When you run or own a business that has multiple locations, it is important to set clear perimeter security standards. By doing this, it allows you to assess and mitigate any potential threats or risks at each site or location efficiently and effectively.
Setting parameters and standards are crucial for several reasons:
1. Protects Assets and Information
Corporations deal with valuable assets, sensitive information, and proprietary data. Security standards help safeguard these assets from theft, unauthorized access, and other threats.
2. Mitigates Risks and Threats
By implementing proactive measures, corporations can mitigate the impact of security incidents and reduce the likelihood of property crime, theft, and cyberattacks.
3. Stay Compliant with Regulations
Many industries are subject to strict security regulations and compliance requirements. Security standards can help you meet these obligations to avoid legal consequences and fines.
4. Protects Reputation
Adhering to security standards demonstrates a commitment to protecting customer trust and can help reduce the negative impact of potential security incidents on brand reputation.
5. Ensures Business Continuity
By identifying and addressing potential vulnerabilities, corporations can minimize the risk of disruptions and maintain continuity even in the face of unexpected events or crises.
6. Prevents Financial Loss
Security standards help prevent financial losses by proactively addressing vulnerabilities and minimizing the impact of security incidents.
7. Enhances Employee Productivity
Security standards provide guidelines and measures that create a secure workplace, reducing distractions and concerns related to security threats.
8. Facilitating Partnerships and Collaborations
Having established security standards can be a prerequisite for partnerships, as it ensures that all parties involved adhere to a common level of security practices.
How to Create and Establish a Strong Security Standard
To create an effective plan, your business should consider taking a proactive and strategic approach and ensure that each location is trained in the process.
Here are a few recommendations to begin establishing perimeter security standards amongst your business:
To create a security standard, the first step is to complete a risk assessment for each location. Identifying potential threats and vulnerabilities is crucial in determining your overall security needs.
During your assessments, your team should evaluate the impact and likelihood of various security risks for each site. You can do this by obtaining a local crime report for each location and checking for weak spots, blind spots, poorly lit areas, and heavy vegetation.
In addition to physical security, it is also important to assess your cybersecurity. Your most critical data should have the highest level of protection. Work with your IT team to rank your online data and accounts from most to least critical to your business’s operation.
Once your team compiles all the reports, you need to analyze them to define your objectives. Then, your team should prioritize those objectives based on the potential impacts of the identified risks.
Security for multi-site businesses should follow a security standard while being flexible based on each location’s risk factors. Develop a set of security policies that cover key areas such as access control, data protection, physical security, and incident response.
Employee training and regular security audits play a key role in protecting your business. Whether we like it or not, employees come and go, properties change over time, and criminals get smarter. It is imperative to train and re-train your employees on your security protocols and complete yearly security audits.
For additional peace of mind, your company should have an established plan in place in case an incident does occur. Create a clear outline of the steps you should take if criminals strike, better known as an incident response plan.
Step 3: Identify & Implement Security Solutions
Once you have assessed and prioritized your risks and established your top security objectives, you need to find the right digital and physical security solutions for each location.
In terms of physical security, your strongest and most cost-effective option is to secure each location’s perimeter. Consider installing an electric fence to keep criminals from ever entering your premises in the first place.
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Download our guide to learn more about the importance of being proactive, and not reactive, when it comes to the security of your business.
Step 2: Create & Establish Security Policies
