For many smaller businesses, summer vacations mean fewer people around the office. Other businesses put summer hours in place, cutting staff or closing entirely on Fridays. Vacations and reduced hours are great for employees – but they can also be great for burglars and other criminals.

It’s worth thinking about a new or upgraded alarm system and other security precautions before those summer days are upon us. Here’s a look at what you need to consider.

What do you need to protect?

He's not lurking around your business, is he?

Before deciding whether to upgrade your security, think about what you need to protect. There are three primary types of protection to consider:

• Protection for employees: the most important overall, this can include physical barriers in high-risk businesses, access control systems on entrances and parking lots, and panic buttons on alarm systems.
• Protection for physical goods, including your inventory, equipment, and vehicles. Security cameras and monitored alarm systems serve to back up the basics: good locks, doors, grates, and other barriers.
• Protection for information, whether that’s competitive secrets, your employees’ personal information, or customer data and credit cards. Good access control systems and IT policies are the best protection: see Protecting Your Intangible Assets for more.

There are other types of protection that are critical as well – insurance and fire alarms to protect your facilities, for example – but these three are the main categories covered by security systems.

Monitored alarms add great protection for a low expense

One of the best ways to protect all three types of assets is a monitored alarm system. These common burglar alarms connect an array of sensors to a central control panel, and when it detects trouble, the control system notifies a professional monitoring center that will call a number you choose and/or the police.

Simple keypads allow you to arm and disarm most systems.

Understandably, burglars try to do their work when a home or business is unoccupied. FBI statistics show that 64% of residential burglaries occur during the day, when residents are at work, while 56% of commercial burglaries occur at night.

When your business is unoccupied, though, an alarm system can help deter potential problems. A recent Rutgers study found that burglar alarms definitively decrease crime rates. (That study was of residential alarms only, but the same results likely apply to commercial alarms.) And according to Federated Insurance (PDF), installing burglar alarm systems reduces the likelihood of a break-in by 67%.

So, if your facilities are going to be more lightly staffed at times this summer, now’s the time to look into a new or upgraded monitored alarm system. Here’s what you need to know:

• If you don’t currently have a monitored alarm system, you might be surprised how cheap it is. You can get reliable protection for as little as $30 – $40 per month. Take a look at these prices paid by other BuyerZone users to get sense of what you might expect to pay.
• Adding more sensors can improve your overall level of security. If you have door and window contacts now, consider adding motion sensors to cover more interior spaces. Or look into glassbreak sensors, which are triggered by the sound waves of shattering windows.
• The monitoring service you choose is essential. If the service you’re currently with doesn’t call you immediately when the alarm is tripped, or doesn’t have reliable customer service, consider switching: you should be able to use all of your existing equipment with any monitoring service.
• Wireless alarm components are extremely easy to install and difficult to disable. Consider adding a couple of wireless sensors to provide redundancy in your system.

Of course a better monitored alarm isn’t right for everyone: if  you often have lots of cash on hand, or deal in very expensive items, you may want to go the extra step and hire a security service for round-the-clock, in-person protection.  But that’s overkill for most businesses.

On the other hand, in retail situations, shrinkage and shoplifting happen primarily when an alarm system is disabled. Instead, adding very visible security cameras might be a better loss prevention tactic.

Additional reading:

• More small business security tips from ADT
• BuyerZone’s Monitored Alarm Buyer’s Guide
• BuyerZone’s Home Security System Buyer’s Guide

Has your alarm system saved you from break-ins or other problems? Or do have other ways of safeguarding your business? Tell us in the comments.