Business Alarm Maintenance Tips

Maximize the Efficiency of Your Business Security System

You’ve invested a lot into your business: your time, money, and lots of hard work. A professionally installed business security system with 24-hour professional monitoring can help protect that investment. However, your business security system isn’t something you should install and forget about. Here are five actions you can take to ensure your business security system is operating at peak performance.

Action 1 – Update Your Contact Information

When your business security system goes into alarm, the monitoring station operators need to contact the correct people as quickly as possible. Reaching the right person can help prevent accidental dispatches of the police. They help the operators confirm that an actual alarm event has occurred. If a break-in happens, the police will request that the business’s contact person respond at the site. If the monitoring station operators have the wrong contact person or invalid phone numbers, valuable time is lost when responding to the emergency.

Action 2 – Update Your Alarm System’s Individual User Codes

As you hire or let go of trusted employees who open or close your office, you should add and delete individual alarm user codes for these individuals. There are many reasons for your business to use individual alarm user codes for your employees. The two key benefits are monitoring employee access to your office and limiting employee access to your office. When you terminate an employee, don’t forget to delete their alarm user code. If you have a business security system from A-Bell, give us a call. We manage individual user codes for all our business clients and will remotely delete or add user codes for your employees.

Action 3 – Update Your Alarm System “Password” or “Abort Code”

As you hire and let go of employees, remember to change the “password” or “abort code” for your alarm system. The password or abort code is a particular word or phrase you provide to the monitoring station operators. This identifies you as a “trusted” individual they can communicate with regarding the alarm system. Keeping an old “password” or “abort code” in place after an employee leaves allows a former employee to come back to your business. They can set off the alarm and cancel police dispatch with the monitoring station by using the old password/abort code. While this doesn’t happen often, you can easily avoid this potential loss by calling your alarm company and changing your password/abort code.

Action 4 – Train New Employees in Alarm System Use

As you hire new employees and give them a key and alarm code to access your business location, it is vital to take some time to train them on the use of your alarm. Not all alarm systems turn on and off the same way. Don’t assume they will automatically know how to operate your business security system, even if they have used an alarm system before. Training also helps them understand what actions to take during different situations. For example, if they accidentally set off the alarm or if the alarm is sounding when they arrive. This training does not have to be overly involved. However, it is an important investment that pays dividends in overall system use. Visit our YouTube channel for some how-to alarm use videos you can share when training your employees.

Action 5 – Request a Site Security Re-Inspection After an Office Redecoration or Remodel

As your business needs change, you may need to remodel or redecorate your business space. Sometimes, these changes can negatively affect the effectiveness of your business security system.

For example, has a new tall decorative plant obscured a motion detector in the corner of a room? Do new storage shelves block a motion detector? Have high wall cubicles isolated windows? When broken, these windows would have previously caused a glass break detector to go into alarm but now won’t.

In our 50 years in business, we’ve seen all of these scenarios. If you’ve remodeled or redecorated your business space, call your alarm company to perform a security re-inspection. They will make any necessary adjustments and keep your business security system at peak detection effectiveness.

Keep Your Business Security System in Top Shape

Your business security system is a crucial investment in protecting your business. By taking these five actions, you can ensure your system operates at its best, providing maximum security and peace of mind. For more information on maintaining and optimizing your business security system, contact us at A-Bell Alarms. We’re here to help you safeguard your business every step of the way.