If you own a business, you might or might not realize that you are being ripped off by your customers, and the people you hired to run your business. Did you know that employee theft exceeds $8.5 billion annually! And 75% of inventory shortages are attributed to employee theft. (National Restaurant Association).
It’s been reported that over 75% of internal theft is undetected, and growing at a 15% annual rate (Justice Department). All this dishonesty costs American businesses between 1/2% and 3% of their gross sales! Even 1% costs over one billion dollars a week in employee theft.
The results of all this?
30% of business failures are due to poor hiring practices by hiring thieves. Annual losses generated by poor hires, absenteeism, drug abuse, and theft amount to $75 billion per year. (U.S. Department of Commerce-Atlanta Business Chronicle) lap dat camera.
While we can’t screen or control your employees, you can keep an eye on them, and a video surveillance system is one of the best ways to do it. With all the choices out there, you should take a few minutes to consider what your needs will be.
When choosing a video surveillance camera system for your business, there are 5 Key Considerations Before Installing Any Business Video Surveillance System:
Hidden Cameras vs. Visible Cameras
Wireless Cameras vs. Wired Cameras
CCTV vs. Network IP Cameras
Indoor, Outdoor, or Both
Video Recording
This report is meant to cover each topic, giving you an idea of what makes up a video surveillance system, and which ones will be of benefit when you when you make the decision to get started.
Hidden Cameras vs. Visible Cameras
Hidden Cameras
The main thing you want to consider is if you want your cameras to be visible to the thief or not. Current technology has reduced a video camera down to miniature levels, and hidden cameras can be hidden behind a pinhole. You can put a camera in practically any everyday item in your house or office, in a clock radio, wall clock, air filter, briefcase, backpack, or even hidden in a hat, sprinkler, smoke detector, or behind a fake metal screw.
The advantage is that the criminal will not know they are being recorded, and that should catch more theft. However, hidden cameras could be more expensive then visible cameras. Outdoor hidden cameras are usually hidden in electrical boxes, or flood lights.
Visible Cameras
A visible camera system consists of any number of visible cameras from the black dome cameras you see in most stores, to the old fashioned kinds on brackets pointing at you at the bank. There are also high-resolution cameras that can zoom in to tight detail, as well as pan a room to monitor it for trouble. The advantages of these types of systems is that your criminal will know they are being watched, and that should deter a lot of crime that normally would occur without the cameras.
Even a series of dummy cameras, camera bodies with no working parts except a flashing red light, are proven to deter crime. If you don’t have the funds for a working video surveillance system, just installing four to twelve dummy cameras can fool many criminal into thinking you have a real system in place.
Wireless Cameras vs. Wired Cameras
You have two choices for the type of surveillance system, wireless and wired. Both have advantages and disadvantages;
Wireless Camera System
Wireless camera systems are the fastest systems to install, as you just need to mount the cameras, antennas, radios, then hook up the wireless receivers in the back room, and wire it all together to a power box, and some type of system to record the video.
The advantages of wireless cameras are that they can be installed in locations that are difficult, if not impossible to wire, like multi-building locations. If needed, they can be moved to different locations easily, and if the need arises, they can be hidden inside a moving object like inside your, cap, briefcase or carrying bag etc.
All a wireless camera needs is power; either from an external battery, or a 110-volt power line, and it can send the signal to the receiver, which is plugged into the DVR.
To overcome the disadvantages of a consumer level wireless camera, you should consider one with a frequency transmission band that can be switched between 2.4GHz, and 5.8GHz.
Another good idea is to use a high gain antenna for the transmitter or receiver, which will improve the signal transmission/reception. You can hook one up to your receiver, or you can drill a hole in the wall and run a cable in from an outdoor antenna.
If you need to cover greater distances, say in an office park or apartment complex, a series of wireless radios and access points on the roof helps to set up a secure wireless network with no interference problems.
The recent advancements in wireless technology allow you to send signals for up to 35 miles without a repeater, and even set up entire wireless networks to cover a small, medium, or large city.
The disadvantages of wireless cameras are that the video stream might be disturbed or influenced by moving objects, trees, buildings, strong radio or even telephone or Wi-Fi frequencies. Video/audio transmission is limited within the prescribed transmission range, and if it’s not secure, the video feed can also be stolen by criminals to see when it’s a slow time to come in and rob you. These disadvantages will not occur with a wired camera.