Preventing unauthorised access to your business premises should be a priority. Get it wrong, and you could face catastrophic losses, damage to your brand reputation, and probing questions from your insurer as they try to figure out what went wrong.
Therefore, it’s a good idea to focus on preventing unauthorised access in the first place. After all, you don’t want anyone stealing from you and undermining your margins.
So, what do you need to do? Let’s take a look.
Add Better Access Control
The priority should be to add better access control to your doors, windows, and other entry points. You want to make it impossible to enter without the proper clearance, including former employees.
Today, various access control systems are available. For instance, you could install a key card reader that only grants access when colleagues present their cards and activate a Reed switch sensor to open the door. You could also experiment with biometrics to prevent card sharing.
Video Surveillance
You can complement better door access solutions with CCTV. Putting cameras in the most conspicuous locations can deter people from accessing areas of your property they shouldn’t. Video can immediately alert guards of breaches who can take action and prevent damage to your enterprise.
These days, you don’t need to manually install wires and cables for video surveillance systems. New products work by connecting directly to your WiFi and using local power sources. CCTV begins when they detect movement, reducing the amount of video you have to upload to cloud storage, and lowering your costs substantially.
Secure Your Documents And Devices
Another way to improve your physical security is to come up with a policy for protecting and securing devices and documents. Most small businesses now use mobile device management solutions. These use a combination of technologies to keep company data safe, even if colleagues leave their phones or laptops on the train. A special secured portal for dealing with business-only information prevents anyone from gaining access to sensitive information, even in the event of a security breach that would have brought down most companies.
Sign-In Systems For Visitors
Even if you run a small company, it can also help to have a sign-in system for visitors. Insisting on identification and name badges can help keep everyone informed about who is on-site.
Even if you run a customer-facing business, you can use signing-in to enhance the customer experience. Printing out a name badge and providing them with clearance can make them feel like you are taking care of them and catering to them personally. It shows you are prepared to go the extra mile.
Monitor Your Logs
Finally, you’ll want to spend some time every week monitoring your logs and checking who is using your facilities. You’ll want to check for any suspicious activity or entry by people who don’t strictly need to be there. Accessing labs or computer rooms at strange times could indicate an insider threat you’ll want to eliminate. Even if there are only a handful of you, there might still be bad actors on your team.
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