Recession is bad enough. However, having your small office or retail store’s equipments and important stuffs getting raid by a burglar could be your worst nightmare.
I am a small business owner and I know that there are times I love to tarry.
Take insuring my equipments, for instance. Or worse, delaying the implementation of video surveillance systems on my store.
One of my thankful moments was a few days after I finally implemented the video surveillance systems, my customer’s vehicle was stolen!
I’m not thankful for the misery my customer experience :P I’m thankful because we can arrest the thief and help my customer to claim the loss through his insurance – all thanks to the video surveillance systems.
What small business security means to you and your small business
Small business security should be your number one priority, nothing less.
Force majeur can happen anytime, and burglary can also lurking on your business.
Do you realise that your small business has so many intrusion accesses? Your Internet access, your “customer”, even your employees can be your source of intrusion.
Customers? Yes – In addition to the above case of mine, I have a case when my “customer” saw a mobile phone that is being accidentally left out by a customer a while ago. Why did I know about this? Because the “customer” was caught on tape take the mobile phone!
Employees? Yes – unhappy employees can be your biggest small business problem that often small business owners don’t aware of. Don’t ask me about this – this is the least thing I want to be reminded of :)
Failing to protect your small business loses you money, for sure. Not only that, having your business shut down due to both internal and external burglary, along with your decision not to secure your business well is the least thing you want to happen to you!
How to secure your small business
I found being an entrepreneur and business owner give me more flexibility in managing my time. Watching over your small business 24/7 yourself is not possible – even watching your small business 9 to 5 everyday is not enough to avoid burglary or other intrusions.
What you need is to do is to partner with a bona-fide security company that can help you secure your business, and in the end, let you focus your time and energy to grow your business.
Some well-known security companies, such as ADT security systems, not only take care your security equipments, but also monitor your small business 24/7. This is a HUGE help, in my cases.
Video surveillance systems
Having a video surveillance systems is a must – it helps police or security officers to identify the criminals.
Partnering with a security company offering security solutions targeted specifically for small businesses, such as ADT, is a smart move.
Panic button
The second must have system for your small business premise.
In retailing, what most small business owners are afraid of is the case of armed burglary. You can benefit more protection from a panic button as the nearest security officers are on stand-by mode 24/7, and they will rush to your store with a hope to arrest or scare of the burglars.
Again, partner with the right security company is probably your wisest investment decision of all.
Signs, signs, signs
Signs are commonly be found everywhere, yet effective. A simple sign with “This store is being monitored 24/7 for your convenience” always commands peace of mind on your customers and employees.
You can see from the image used for this post – it is a bit sarcastic, but quite amusing, while assuring :)
Employees log book
Log book is important to note every single activity done by your employees.
Not only it promotes communication, especially if you have staffs working on more than one shift, but also it protects your trusted employees from any false accusations, such as “The burglary happened at 7.30. Where were you at that time?” type of interrogation.
Log book doesn’t always in the form of a book – I know that some use blogs as log book (blogs are an abbreviation of web logs, after all)
Policies, policies, policies
Your business policies can save you from damaging intrusions.
What kind of policies? I’m talking about, for instance, having your employees to leave the premise on a designated time after their working hours finished.
The most important key – don’t tarry your decision making on security
Above all those tips, this is the ultimate tip that can make or break your business’ success:
Don’t tarry your decision making on your business security measures
Invest your time and effort on deciding what’s best for your business in term of security, and you can reap the benefit (and be thankful that you did take the decision!) – just like me :)
Ivan Widjaya
Securing small business
Image by Anirudh Koul.
You can find us on 
Do not copy our content - we are protected by 
Surveillance camera is a security-must regardless of how small your business is. Glad, you had it installed before the car-theft incident happened. Cheers!
Hi Rocky,
Yes – you simply can’t take things for granted these days :)
All true. However, does anyone have any ideas on how to bullet proof an online business, and I mean totally protected?
Hi sahail,
Um – I’m not sure.. Some tried to encrypt the source codes, but that’s bad for search engine. In term of business, you can always monitor your online biz performance with online monitoring service, such as mon.itor.us.