In this day and age, companies can’t be too careful when it comes to security. Business security solutions are meant to protect not only things like valuable equipment and proprietary technology — but the personal safety of employees as well. Commercial security products can vary widely from service to service. While some business owners choose comprehensive security systems, others select individual products that would better suit their needs. Commercial security solutions are not “one stop shop” products. They can be made to fit companies’ specific needs.


Below, we’re going to look into some of the questions surrounding choosing a security system. The more a business owner knows about what they need out of their security systems, the easier it will be for them to choose between different security system products.

Why Do Business Need Security Systems?


It’s easy to understand why people invest in individual home security systems. However, choosing a commercial surveillance system can be a bit more difficult, as these systems can be far more varied. With that being said, it’s nonetheless important to protect commercial assets, as well as employees that may be working alone or after hours. Burglaries, even non-violent ones, can have catastrophic effects on small businesses. In 2013 alone, it’s estimated that victims of burglaries suffered a total of $4.5 billion in property losses. At the same time, it’s believed that 67% of these burglaries can be prevented through the installation of video surveillance systems — which can certainly fall under the blanket of business security solutions.

Do Business Security Solutions Actually Work?


Part of the reason why small business owners hesitate to invest in business security solutions is that they often don’t have huge budgets to work off of, and want to be wise about what they’re investing in. They want to know that what they’re spending money on has an actual purpose.


The proof is in how burglars approach their potential targets. A study of convicted burglars indicated that about 83% of offenders would attempt to uncover whether or not an alarm was present before attempting a burglary in the first place. In fact, even intruders that are considered impulsive would consider an alarm to be an issue; 50% of them indicated that they would abandon a potential burglary after discovering an alarm. For that matter, it’s important for small business owners to consider loss prevention. As much as business owners want to trust their employees, it is always possible for theft to occur. In fact, about 38% of inventory loss can be attributed to shoplifting, and 34.5% to employee theft. Commercial surveillance systems can help dissuade this issue.

Are Business Security Solutions More Trouble Than They’re Worth?


Understandably, lots of business owners worry about the potential “hassles’ that come with business security solutions. This is because, despite the benefits of security systems, some have issues with alarms being tripped too easily. Potentially, this can lead to time being wasted. It does take at least 2 police officers and 20 minutes for a false alarm to be investigated.


However, the likelihood of this happening is far lower than some might think. The fact is that employees do need to be trained when new security systems are put in place. But most alarm systems do have fail-safes put in place to prevent monitoring systems from being alerted too easily. Most of the time, alarm systems have delays set that can range from 30 seconds to 3 minutes. During this delay time, an employee can key in a security code; this way, the monitoring company is less likely to be contacted for a false alarm.

Ultimately, an extensive alarm system isn’t going to be right for all small business. Perhaps one security camera is all that is needed. But with 1 in 7 businesses having alarm systems of some sort, it’s clear that in this day and age, security systems are no longer option. They are necessary parts of running small businesses.