What are the benefits of using a CCTV System in 2020?
Having a 24 Hour CCTV system installed in the building of your business or other commercial property provides a great deal of benefits to not only employees or residents but also the building’s contents and even the building itself.
24 7 CCTV monitoring is easy to set up and one of the most cost-effective security systems around. It can dramatically increase the security of your property, act as a crime deterrent and provide useful visual data from both inside and outside. Security Cameras are a great method of ensuring that your building and its contents are monitored at all times.
It’s never been more important to have some sort of Security system installed, with almost 3.5 million incidents of theft being reported in 2019. Whilst it’s clearly essential to utilise the capabilities of CCTV systems in London business properties due to higher crime rates and population, it’s also essential for smaller regional businesses too.
Below, we talk you through four of the key security benefits that a Closed-Circuit Television system can provide for your business in 2020. Whatever your businesses size, It’s well worth considering investing in a CCTV system as part of security for your commercial premises to ensure optimum safety and protection.
CCTV is a crime deterrent first
It might seem obvious but installing Analogue or IP cameras within and around your commercial property acts as a visual crime deterrent for anyone considering carrying out illegal activities. Thieves are much less likely to target your business if they see that they can be caught in doing so. The sight of a professionally installed camera system is especially helpful at stopping pre-planned crimes by immediately highlighting that the building is under surveillance.
Much like seeing the bell box for an alarm system, an intruder seeing a working camera may decide it safer and easier to target a property up the road instead.
To get the most out of your commercial CCTV system, you need to clearly display its presence in the form of signs on the outside of your building as per ICO data protection guidelines. This warns potential criminals that your building has a security system in place, is likely to be off-putting and ultimately maximises your chances at protecting your site.
Offsite Remote CCTV Monitoring – What you need to know
Security cameras monitor the activity of workers, visitors and passers-by at your business location, so you and your management team can always have your finger on the pulse of what’s happening. CCTV remote monitoring means that you can have access to this surveillance from anywhere in the world. With today’s technology, it’s standard practice to be able to view your live feed on various mobile devices.
If you are looking at bumping up your Security, you may want to consider a professionally monitored CCTV system. Through utilising data, images from the CCTV cameras at your businesses location can be transmitted to an Alarm Receiving Centres remote monitoring station. When an intruder or an unusual occurrence is detected an alarm is raised and footage from your cameras is then viewed from within the control room.
Monitored CCTV offers similar benefits of a monitored intruder alarm. With the additional benefit of a trained operator being able to relay live information to key holders or the Police false alarms are less common.
When a Remote Operator receives an alarm signal, the cause of the alarm can then be investigated. If suspicious activity is spotted, immediate action can be taken such as notifying the emergency services, calling a Key holder, sending an Audio warning through the system or a mixture of all. These types of system are monitored 24 7. The type of action to be taken will depend on what steps were agreed prior to the install of your monitored CCTV system.
Off-site CCTV monitoring can save you a lot of money in potential losses via criminal damage, theft and fire as it ensures your security systems are an investment worth making. It is the key to rapid responses, key holder or police, and rapid responses are the key to ensuring your premise is protected.
If you are considering a monitored CCTV Security System, there are usually pre-requisites which need to be made in order for your system to be “up to standard”. These are provided by the Alarm Receiving Centre so it’s important to ensure communication is clear early on in the process.
The functionality of your monitoring services can be adjusted at a later date however may entail further costs if the equipment is not capable of performing the tasks from which you require of it. There are various camera security solutions out there from single and multi-camera options, conventional or IP CCTV systems to home, business or remote CCTV surveillance. This is why a good site survey, conducted by security professionals who know what they are doing is essential to save on time and cost further down the line.
Collection of evidence if a crime is committed – CCTV Benefits
If the worst were to happen and your property was subjected to a crime, be that theft, criminal damage or vandalism. Having a commercial CCTV system in place acts as a means to view footage in real time, collect evidence and get to the bottom of what has happened.
Closed-Circuit-Television isn’t just a preventative crime measure, it’s video records can also be a key piece of evidence if a crime happens. Footage can be given to the police if the criminal event took place in the vicinity of your cameras. You could catch anything from a number plate on a CCTV camera, also known as ANPR cameras (Automatic Number Plate Recognition), to the faces of those who committed the crime.
As technology continues to progress, the capabilities of the latest camera systems continue to improve. Take a look at this video of a Commercial Camera System, in particular the night vision and zoom capability, released by Hikvision.
If there is an incident on your businesses premises, one of the last things you want is a time-wasting and potentially “he said, she said” event occurring – This goes for claiming on insurance to.
Good, reliable and suitable equipment can aid police with their investigation. By being able to place times, vehicles, locations and even potential suspects, this has obvious benefits to all parties concerned in the matter. However, in order for the police to use the footage in court, the surveillance system must adhere to some strict regulations in order to be admissible.
Requirements such as only recording on the property you legally own, having clear visible signs that Cameras are in operation and only keeping the footage for as long as needed are a few of these.
In general, and by industry standards, most security footage is stored between 30-90 days. It’s important to choose an installer who knows all of these rules and is experienced in providing the best quality and law-abiding security systems.
CCTV can be a cost-effective and low maintenance Security Solution
Closed-Circuit Television is an extremely cost-effective method of providing security to your business premises, especially with the latest technological advances. You can get a system today that a few years ago would have cost a substantial amount more. Once installed, you can rely on it to monitor and protect your company for many years to come with minimum upkeep if installed correctly.
With us at Timar, we offer a Free, no-obligation site survey to our customers. Once the best system for your business has been agreed and installed, there’s usually little to do maintenance wise.
Maintenance usually consists of wiping clean the cameras themselves every now and then along with testing the system to ensure all is in order. We look for things like the Hard Drive recording correctly, signals being sent if monitored along with any issues which may affect things at a later date. This is usually completed by a maintenance service from one of our professional engineers. This ensures peace of mind and you can rest assured that your property is under the highest quality surveillance.
Conclusion
We’ve covered the advantages of Closed-Circuit-Television discussing how it is an effective tool to add to the security arsenal for any business looking for some peace of mind and an omniscient eye over their property. With the costs of technology coming down, Camera systems should be a serious consideration for any business who are reviewing their current commercial security. Installing a security system isn’t just for huge companies and doesn’t have to be as complicated or expensive as you might think.
Looking for a high quality CCTV installation in London? With over 20 years’ worth of experience in the industry, we strive to deliver the best by offering products and customer service that are both reliable and affordable across Essex, London and surrounding areas.
If you’re worried about your property’s security, get in touch with us today
If you are reviewing the security for your business and feel you would benefit from a security consulatation by one of our professional security consultants, book a free, no-obligation site survey with us today. Just call 01268 857080 or fill out the form on our contact us page and we will be happy to help.