How Surveillance Equipment Can Save Your Business Money
If you are a business owner, then you know the importance of maintaining low operating costs in order to maximize your ROI. One of the best ways your surveillance system can save your business money is, of course, by investing in security cameras. Let’s explore five of the ways that security cameras can save your business money, and how Umbrella Security Systems is here to help.
Employee Theft
No matter how much trust you have in someone, it’s still important to protect your business from potential theft. The US Department of Commerce reports that nearly 75% of employees steal from their place of work.
Even if you have the utmost trust in your employees, it’s important to protect your business from potential theft. According to the US Department of Commerce, nearly 75 percent of employees steal from their place of work. This makes it vital for you to protect your investment with security cameras. Video surveillance is incredibly helpful in preventing theft, whether it is by employee or customer, as the sight of a camera will put the potential thief off the thought of stealing anything. In the event that something is stolen, you have security footage that will help you catch the culprit.
Reduce Insurance Costs
Insurance providers offer reduced rates to businesses using video surveillance which helps your bottom line.
Business insurance is a necessity for all business owners as a means to protect their investment. Insurance companies will often offer reduced rates to businesses using video surveillance, which is helpful for your bottom line. Just like with home security systems, installing security cameras in your business helps reduce your liability risks, which means insurance companies see you are taking the appropriate steps to protect your business from theft and other potential crimes, and consider it less of a risk to insure you.
Workflow Monitoring
Ensure that your employees are working productively while on the clock, which reduces the issue of time theft One of the biggest ways employees steal from their employers is time theft, but unlike stealing actual items, many of them don’t see this as theft.
Video surveillance allows you to ensure your employees are working effectively while they are on the clock. This also gives you a chance to make sure any protocols you’ve put in place, whether they’re for safety or something else, are being followed. Another positive is security footage shows you if you’re over or understaffed, allowing you to gain a better understanding of how you can improve your business and better serve your customers.
Avoid Frivolous Lawsuits
Reduce your risk of a lawsuit with security footage of what happens inside your business. Whether it is coming from an employee filing a fake workman’s compensation claim or a customer filing a lawsuit for something allegedly taking place at your business, having to deal with legal issues can cost you a great deal of money.
By using security cameras, you can dissuade employees from filing falsified claims, as you’ll have evidence regarding anything that happens within your building. Likewise, you’ll have the backup you need to protect yourself from frivolous lawsuits brought forth by a customer.
Safer Workplace
Avoid vandalism and break-ins while providing your employees with a sense of safety that they need to effectively work Security cameras placed at the entrances, exits, and parking lots of your building help to create a safe environment.
Protecting your employees is just as important as protecting your other assets, and this is a step that can help them feel safer while at work. This can foster a better relationship between employee and employer, as it shows you’re looking out for them. It will also help to prevent vandalism and break-ins.
Why Do These Discounts Exist?
Risk is a major factor of the insurance industry, policy providers prefer clients that pose the lowest risk. Research shows that properties that are monitored by video surveillance equipment are less likely to be stolen from than those without, so in turn, less of these homeowners will need to file claims for losses or damages. While more claims cost the insurance company more money, both parties benefit from a security camera system installation.
Intruders usually stay away from homes protected by alarms and cameras since they pose a larger risk of being caught and getting arrested. Homes that are not monitored by video surveillance equipment are 300 times more likely to be broken into. These statistics are also appealing to insurance companies since they typically lead to less expensive claims.
Does it Matter Which Security System I Choose?
Several companies offer larger discounts for more sophisticated security systems. Systems like these feature the latest industry trends which include multiple base units and up-to-date technologies like voice-activated controls, remote monitoring, and interactive monitoring services. Several of the top equipment providers offer systems with these capabilities that allow homeowners to invest in a system that will keep them safe while making them desirable candidates for insurance companies and discounts.
How Much Can I Save?
Many factors affect how large of a discount that homeowners can receive from installing security equipment. The type of equipment that is installed is the most important indicator, though geographical location, facility size, and other policy agreements can also affect this number. Companies typically offer businesses insurance discounts between five and twenty percent to protected clients. Depending on the policy, this can calculate savings of up to $80 per month after business owners pay their monthly security monitoring fees.
How Network Video Tools Can Save You Money
Video surveillance is an incredible tool when it comes to employee safety and loss prevention. However, network video, using IP-based cameras and monitoring software, can tell far more about your business than whoever is attempting to break into your system. Over time, network video surveillance can help uncover trends and patterns that you can exploit to improve all phases of your business.
Unlike proprietary DVR systems that are used in analog surveillance, network surveillance systems are based on open architecture, which means not only can archive and live video is able to be viewed through any internet browser, but also contradictory systems can be connected to share and collect restaurant data across departments. In other words, the restaurant can leverage the business intelligence caught by the network cameras, while at the same time having the ability to share video instantly with first responders (law enforcement, fire departments, etc.) for real-time situational awareness in an emergency situation.
Specific ways network video can help quick serves to increase profits and streamline operations:
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Deter Dishonest Employees
Trying out network video surveillance into exception-based reporting can increase sales. Successful brands out there motivate more honest behavior in their employees by connecting POS data with the corresponding video of each transaction. With less-than-honest employees, video provides hard evidence necessary successfully prosecute the thief while making others think twice.
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Avoid Accidents in the Workplace and Wrongful Worker’s Comp
The average worker’s comp claim costs between $2,000 and $5,000, using network surveillance to improve workplace safety can have a significant impact on the bottom line.
