Whether it’s burglary, shoplifting, vandalism, or another type of criminal act, every business owner has to contend with the risk of loss or damage inflicted upon their business. Fortunately, you can significantly lower these risks by installing security cameras.
Security cameras offer a way to extend the reach of your eyes and ears, allowing you to keep close watch over your business from anywhere and at any time. They give you, as well as your employees and customers, greater peace of mind so you can concentrate on what you do best.
With that in mind, this post looks at 5 key advantages of security cameras for businesses.
5 Benefits of Security Cameras for Businesses
Crime Deterrent
Firstly, well-positioned security cameras act as a deterrent to would-be criminals. Just their presence alone causes thieves to take note and choose a different, easier property to break into or vandalize. To be an effective deterrent, it’s best to install multiple security cameras that can be seen from every potential entry point. Also, security cameras prove an even more effective crime deterrent when paired with other security accessories such as motion-triggered lights, sirens, and security alarms.
Security cameras are also a deterrent for crimes committed by your own employees. Because they know they’re being watched, the temptation to steal from your business decreases dramatically.
Monitors Movement
Security cameras give you the ability to monitor and record, what is happening on your business premises at any given time.
On one hand, you have professional monitoring, which is when a security company is responsible for keeping an eye on your premises at all times. In the event something happens, the security company will inform your key holders, patrol, and/or the police.
Alternatively, you can choose self-monitoring, where you are responsible for keeping an eye on everything going on at your business. Push notifications can alert you to check your live footage and act quickly.
Monitoring your cameras can be significantly boosted by features such as line-intrusion alert detection. You can be notified on your smartphone app if a breach has taken place on your designated line at set schedules. You can turn this feature on or off from the smartphone app. In some camera products, this feature can signal a siren and flashing lights when the line is crossed.
For total peace of mind, combine a camera system with a security alarm system and increase your overall protection. The alarm acts as another breach indicator. Motion detectors, reeds switches to doors and windows, intense sirens, and screamer deterrence can all help in the combat against damage or break and enter your business. These signals can be monitored 24/7 by our control room. You can also choose to receive all signals to your mobile app. Insurance companies look favourable upon security protection and offer a discount on your premiums.
Collect Information
As well as monitoring your business in real-time, security cameras record footage. Now, whereas this was typically done with tapes, and discs, security footage can now be recorded straight onto the machine’s hard drives. This makes it much more convenient to hang on to footage for longer periods of time (no need to repeatedly record over the same tape). Better still, it allows you to retrieve footage from a particular time with far greater ease either on-site, via PC software, or via the smartphone app.
Security footage is invaluable in the event of a crime, such as a break-in, as you’ll capture footage of the suspects, which you can then pass onto the authorities to aid their investigation. You’ll also have more details of the crime, such as the time it took place, which parts of your premises were breached and what they appeared to be most interested in.
The placement of the recording machine is important during an install. We recommend a lockable cabinet or room out of harm’s reach.
Decision-making
Security cameras aren’t just useful for deterring and solving crimes – they can help with other aspects of your business too. For instance, having cameras installed will prove invaluable for solving disputes between employees, an incident with customers, or something similar. Whenever there’s an employee disciplinary hearing, both the business and the employee in question are permitted to submit evidence in support of their case; security camera footage could help with this.
Security cameras can also help you make decisions that could help you earn more. For instance, in a retail business, you can use the footage to:
- Track customer movement patterns throughout your store.
- Observe the type of products customers are most interested in
- Determine which products people nearly
- How many people come into your store, walk around for a while, and don’t purchase something
- How long customers go without being attended to by a member of staff.
You can use this information to make the appropriate changes to your business’ layout, how you interact with customers, etc. Security camera footage may very well teach you things about your business and customers that you wouldn’t learn otherwise.
Keep Data and Records
As well as footage of crimes committed on your premises, security cameras are useful for recording data and keeping records. This includes who is entering and leaving the premises, what time they did so, etc. Also, as touched on above, you can keep records of events that led to disciplinary action. This is especially useful if an incident with your staff results in having to go to an employment tribunal – hopefully, the security footage can tell the story for you.
Why CCTV is Important for Businesses?
Closed-circuit television, or CCTV, is a small, private network of cameras and recording equipment. It’s called ‘closed circuit’ because the footage can only be accessed by whoever owns and monitors it (as opposed to broadcast TV which can be picked up by anyone with the right receiver).
In the long-term, CCTV will save your business several times what you paid for them. Here are some of the main reasons why CCTV is so important for businesses.
Save Money
CCTV serves two important purposes: preventing crimes and helping to solve them. When it comes to preventing crimes, CCTV acts as a deterrent for break-ins, shoplifting, and other types of theft, vandalism, and other crimes. Potential perpetrators will see the cameras and think twice about what they were planning to do. Similarly, CCTV also goes a long way to preventing theft in the workplace – which costs businesses in Australia a whopping $1.5billion a year.
