8 Reasons Why Every Business Should Invest in Security Cameras
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When it comes to the security of your business, there is no better way to protect your investment than by installing a video surveillance system. There are many benefits of having a video surveillance system; here are just a few:
- Improve employee productivity
- Reduce employee theft and shoplifting
- Avoid accidents and insurance claims
- Grow your sales by using data analytics
- Capture burglaries and criminal activities
- Control who has access to your property
- Cost effective security
- Resolve disputes between employees and customers
1. Improve employee productivity
Some business owners don’t want to come off as monitoring their workers. Although it is important to create a comfortable work environment for your employees, it’s a fact that your employees are just not going to be as productive when they know that they are not being supervised.
There are some circumstances where constant monitoring may be stressful, and misuse of security cameras can lead to an invasion of one’s privacy. As an employer, you must be careful not to invade employees’ privacy.
Federal Laws prohibit the use of video surveillance in private areas. These include bathrooms, locker rooms, and areas where employees change their clothes.
2. Reduce employee theft and shoplifting
For businesses, shoplifting is a major problem for retail stores, but did you know that US businesses lose over 50 billion dollars a year due to employee theft.
It’s common sense that employees will not steal when they know they are being watched. Even though shoplifting and employee theft can never be 100% eliminated, Installing security cameras will drastically reduce theft from the first day.
My sister used to work for Macy’s many years ago, and all the employees had to exit through the back employee entrance when their shift was over. It was store policy that store security searched all their bags before they left.
3. Avoid accidents and insurance claims
One of the main concerns for business and property owners who contact me for security cameras is false insurance claims.
False injury claims from customers and employees can increase your liability and workman’s comp insurance premiums.
Having video footage as evidence against false claims can save you thousands of dollars a year.
Some of the most common accident claims are customers falling on your property or claiming something fell on them. Although it’s impossible to cover every inch of your property, just having cameras in the main areas like entrances, walkways, and parking lots can greatly reduce the number of possible injury claims.
4. Grow your sales by using data analytics
A modern surveillance system can do much more than just record. With features like people counting and heat maps, you can use analytics to create profiles of how customers navigate through your stores. Knowing this information will help present your products to your customers resulting in more efficient use of space.
5. Capture burglaries and criminal activities
We can’t avoid criminal activity; with the use of high-resolution cameras, you can provide law enforcement evidence in criminal cases. With clear video images, investigators will be able to identify people that are responsible.
6. Control who has access to your property
It is important to identify who is entering and exiting your workplace at all times.
Being able to see who is at your door is one of the biggest benefits of having security cameras.
Combining cameras with intercoms prevents random people from just walking onto your property without your permission.
7. Cost effective security
Installing security cameras is much more cost-effective than hiring full-time security staff. Security cameras never take a break. They don’t require health insurance, and they’re always working for you 24/7.
8. Resolve disputes between employees and customers
There will always be disputes, no matter what type of business you own. Whether it’s between two employees or an employee and a customer, security cameras can provide proof of exactly what happened—helping you resolve the situation quickly and fairly.
How much does it cost to install security cameras?
With so many variables, there is no way that I can tell you what it would cost to install cameras in your business.
The first question you must ask yourself is how much money am I losing every month due to either shoplifting, employee theft, and employees not doing their jobs.
Even in my business, when I’m on the job site, the work gets done exactly in the time frame I bid the installation, but when I’m not on-site, there is always a problem and so many excuses why the job couldn’t get done today.
Case studies
Security cameras for large businesses
Years ago, in 1996, when I first got into the security business, we installed a security camera system for a large home improvement center losing over $65,000 a month due to employee theft and shoplifters. The main areas in the store were the hardware and electrical departments.
After installing the cameras, the owners found that the guys working in the shipping and receiving department, while unloading the trucks, would take merchandise off the truck and put them behind the dumpster.
They would come back later and load everything into their cars after the store was closed.
They were probably doing this for years. Because the business didn’t have a computerized inventory system, there was no way for them to keep track of their inventory as it was delivered.
We installed several more cameras for them over the next few years because they saw how effective security cameras were in catching shoplifters and employee theft.
A big surprise to them was that most of their loss was due to employee theft and not shoplifters.
The total cost of about 24 cameras back in 1996 for a large home improvement store was around $35,000. The cameras paid for themselves within the first month.
Security cameras for small businesses
This is an installation I did back in 2017 for a woman that owned an ice cream store. She estimated that she was losing over $350 a day due to employee theft in the summer.
The owner, who is an older woman, usually left the store around 5 PM. She knew that employees were stealing but had no way to prove it. She didn’t know much about security cameras and thought it was too complicated to operate.
Her nephew, a good customer of mine, gave me a call and asked me to stop by the store to see what it would take to install about four cameras behind the counter to cover the registers.
I gave them an estimate of $2,500 and returned the next week to install the cameras. I had the job done in one day and installed the app on the nephew’s phone so that he could view the cameras remotely.
She told the employees she was installing cameras for “safety” reasons, and once the employees knew that they were being watched, they stopped dipping their fingers in the owner’s pockets. The security cameras were effective immediately, and she noticed that sales went up the next day.
Her investment in the security cameras paid for itself within the first week. This one is probably one of my favorite installations. She called me to thank me for a job well done and said I could have free ice cream anytime I wanted. Unfortunately, I’m not in that neighborhood that often.
In conclusion:
Installing security cameras can reduce loss and improve productivity.
Installing security cameras is not that complicated. As a small to mid-sized business owner, you can save a lot of money and do the installation yourself.
As for larger business owners, you may have to hire a professional security company to do it for you.