Management can also use network surveillance to remotely observe several different stores from one computer and provide feedback on ways to enhance service quality. Investing in higher-resolution network cameras instead of expensive DVRs provides more total coverage of store activity. This enables management to see incidents that may have otherwise gone undetected and gain an accurate assessment of day-to-day operations at the store level. The recording can be used as a teaching tool as well.
In the event of an “alleged” accident by an employee pursuing a worker’s comp claim, the video record is the most effective tool that is available to learn what did or didn’t occur and whether the circumstances benefit a challenge to the alleged claim. With high-quality HDTV and megapixel video, what really happened is much clearer than the grainy analog video typically found in quick serves around the country.
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Mitigate Fraudulent Liability Claims
Video surveillance also provides integral evidence to mitigate the risk of fraudulent liability claims against your operation. We all know about the sales nosedive a popular quick-serve restaurant took when accused of serving a human finger in its chili. It took good old-fashioned investigative work to finally bring the perp of fraud to justice. However, had network video surveillance of the event had been available, management could have searched through the archives in seconds to reveal the falseness of the claim, avoiding a public relations nightmare and saving the company millions in lost sales.
Once again, investing in a system with more cameras and higher clarity could be the difference in actually capturing what really happened or dealing with a major PR crisis.
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Run a Tight Ship with Operational Reviews
Network surveillance can also be used by management remotely to observe several different stores or locations from one mobile device or computer or mobile device and provide feedback on ways to enhance service quality, more efficiently deploy its crew, and monitor after-hours deliveries.
With the help of custom video analytics, sales, and marketing managers, you can tap into surveillance video to gather the real-time data regarding customer ordering behavior, interactions with displays and menus, and the length of time needed to place the order. Based on these observations, the could change the menu board to increase customer throughput.
Facial Recognition Can Save Your Business Money and Time
It isn’t enough to catch a culprit on video these days. You have to a name to the face. Several of the newest network cameras, with their HFTV clarity and megapixels, are uniquely suited for facial recognition analysis. Facial recognition technology has been extremely usefully implemented for years now and has made its way into the business world.
Automation
Facial recognition technology can implement automation eliminating the need for clocking in and out: simply replacing the ability to open a door with a facial scan. This technology can also be implemented to allow 24/7 access to an office building This completely eliminates the need for employees to request special access during “off” hours, replacing it with a fully-automated system that is able to track who is using the building at any given point. Benefit-wise, that’s an obvious time-saver. So, how can this technology help to save your company money?
Savings
When properly implemented, facial recognition will save your IT department tons, in turn, obviously saving your business money. IT department employees spend nearly 40% of their time fixing issues that have existing hardware and software. That adds up to around 2 hours and 45 minutes per employee, per day. With the money that IT specialists make, that is a decent amount of cash. One of the biggest offenders of stolen time is lost or forgotten passwords.
Using facial recognition technology to give access to computers eliminates the pain point typically associated with forgetting passwords. Therefore, that frees up the tech department to work on other pressing issues rather than mundane password resets.
This technology is also able to be set to give access to managers, creating easy access to computers in the event that an employee suddenly leaves a company with no record of their passwords. It also allows employees to have access to other employee’s access files stored only on a work computer, should that need arise. Once you implement facial recognition into your business, you’ll begin seeing savings in both money and time.
More Benefits of Video Surveillance & Security Cameras For Your Business
Security Cameras Increase Overall Safety
Security cameras that are positioned properly by professionals throughout your business help to prevent break-ins and crime. Businesses are four times more likely to be burglarized than a home.
Video Surveillance Can Help Prevent Shoplifting & Theft
Business security cameras placed prominently can assist in preventing theft. Nearly 70% of all small businesses fall victim to employee theft. Nationally, small businesses lose around $25-33 thousand per minute to shoplifters.
Prevent Fraud
Fraud can cause a business to lose up to 5% of its revenue.
Improves Safeguards
Small organizations are, of course, more susceptible to employee theft. This is because fewer safeguards are in place.
Protects Against Burglary
Most people believe that burglaries are just “crimes of opportunity”. Though, statistics show that the majority of burglaries are actually forced entry (picking locks, breaking windows, kicking in doors, etc.) A good security system, including surveillance security cameras, can be a great hindrance for those kinds of crimes.
Improves Outside Security for Customers and Employees
Video surveillance cameras are there to protect employees both indirectly and directly. When the system is installed both in parking lots and outside the physical building they can record the suspicious activity and review the footage
Security Cameras Can Lower The Risk of Vandalism
So many business owners pay directly and indirectly for vandalism. According to the US Small Business Administration, one incident of vandalism costs an average of $3,400. Conspicuously placed cameras have been proven to reduce threats of violence and vandalism dramatically.
Increases Sales
Security cameras can also help to sell more products from your store. They make it simple to track customer traffic patterns through your business. This gives you the chance to move inventory around and adjust stocking so that you are taking full advantage of high-traffic areas.
Provides Business Compliance
Many kinds of businesses have to have a video surveillance system put in place in order to comply with HIPPA or SEC regulations along with internal corporate policies.
Makes Sense For Business
Video surveillance makes good sense for businesses since a business owner can’t be in more than one place at a time. Video surveillance provides you with visual access to your business when you need it which is 24/7, 365 days per year.
