Security Cameras For Business Owners
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Securing A Business Is Not The Same As Securing A Home
Securing a business requires a slightly different approach from securing a home:
- Since you are now concerned about things like inventory in addition to the safety of the people in the building.
- Businesses, especially companies that operate in the construction and heavy equipment industries, usually have more points of entry than a typical home.
- Additionally, you might have a petty cash box, a safe, and other valuables that you wouldn't necessarily have at home.
- If you run a business where things tend to get knocked around or damaged, you're going to need to invest in a heavier duty camera system to counteract daily wear and tear.
Logitech's Systems Are A Great, Low-Cost Solution
 | Amazon Price: Too low to display List Price: $299.99 |
 | Amazon Price: Too low to display List Price: $349.99 |
 | Amazon Price: $159.99 List Price: $299.99 |
 | Amazon Price: Too low to display List Price: $1,049.99 |
For these reasons, you will probably need a security camera system that can accommodate a lot of well-built, sturdy cameras to cover all of these sensitive areas in your business. For this reason, I always recommend a product like the Defender 4 channel camera system (linked to above). If you run a large business where more cameras are required, then the SVAT 8 channel system is probably your best bet.
Do You Need A Wireless Security Camera System?
When I'm advising people on whether and how to secure their homes, I do recommend going with a wireless security camera system. That's because the best home security system will be the one that a potential thief won't be able to see.
On the other hand, many business owners agree that an effective deterrent for business theft, at least one where lots of valuable inventory is involved, is to have a visibly active security system that sends a clear signal. This is my personal bias, so take it as that. Other people have compelling arguments for hiding a security system at their place of business, so it ultimately comes down to personal preference and a knowledge of your area's crime rate.
If you are sold on the idea of having your security camera system out in the open, then go with a wired system. The advantage of having a wired system over a wireless one mostly comes down to lack of signal interference. If you have a wireless router that has ever flaked out on you and delivered a weak internet signal, then you know what I'm talking about.
A Look At The Logitech Alert Series
Wireless Security Camera Systems
 | Amazon Price: $318.98 List Price: $499.95 |
| Amazon Price: Too low to display List Price: $299.99 |
Wired Security Camera Systems
| Amazon Price: Too low to display List Price: $1,049.99 |
 | Amazon Price: $409.99 List Price: $674.98 |
Get As Much Hard Drive Space As You Can Manage
Another special consideration for business owners is the amount of storage space that is included with their security system. Unlike home owners, business owners tend not to have very much time to review security footage, so it's likely that they can only get around to it once every few days.
Thanks to H.264 video encoding, the video footage archives on these camera systems is smaller than ever, but that won't prevent the hard drive from filling up eventually! This issue multiplies by how many cameras you have attached to the system, necessitating more and more storage space.
If I were securing a large business, I wouldn't buy a system with any less than 250 to 500 GB of storage space. This will generally be enough for storing 500 to 1000 hours of security footage without filling up the hard drive and overwriting the previous archives.
