In the last 30 years, organisations have slowly moved away from outdated, stacked hard-drive IT operations towards the cloud. This is very much the case for document management, CRMs like Hubspot to HR and payroll operations. In fact, an estimated 50% of all corporate data is now stored in the cloud.
The mistake of refusing to move with the times and upgrade your security system is a costly one. Whilst it may seem that your existing system is doing enough, at the rate at which the tech is advancing, there could be unseen faults to your system already.
It's never worth putting your assets and people in jeopardy with third-rate or outdated technology. In this blog, we’ve outlined four reasons why you need to upgrade your business security to the cloud right now - and the benefits you’ll reap by doing so.
Cloud integration enables admins to have constant access to their business security, whether on site, at home or on-the-go. All that’s required to monitor your security is a device like a smartphone with the mobile app or just an internet connection.
Users receive live updates from intruder detection systems in real-time, such as a smashed window, movement on the site or even a returning repeat offender. However, connection is not just limited to the app or a control panel. As long as your device has a connection and a browser, you can connect to the system without installing plugins or software onto your tablet or PC.
There’s no longer a need to be on-site, or connected to the local area network (LAN) or Wi-Fi - your security is always right there at your fingertips, 24/7. Receive a motion detection security alert in the middle of the night? No problem. Wherever you are, you can visually verify the threat and confirm a false alarm, removing the need for expensive on-site security guards out-of-hours.
This also gives you the opportunity to have your security monitored by an alarm receiving centre (ARC), or alarm monitoring service. Monitored alarms take the task of responding to an alert out of your hands, and can result in faster response times to boot.
Catching a threat early can be the difference between a close call and serious damage to your property or assets. Response time is everything when it comes to protecting your business. Remote access to your security though the cloud give you a greater window of time to spot a risk before becomes a serious security breach, and improves police response time. Find out more in our blog: The Benefits of Upgrading Your Business Security Cameras.
With cloud technology, users get the latest AI improvements as they happen. With SaaS subscription packages, firmware and feature updates are applied as they’re released by the supplier. This keeps your business’ security up-to-date and protected against the latest threats.
This is equally helpful for troubleshooting. Most common problems with security equipment (camera outage, false alarms etc) can be dealt with seamlessly, without any added complication. Using an embedded chat as a support service, users can simply request a ticket for remote support. Most issues can be resolved remotely, saving the expensive costs of on-site technician support.
When you upgrade to the cloud, your security becomes endlessly scalable, and can be expanded easily as your business grows. With no ties to limited on-site storage and hardware, adding security to new commercial premises, upgrading, integrating or adding new systems is far easier.
If you need more storage, you simply provision this in the cloud. If the CCTV needs more resources for processing new video analytics, this will happen in the cloud without the cost of the on-premise upgrade. There’s no longer a need for clunky new hard-drives or NVRs, with packages from companies like Verkada, users can simply bolt-on additional commercial security alarm systems, camera systems and access controllers to their existing package. Find out more in our blog: An Expert's Guide to Cloud CCTV.
As you add new locations to your company, security for these sites can be integrated with your existing system, so you can to view it all from a single, central interface. This gives users a constant, clear picture of the activity in their business in real-time - whether on a single site, or many. With on-premise systems, it’s difficult to integrate all your sites into a single platform, especially if you’re working with systems of different ages that might not be compatible with each other or the platform.
Cloud security features can also support your business expanding as a hybrid workforce. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, more businesses than ever have transitioned employees to work-from-home. Indeed, many companies now view hybrid working as the way forward. With full remote monitoring and scalability, HR operations and compliance monitoring can be done from anywhere with internet, 24 hours a day.
A big advantage to cloud technology is greater security and protection against internal crimes. With the no on-site hardware such as an NVR or DVR, the potential for undetected internal crime within your business is removed. The evidence of a crime can no longer be destroyed or manipulated by damaging the on-site hard-drive, deleting footage or unplugging the recorder.
In the past this was also a problem with external theft, as criminals were aware that most businesses would have on-site storage and would target this to destroy evidence.
With cloud security you have full control over who can access your security infrastructure. You have the freedom to limit who has access to the interface - with full audit trailing over any activity or changes made. This means even if someone did attempt to delete footage or tamper with the system, you would get an alert about this and could trail the activity back to a specific user.
You can even connect these systems to management systems such as Okta or Azure AD to accordingly add and remove users to your system as new people are welcomed into your business and others leave.
Companies around the world are quickly moving towards more digitally-enhanced security strategies. Cloud security should be seen as a standard for complete, high quality and efficient protection for any and all businesses.
Older legacy systems are becoming outdated and this decline brings with it a number of security threats which could put your staff and business at risk. Plus, if you want to introduce video surveillance to your business, there are legal requirements to adhere to when it comes to personal data. You can find everything you need to know in our blog: CCTV and UK Law: The Legal Considerations.
At the Chris Lewis Group, we understand the importance of a secure, reliable security system to protect your staff and business. Whether you're responsible for a large firm or own a number of small businesses, the peace of mind that a cloud security solution can offer you is extremely valuable.
Our team of experts and commercial alarm system installers have NSI Gold accreditation and are fully trained in the latest cloud-based tech. That makes us perfectly aligned to support the maintenance, upgrade, extension and renewal of both business and home security systems. Want to know more about cloud security? Check out our guide: Cloud Security Systems - The Future of Physical Security.
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