clock. Cameras come in handy if you do happen to overlook a potential threat and then need to figure out who or what caused a disturbance to your business.
Plus, having security cameras means you can keep an eye on your business anywhere, anytime! Whether you’re sitting in your office or traveling overseas, you can ensure everything is as it should be just by logging into your surveillance system and seeing what’s going on.
3. Create a Restricted Parking Area
Another smart security initiative to take is to create a restricted parking area.
This benefits you, your employees, and your products. Gated parking provides an additional barrier to entry for anyone who’s trying to get into your business that shouldn’t be there. It also offers a sense of comfort and protection for your staff as they show up to work and go about their day.
As you can see here, there are many ways you can go about doing this. Some business owners build an entire garage with a full security system to protect themselves. Others will keep things more simple by providing employees with cards/codes to get access when coming and going.
Whatever you do, though, try not to let your parking space be a free for all.
4. Establish Different Levels of Access Across Your Business
Establishing a system for parking access goes hand in hand with creating barriers to access across all levels of your business. Think about it: an entry-level employee or new intern should not have access to everything that a C-suite manager or director does!
It’s up to you to create barriers that maximize security without getting in the way of your team’s productivity levels. There’s a fine line between smart protection and making people feel like they’re constantly being watched.
More so, there’s a physical side to establishing levels of access and a data side to it.
Physical barriers to access include creating restricted areas within your building or warehouse. They’re places that only certain people can go or those with authorization/supervision.
Creating barriers to access data or information means providing your team with specific logins for your business network. These can manage who gets access to things like client information and market data as well as patented information and financial details.
5. Remember to Protect Your Data
Establishing barriers for employees and outsiders to access your data is only part of protecting it. As far as physical data security goes, you have to make sure your servers aren’t subject to things like water damage or overheating.
These are bigger dangers than you might think, and you have to do everything you can to prevent such things from happening. Smart protection efforts include having the temperature in the server room at a colder setting than other places in your business. It’s also worth checking the status of all important wires from time to time and keeping an eye out for loose or frayed cords.
Improving Physical Security, Information Protection, and More
At the end of the day, there’s no way to establish 100% physical security in your business. Even the most complex, intensive security efforts still have a small possibility of being compromised.
But, it’s much better to do everything in your power to protect your business than to leave such a critical matter to chance!
Take your time to educate yourself about smart security efforts and share that knowledge with your team. Empower them to help protect your business and create an open line of communication to help identify and solve possible threats as they occur.
For more helpful information about smart business protection, click here.
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