On the other hand, CCTV allows you to resolve crimes when they happen. This could range from identifying a burglar and recovering what was stolen from your business to discovering which of your employees has been stealing from you.
Could Reduce Insurance Costs
When a CCTV system is professionally installed by a security company like Pacific Security Group, your business may qualify for lower business insurance premiums. Insurance companies recognise the value of CCTV cameras in preventing and solving crimes so they are often willing to offer businesses that install security systems at cheaper rates. Why not call your business insurance provider and see if this applies to your company?
Preventing other crimes in the workplace
As well as preventing theft, CCTV helps to provide other crimes and misconduct within the workplace. This includes, but isn’t limited to fraud, sexual harassment, sexual assault, and, workplace bullying. Consequently, it helps people safer, which makes your place of business a more pleasant place to work. Ultimately, this contributes to positive company culture and lower staff turnover.
Criminal Evidence
If a crime takes place, the CCTV footage will provide proof of it. This can help considerably with insurance claims as you can give your provider footage of the crime to prove it happened.
They Can Reduce False Liability Claims
Slips, falls and other work-related injuries can be very costly for businesses and their insurance providers – so it pays to make sure claims are genuine. What’s more liability claims can’t just me by your employees but by anyone visiting your property as well. CCTV cameras can deter people from making potentially fraudulent claims – and expose those that follow through on them.
Improved Customer Perception
A CCTV system shows your customers that your safety and security conscious, which improves how they perceive your business. This will especially be the case if you run a business that requires customers to leave their personal property with you, like a mechanic or other types of repair businesses. CCTV cameras put their mind at ease and give customers the confidence that their belongings will be safe with you.
Increased Staff Productivity
Employees are less likely to slack off, show up for late for their shifts, and lie about their productivity when they know they’re being watched. CCTV helps keep your staff accountable and makes them more conscious of their work habits. It takes the pressure of you the business owner to try and prove a suspicion. The footage is your tool to assist in efficient disciplinary action.
What is the difference between surveillance cameras and security cameras?
There’s a lot of cross-over between the terms surveillance cameras and security cameras – in fact, most people use them interchangeably. However, there can be a difference between the two: let’s take a brief look at what separates surveillance and security cameras.
Surveillance Cameras
Surveillance cameras are primarily concerned with monitoring or surveilling, people and property. They’re installed to prevent crimes from happening (as a deterrent) and recording footage of crimes as they take place. Surveillance cameras usually work on an IP network that connects the camera to a monitor and digital recording device in a separate location. This allows for a longer (often continuous) recording time.
The main drawback of surveillance cameras is they allow you to observe but won’t necessarily notify you of a crime in progress. Often, this means by the time you’re aware of a crime, it’s already happened. Sometimes, a significant amount of time will have elapsed before you’re able to take action and the perpetrator has already fled. Surveillance cameras rely on someone monitoring the property at the time of the crime to actually catch someone in the act. And even then, if the location where the footage is being monitored is a good distance from the place the crime is taking place, it may still already be too late.
Security Cameras
Now, when it comes to security cameras, a lot of what defines a surveillance camera still applies. The security camera’s footage is often transferred to a location where it can be monitored. And although many security cameras are connected to the recorder via coax or Cat5e/Cat6 cable, a lot of modern systems connect via a network of switches, much like surveillance cameras.
What often separates a security camera from a surveillance camera is that they are usually part of a complete security system. This can mean the camera system has its own inbuilt Ai features to provide sirens, flashing lights, and alerts to a smartphone app or 24/7 control room. It can also be interlinked and combined with access control alerts and a smart security alarm system that consists of a series of sensors including motion detection, glass break alarms, window open sensors, and door stop alarms. Some systems are even more comprehensive and include flood, smoke, and carbon monoxide alarms.
When it comes to monitoring, the latest Ai security cameras usually present more options than surveillance cameras. On the hand, you can choose to self-monitor. Ai cameras are getting smarter by the year. Offering line-intrusion detection, setting off sirens and lights if crossed, and notifying you via your app.
Alternatively, you can enlist the help of a security company for professional monitoring of your business. The main advantage of professional monitoring is that you, or any of your employees, do not have to keep an eye on your business premises every second of the day – you can leave it to a dedicated security firm. The only downside to this is that you’d have to pay a monthly subscription fee for this service. Your insurance savings can be put towards this fee.
Summary
It is little surprise most business owners view security cameras as essential. They help deter crimes, can alert you of a crime in progress, and, when one occurs, record footage that may help you catch those responsible. However, besides that, they help keep your employees productive and contribute to a safe, comfortable working environment.
Security cameras can not only save you money but through their ability to help you put your customers at ease and improve how you run your business, they can help you make money too.
If you’d like a free on-site inspection to address your home’s security needs, contact us today.
