Management – CTAC – Colorado Telephone and Cable

7 Reasons Why You Need Security Cameras and Video Surveillance Systems

Recent studies indicate CCTV (Closed-Circuit Television or Security Camera’s) are associated with a 16% reduction in the crime rate. Clearly, security cameras are effective against crime, but they serve more purposes than just crime prevention.

Whether your workplace is commercial or industrial, you can benefit from installing security cameras on your property. Here are 7 reasons why you need security cameras and video surveillance systems for your business.

1. Reduce Shrinkage

As we said above, video surveillance systems are extremely beneficial for preventing theft. If your company is suffering from high shrinkage, investing in security cameras can help deter negative behaviors like employee theft and shoplifting from customers.

Not only that, but security cameras can also help you determine how your products or materials are being damaged. Once you locate the sources, then you can eliminate them and reduce waste in your budget.

2. Keep Your Employees Productive

Even the best workers slack off sometimes, especially if they know they’re not under their employer’s watchful eye all the time. As a result, you might get a workforce that’s not as productive as it could be.

When your workers know you can see what they’re doing in a moment’s notice, they won’t be as tempted to goof off and not do the tasks at hand. Your security cameras will also give you a chance to show appreciation to those who deserve it and reprimand those who need a firm reminder.

In addition, a surveillance system gives you a better overall view of how the workflow goes. It may help you identify where something can be improved in the pipeline.

3. Resolve Disputes Quicker

Workplace disputes will always rise up, especially in high-stress environments. In most cases, it’s a “he said, she said” scenario, and it may be hard to decide on disciplinary action when you’re not sure which side to take.

If you have security cameras, it may be clearer to discern who was in the wrong and who was in the right. For instance, if one employee claims the other instigated the argument, your recordings may tell you otherwise.

Having a good surveillance system ensures that you not only get the true story, but you also bring about fair resolutions. This can help facilitate a better overall work environment.

4. Better Workplace Safety

Several industries involve dangerous situations for their employees; if your company falls under this category, then you’ll definitely want to get security cameras on your property.

Considering falls, slips, and other accidents may happen at your workplace, it’s best if all of these are captured and documented. Not only will it provide clear records of when and where accidents happen, but it can also help you improve your safety protocol when you see the most common accidents right in front of your eyes.

5. Protect Yourself From Legal Action

Again, accidents are always a possibility in a workplace, even if it’s inside a quiet office. It’s inevitable that someone will get hurt, whether it’s an employee or customer. When it does, you want to make sure you’re covered so you’re not liable.

Should anyone try to take legal action against you wrongly, you can swiftly counter it with hard evidence from your surveillance systems.

This helps in cases where employees take legal action against one another as well. When you can provide them with video recordings, it can help their court proceedings go a lot quicker and smoother.

6. Protect Your Employees and Clients

If your employees are out on a remote construction site and work long hours, they may be more susceptible to criminal activity. Not only are they out in the boondocks, but they may not be as alert after a long shift. This can be a recipe for disaster if there are no security cameras in place.

By installing a robust video surveillance system, you’ll deter criminals from even thinking about committing any crimes on your property. Not only will this protect your employees, but it can also safeguard any clients you may have visiting the site. This will ensure everyone gets to and from the worksite and their vehicles safely.

7. Get Peace of Mind

Having a surveillance system deter people from theft and vandalism. Not only that, but if they do decide to go through with it, you’ll have concrete evidence of who did it and when. This can save you a lot of hassle when you need to provide evidence for police investigations.

As you can see, security cameras and video surveillance systems are key in protecting you, your business, employees, and clients/customers. While it may initially be an added cost to have them installed, they’ll definitely pay for themselves quickly when you see all the benefits you can reap.

If you’re interested in hearing more about video surveillance systems, then get in touch with us.

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The importance of a well kept demarc/server room.

The demarc (demarcation point) marks the point where communications facilities owned by one organization interface with that of another organization. It is the dividing line where your service provider’s equipment connects with your own.

For most companies in the 21^st century, regardless of their size, their demarc/server room is the heart of their business. It’s the place where they store the data that is essential to their business. Information on clients, projects, sales opportunities, financial transactions, important contracts, employee information, compliance with government regulations, statistical reports, sales reports and more.

Why Data Room Cleaning Is Important

Most businesses spent a lot of time and money on security to protect access to this information, making sure that all their virus protection software is up-to-date and that hackers trying to penetrate their systems are rebuffed. But these possible dangers are much more obvious than the one that can cause the greatest damage.

Imagine if something happened that destroyed this important data. Think of what it would do to your business. If you suffer an equipment malfunction, think of the financial losses you sustain. And while there may be causes of equipment malfunction over which you have limited control, the main culprit is one that is easy to correct — contaminants introduced into the environment of your server room.

What are the benefits of organizing your cable network?

It’s easy for computer cabling to get out of control – even at your office desk, disorganized cables can be a problem! So, when it comes to the many tens or even hundreds of servers in a data center, cable management is clearly an important element to get right.

Congested and disorganized cabling can quickly lead to a “spaghetti mess.” Not only is this ugly, but it can be the cause of some serious problems. Here are five reasons you should avoid cabling congestion, and how effective cable management can minimize risk and benefit your data center.

1. Safety

When you own or operate a business, it’s up to you to keep the space up to code and safe for your employees and customers. Effective cable management and organization is essential to managing your physical network structure’s airflow, which helps prevent overheating, fire hazards and even cable breakage that can cause serious issues – or at worst, an outage.

Cables on the ground should be concealed with cord covers, which not only prevent tripping accidents around the workplace, but they also keep valuable cables from being crushed underfoot by pedestrian traffic.

2. Expansion

With the ever-expanding use of real-time events in the digital environment, speed has become ever more critical, and will continue to be so over time. That means you need to have the ability to add to your server stacks quickly and easily in order to keep up with the most up-to-date network infrastructure.

But congested and tangled cabling can make this problematic. A simplified, organized and effective cable management system is an important element of IT infrastructure scalability, and will make future expansion that much easier.

3. Aesthetics

Always remember that first impressions count extra in business! Even if you’re great at what you do, a cluttered and disorganized workspace can give potential business partners the wrong idea. Let’s face it: an office full of messy cables just makes you look bad, so if you’re likely to receive drop-in visits from customers or prospective clients, invest in a cable management solution like surface raceway and put your best foot forward.

Getting cables organized into a proper cable management configuration looks neater and more professional. Additionally, cable management facilitates cleaning. It’s easier to wipe dust off cables you can see from all angles.

4. Reduce The Risk Of Downtime

Effective cable management allows technicians to simply unplug and plug in cables that are necessary to the action they are taking. Disorganized cables may involve “troubleshooting” steps that really involve determining what is plugged into what before work can begin.

Since you’re often paying by the hour, and all that plugging and unplugging can cause costly downtime and outages, organized cables are really a necessity in any data center environment.

5. Save Money

TIme is money, and spending time to reorganize and reroute your cable network structure comes at a price. If you’re spending hours untangling a nest of cables and cords each time you expand your data center, those extra expenses will ultimately pile up and hurt your bottom line.

A structured and standardized physical cable network will make expansion and upgrade projects get completed quicker and more efficiently, cutting down on your expenses and potentially saving your business thousands of dollars in the long run.

Click here to Check out this demarc cleanup time lapse completed by our technicians.