Purchasing resources for Building Alarm Systems

The home office has become more and more ubiquitous now that business persons like yourself can get high-speed Internet access to the home, and can now easily stay in touch with video conferencing and email. Home offices have also been useful for the salesperson whose schedule means that time at their home must be multi-tasked between family and ongoing business matters. While many employers and employees rush to take advantage of the personal flexibility that home-based work allows, don’t leave the doors to the (home) office unsecured. Residences have always been targets for burglars, and they are also easy prey to network crimes since many homeowners don’t use the same kind of computer and network security they would if they were in a traditional business environment. Make sure you also think about fire safety since the kitchen is just a room or two away. The best way to examine your home office security is to assess it on these three levels: 

1. Home business insurance.
2. General home security and fire safety.
3. Computer network security

 Your thoughts on how well prepared you are in those three areas will drive how you improve your home office security, which is especially important if your home office is the one and only home of your business. Let’s get you started down the road to protection:

Install a home security system

A home security system is a must, especially if you’re protecting business equipment and business data in addition to family members. Expect to pay at least $1,000 for a simple home security system and budget another $30 or so for monthly monitoring costs. If your home office is accessible on the ground floor, talk to the sales or system design representative about extra intrusion protection for that area.

Reconsider your locks

While security systems are great for your security, don’t underestimate the value of a good lock. Especially if you’re increasing the importance of your home by hosting business information there, you need to make sure you have good quality locks. Make sure the door to your home office is also lockable, and not just with the quality of lock used on a lockable bathroom door (which is more for courtesy than real security).

Examine your home’s fire safety

It’s a no-brainer that you shouldn’t overload your electrical system, even if you need a fax, a PC, a scanner, a server, a reading lamp, an external hard drive, a large monitor, a copier, a paper shredder and a coffee machine in your home office. That’s one part of fire safety, but also make sure you have good quality smoke detectors and equip your office with a small fire extinguisher to protect your business.

Insure your home office

The insurance industry is quite candid: Standard homeowners insurance may not sufficiently insure your home office. Many insurance contracts have a specific rider defining how much they will pay out based on home business losses or liabilities. Many limit their losses to $2,500.

Itemize your office purchases

Because your office may be covered to some extent by your employer’s insurance or by your specific home-based-business policy, you’ll need to create a list of your home business assets. Be very clear on what is being used for your office. Not only include all the essential office items like a computer and file systems, but think about furniture like a bookcase that may have once been solely for personal books but which now houses your business books. In summary, if you use something even partially for business, make sure it is listed in your inventory and include a value (a receipt is great) and a description.

Virus protect your computer

Today more than ever, office security is about computer security. Load up your computer with anti-virus protection, and an anti-spyware/adware program. This is especially useful if a spouse or kids might be jumping on your PC when you’re not looking. Make sure to update it constantly to get all the latest virus definitions.

Password protect it

Passwords are simple to use, hard to remember and, well, very useful for simple data protection. It’s a must if you can’t lock up your home office. They can be used on a macro level (lock down the entire computer) or at a micro level (lock down individual files. If your kids do their homework on the same computer you use to manage your business, you should set up different users who have different access to unique segments of the PC.

Shred it

Home offices produce proprietary information, just like any business. Protect your privacy and that of your customers by shredding unnecessary documents.