Security considerations for the modern business owner
- Written by News Company
Owning a business and one that has a large number of staff or employees coming in and out daily requires a fair bit of security and control. Regardless of how you believe you can trust everyone, sometimes it isn’t a matter of not trusting your employees but keeping your employees safe. Because the reality is that for as long as they are working at your premises, you are bound to keep them safe. There is a great liability towards your employees and their well-being and safety are definitely one of them. There are also aspects of employee safety and well-being that are less black and white and obvious, and these could include health testing such as blood pressure, cholesterol, breast cancer testing. It could be that you have a gym on your business property, or you offer child minding services or massages. If you want to start with the obvious, security, here are some things you need to consider.
Emergence of technology
With modern technology, there has been an emergence of new-age equipment that can help the effectiveness and efficiency of commercial security systems. There are fingerprint scanners, access control cards, remote control cameras. With enhanced technology, it takes away the risk of human error and puts less pressure and responsibility on security guards at entrances and receptionists welcoming people. While the need for these people still exists, they are at least protected by the systems that should something go wrong, the onus won’t fall on them.
Having an emergency plan
Once you’ve determined all that is involved in your security system, especially around access, you need to map out an emergency plan and make sure that your team managing the security of your business know this. If you have a security business, they will likely be the ones designing this plan. A breach of security could be human or digital and if this happens everyone needs to know what to do immediately and without delay. Time is very much of the essence.
Reliability of biometrics
The use of biometrics for security has advanced the reliability to such a huge extent. While people are able to forge signatures, steal access cards, learn codes and pin numbers, biometrics is very difficult to fake and replicate. It is, in its very nature, unique in itself and doesn’t require a large complicated algorithm generating codes that are unique to any other. No other person will have the exact fingerprint as you do, no one will have the exact same facial recognition of retina. It is a brilliant use of our human uniqueness.
Mobile-enabled
Mobile security is used extensively in the banking world and with financial transactions. It works as a second verification system and adds an additional layer of security. While it does not completely fool proof, it increases the safety hugely. Video cameras that are installed are also no longer only accessible and viewed from a control room but can be remotely viewed via an app or the internet. The video data can be stored in the cloud which has several other back-ups protecting this.
