Small Business Security: A Practical, Affordable Guide

You don’t want your business to pay attention to the security of its premises after a burglar break-in. As a matter of fact, successful businesses will follow the common wisdom of “better safe than sorry.”

If you’re a small business, the aftermath of burglary can be quite severe. Temporarily closing your business, damaged property, and replacing stolen assets can be a strong financial burden that can cause your business to close infinitely.

This is merely one of the many reasons why you should be paying attention to small business security protocols. If you’re completely unfamiliar with the notion, no worries. You’ve come to the right place. Keep on reading for our full breakdown of all things business security, the different types of burglaries you need to know, and the key steps you can take to better protect your business.

The Common Types of Burglaries

Before we start our deep dive into the different security strategies that you’ll want to apply, let’s make sure you have the basics of burglaries and their types covered.

Generally speaking, the majority of burglaries can be divided into three categories. Each one has its own characteristics and motivators.

The Opportunistic Burglary

Interestingly enough, this type of burglary is the most common out of the whole bunch. It’s spontaneous in nature, with the decision to steal made on a quick whim with no prior planning involved.

Similar to its naming, it all depends on the “opportunity.” It’s a quick job that aims to grab whatever is more convenient to steal. Moreover, you’ll find that opportunistic burglars would enter through an unsecured window or another common entry point.

This type of burglary tends to cause the smallest amounts of damage, especially in comparison to the two upcoming types.

The Smash-And-Grab Burglary

Unfortunately, this type of burglary leads to the biggest amount of property damage, due to the violent nature of the breaking-and-entering.

This is a burglary that has been planned for in advance, with the burglars coming in with power tools to cut through grills, locks, or other forms of security measures.

In addition to the common strategy that they would employ, they also can use a motor vehicle to barge into the premises. Of course, that tends to cause such severe damage to the property that the repair costs can easily reach tens of thousands of dollars.

However, this type of robbery is a bit less common for regular businesses. It targets more of the higher-end businesses, like luxury brands and jewelry stores. The higher risk of getting caught makes it more dangerous for the robbers, so they aim of stolen goods that are high in value.

The Sophisticated Burglary

This is a form of burglary that’s quite complex, and the perpetrators tend to be professional thieves to steal items that are exceptionally high in value.

This type of crime comes with a whole host of planning, with the burglars planning for the presence of alarm systems in advance, as well as the fast security or police response.

Those aren’t quick jobs, and the ones committing this crime with be using specialized methods to grab items and haul them away before the appropriate authorities make it to your business doors.

Thankfully, this type of burglary is the least common out of the three types.

Small Business Security 101: Preventing Theft

Now that you’re aware of the different types of burglary, you’re ready to apply the following tips to your business security.

Conceal Your Wiring

Nothing is more tempting to burglars than exposed wiring outside of your business facilities. After all, those are the key wirings that can allow them to easily disable your security protocols or other forms of communication.

You’ll want to make things hard for them by concealing all of your external wirings with the best cable tray systems, whether they’re linked to security, electrical, cable, or others, it doesn’t matter. Conceal them all.

For instance, if you have a business door chime, don’t leave its exposed wiring on the exterior of your premises.

Revise Your Basic Business Protocols

We’re talking about your basic protocols of training your authorized employees on how to properly use your business’ security systems and apply the right methods of arming and disarming your system.

You don’t want a human error to leave your security systems vulnerable.

Store Your Valuables in a Secure Location

You’ll want to keep your cash or valuables in a secure location, especially if you tend to keep cash on hand on your premises overnight.

The same rule applies to the high-value inventory of any kind. If you’re dealing with small items, you can put them in a commercial-grade safe that’s bolted in place.

Activate a Monitored Security System

In fear of stating the obvious, you’ll want to invest in a solid monitored security system. By installing such a system, you’re providing security to your business that’s 24/7, which is the highest level of protection you could offer.

In this case, if the worst thing happens, you can apprehend the perpetrators.

Update Your Systems

Installing a strong security system is only the first step. You’ll want to ensure that you’re keeping up with the latest software updates. This way, you’ll prevent any hackers, or burglars from taking advantage of any weak spots in your software.

You can simply set these programs to install their latest updates automatically, so you don’t have to periodically check on whether your system is updated or not.

Ready to Better Protect Your Business?

It won’t be enough to just display signs saying that you’ve installed a security system with a mechanical eye that never sleeps. YOu’ll want to actually make sure that you’ve put a cohesive small business security protocol in place.

We know how overwhelming the process can be for new business owners. Hopefully, our guide on the types of burglaries you should watch out for, and the tips on how to improve your business security gave you a good starting point.

Remember that it’s always better to be safe than sorry when it comes to business security.