4 Effective Security Solutions to Protect Your Commercial Building

Nearly one in ten small businesses were victims of burglary in 2016, at an average loss of $8,000 per incident. The majority of these incidents occur when businesses aren’t open on nights, weekends and holidays, FBI data shows. For commercial property managers, this presents the challenge of providing reliable security for tenants during these high-risk periods. Here are four of the most effective commercial property security solutions you can deploy to keep your commercial properties safe from burglars and thieves.

Property Perimeter Deterrence and Surveillance

Security begins at your property’s perimeter in your parking lot and yard. Burglars and thieves prefer to operate in concealment to avoid detection, so measures that threaten to expose them to scrutiny can serve as effective deterrence. Parking lots and building exteriors should be well-lit to deny criminals opportunities for concealment. Trees and shrubs should be kept trimmed so that they do not offer places for criminals to hide.

Surveillance systems should also form part of your deterrence strategy. Placing signs in plain view informing criminals that they are being monitored can make them think twice about targeting your property. Cameras set up in your parking lot and outside your property can be integrated with motion sensors, automatic lighting, and alarms to alert criminals that they’ve caught your attention, giving them an incentive to seek easier properties to rob. Barriers such as fences can also be equipped with sensors to alert you to cutting, climbing or lifting attempts.

Guard Booths

Guard booths can form another effective component of your deterrence strategy, letting potential intruders know that you’re serious about security and you’ve got eyes on the ground. Guard booths form your first line of defense against an intruder entering your premises. In addition to housing your security guards, booths can also contain other security elements such as surveillance monitoring centers, gate controls, and emergency buttons.

To be effective, a well-designed guard booth should be weather-resistant and bulletproof. Larger guard booths can include interior restrooms so that your attendant doesn’t need to leave the booth.

Virtual Security Guards

An effective alternative or complement to traditional guard booths are virtual guards. This innovation uses digital technology to provide a remote security guard presence. A remote video monitoring service conducts virtual patrols of your property in order to spot suspicious activity. When your monitoring service identifies a suspicious incident, they can confirm that it’s a genuine incident rather than a false alarm, contact law enforcement or take other appropriate steps. On-premise personnel and tenants can also contact your virtual guard with an alert button.

Virtual guard patrols can be set up at any location on your premises and on any schedule you request. You can set up virtual guard escorts to monitor the safety of people in your parking lot, position a virtual doorman to monitor a gated area or lobby, or schedule virtual openings and closings at the beginning and end of worker shifts.

Access Control

Access control systems empower you to effectively control who is allowed to enter your building. You can define who is authorized to enter, see when someone is requesting entrance and track their movements within your building.

The latest innovations enable you to deploy IP-based access control system technology so that you can avoid the need for dedicated hard wiring, power supplies, and control panels. You can set up network video door stations equipped with HD cameras that let you verify the identity of individuals requesting entrance. You can also deploy touch-free keypads that support access with smart cards. This type of hardware is supported by cutting-edge software such as Entry Manager, which lets you use drag-and-drop to easily add or remove individuals from a list of authorized personnel.

Conclusion

Property perimeter deterrence and surveillance, guard booths, virtual guards and access control are four of the most effective steps you can take to secure your commercial building. Deploying these measures will help keep your tenants safe and make your properties more attractive to potential renters.