When you’re just starting your business, you can probably manage your security needs with a basic surveillance system. As your business grows and expands, or as the dynamics of the property where you’re located change, you may want to consider bringing on experts to secure your business.
When you decide to employ a security firm, you’ll be in good company. Banks, retail stores, and supermarkets employ guards from private security services to keep their money safe and protect all on-site customers and employees.
Reasons to consider hiring a security company
Before you hire a private security company, you’ll want to carefully consider whether it makes sense for your business. Here are some of the primary signs that it may be time for you to consider hiring a security company to address any growing security concerns. Then, discover some of the specific ways that security companies can work with you to manage them.
- Growth: As your business continues to grow, security will likely become increasingly important. Monitoring smaller spaces with low traffic is relatively easy, but as you add space and traffic it becomes harder to do. Since security is the primary focus of protective services firms, they can help you provide safety to your customers, employees, and equipment in an efficient, high-tech, cost-effective manner.
- Spending too much time on security: Bigger entities with increased throughput are challenging to monitor. Eventually, it may be worth it to bring on professionals to manage your security when you find that it takes up too much of you or your employees’ time. The process of hiring, training, scheduling, and managing security staff or keeping up with your security equipment can quickly become overwhelming. As soon as you can make the room in your budget, hand over security duties to a professional. The money you spend to employ security services will free up your time to focus on the business’s operation. Since security companies focus exclusively on security, they’ll likely do a better job of protecting your business than you would.
- Liability: You are ultimately responsible for your safety and the safety of your employees. Everyone deserves to feel safe at work. A security firm can help you make sure that you’re entirely up to date on local and federal regulations that your business needs to comply with. They can prevent unauthorized people from accessing the property and even defend your business from cyber intrusions if you choose. At Google headquarters, for example, you’ll find plenty of security that has been implemented not only to protect the personal information of millions of people around the world but to secure proprietary technology.
- Entryway security: If you’re looking for a way to monitor employees as they come and go, you can increase your badge-in system with additional guards at the entrance or around the perimeter of the property. Security guards can also protect adjacent parking lots in case you notice an uptick in crime or vandalism nearby. They can protect employees if your business is in a dangerous neighbourhood and provide peace of mind as employees head to their cars after their work shifts.
- Increased risk: Neighborhood dynamics can change pretty quickly. If you notice anything about your location or the nature of your business that will make it more attractive to criminals, perhaps you should consider adding security to increase protection.
- Employee or vendor theft: Having a watchful eye on your employees or your vendors may save you lots of time, effort, and money. Though you’d like to trust your employees and vendors implicitly, verify that trust with a third-party security firm. That way you’ll make sure that everyone who works with you is doing exactly what they’re supposed to do.
How Security Companies Can Help Protect Your Business
Hiring a private security firm to manage your security comes with several benefits. Some of the primary ways that they can better protect your business include:
- Peace of mind: Choosing a reputable company to manage your security concerns can offer an immediate sense of relief. If the task of managing your own security has grown too burdensome, leaving it to professionals that you trust provides peace of mind. Hiring professionals show your customers and employees that you are concerned about their safety, especially if your business is located in a high-risk area.
Security guards can patrol perimeters or be stationed at entrances to check the credentials of people who are entering restricted or confidential areas of your business. With security services dedicated to protecting your business, you can focus on other essential aspects of your business.
- Crime Prevention: A uniformed security guard, either armed or unarmed, can deter crime just by his or her presence. Having security guards stationed on the premises can discourage criminal behaviour—those looking to cause trouble will usually move on to softer targets. Additionally, security guards are trained to watch and spot suspicious activity, potentially preventing other crimes.
After-hours security helps you protect any equipment or merchandise that would otherwise be left unattended. On construction sites, or at warehouses, the presence of a security guard after office hours is sure to grant you additional peace of mind.
- Damage control: In the event of a security breach, guards can minimize the damage and regain control of the situation. Security guards are trained on how to handle crimes properly and respond quickly. When you hire security services, you’ll have control over how much authority you grant your security firm when dealing with an offence that has occurred. For example, you can decide whether the guards will be armed or not. Regardless, they are equipped to quickly assess a variety of situations and follow procedures in case a crime happens.
- Real-time monitoring: Guard patrols, when executed effectively, can be quite beneficial to securing a property. Many rely on whatever surveillance equipment you have installed to capture footage of a crime that has occurred. Having a real person on hand to monitor what is going on at your business can stop criminal acts while they are in process. Security guards who monitor surveillance can often spot when something is amiss before it goes awry, giving you the chance to take action. By monitoring suspicious activities, they can often uncover potential crimes like thefts or burglaries.
- Comprehensive Solution: When you hire a security detail, you will initially discuss your needs and requirements. The security guards who work for you will ensure that they follow a standard, predictable set of operating procedures. Furthermore, they will follow your company rules and integrate as seamlessly as possible to your work environment. If your security guard is in uniform, however, expect that they must always remain visible.
Many companies with a corporate setting choose to hire corporate security guards. They are skilled as both security guards and as employees in a corporate environment, so they are equipped to handle front of the house issues and deal with customers and employees and keep a watchful eye on activities around them.
If you require armed security guards, expect that they will receive additional physical defense training. They must also have the appropriate certification required to safely operate a weapon at your business. Armed security guards are often seen around VIPs, celebrities and businessmen, and companies responsible for large amounts of money, merchandise, or confidential information.
When you choose a security solution, you can elect to hire and manage guards individually or enlist a firm’s services to take care of everything related to securing your property. They may recommend relevant technology and design an effective solution to all your security concerns so that you don’t have to worry about it.
Contact the Professionals at U.S. Security and Protective Services
Whether you’re looking at hiring security to keep up with your growing business’s demands or to mitigate potential vendor or employee theft, today’s security is well equipped to offer a comprehensive solution to secure your business. Paying for the protection provided by a security firm will relieve you of additional liability concerns and eventually reduce your overall costs of managing security. After all, leaving these tasks to the professionals is more efficient. It frees you and your employees to work on other parts of the business in safety and comfort.
The physical presence of a trained security guard provides peace of mind. It communicates that you value your customers and employees by ensuring that they have a safe place to interact with your business. Whether you hire armed or unarmed guards, they can be invaluable in safeguarding personal or proprietary information as well as making sure that your business continues to run smoothly.
If you’re considering hiring an experienced security firm to protect your Chicago business, look no further than U.S. Security and Protective Services. With more than 50 years of experience, we know what it takes to provide effective security and give you peace of mind. Contact us to discuss your security needs.
