With a ‘work from home directive’ still in place, key decisions made by business leaders around this time of year is whether to keep their office or workplace open.
What are the overhead savings versus potential revenue lost? How badly do my staff need to take a break? What are we really going to miss out on by closing for a few days? These are the sorts of questions that company bosses will be weighing up.
While reasons exist to support both approaches, many will be closing their doors to let their employees recuperate and enjoy times with their loved ones.
That means leaving corporate premises unoccupied. Once that decision to close has been made, the next most important question is, how do I ensure my workplace is secure? A question to which there are many answers.
Let someone else do it for you
Indeed, some firms may be located in buildings which have their own security setups and protocols for holiday periods. Others, meanwhile, may hire some form of temporary security presence to keep watch while staff are away.
Another option is to tap into the benefits of remote monitoring. The dynamics of security are already changing to the extent that CCTV monitoring, CCTV live surveillance, and remote monitoring are becoming increasingly relevant. COVID-19 has led to occupancy levels reducing in many cases, leaving buildings less well attended than they were previously.
Remote monitoring represents a cost effective and consistent solution that doesn’t take time off. These systems involve cameras which signal alerts to an external monitoring centre, whose staff can issue immediate alerts to on-site staff or dispatch their own response personnel.
Everything happens in real-time through intuitive and comprehensive dashboards, voice activated commands and with the backup of full logistical and human resource management.
Furthermore, if your organisation is spread over multiple sites, remote monitoring solutions are easy to scale up (and down) depending on the number of sites that need protecting – it is far easier to adjust security requirements with this sort of setup than it is to move and adjust operations purely comprised of on-the-ground staff.
Peace of mind
Manned guarding, especially on a 24/7 basis during periods of low occupancy, can also present a prohibitively expensive option to companies.
Moreover, the risk of working through the night in certain places may outweigh the benefits, and organisations may also be housing highly sensitive data that makes them reluctant to station outsourced personnel on-site by themselves.
In all of these cases, CCTV monitoring, CCTV live surveillance, or remote monitoring should be considered as a financially viable, safe alternative which is able to rapidly notify the relevant authorities without the need for any human security officer on site.
Of course, we hope that no alerts need to be made. Often, the presence of cameras and lighting alone is often enough to deter any would-be intruders or trespassers.
Whatever option business leaders take to protect their premises, it is critical they ensure it balances both their security and financial needs.
