“Most people think that access control is only for big companies with lots of doors. This article points out the benefits for SMB’s as well.”

– Todd Hepler, Digitek Security

The following article written by: Claire Meyer, Security Magazine

Keys can be copied, codes can be shared, and investments can be lost – small businesses and schools are no strangers to intrusions and crime, however, adding electronic access control, even in small-scale environments, can help mitigate the risks of a break-in, secure a facility, and track usage to investigate employee theft without incurring heavy costs.

“We only had manual locks before, and for general safety reasons, we needed to switch to something more controllable,” says Brian Shanks, principal at Alden-Conger School in Alden, Minnesota. “Even when it came to budgeting for this installation, it came down to making a decision about the safety of our students and staff. Access management was our first step for security.”

In time for the 2013 fall semester, Shanks arranged for three new electronic access locks on the front door and the back door, near the playgrounds. All teachers were given a fob to reenter the building after recess or P.E., but doors remain locked during school hours.

“End users have to look at past incidents, either inside or outside their organization, to decide which problems they need to address, with policy or technology,” says Fred Scripture, of California-based integrator Commercial Controls. “From a small business or building owner’s perspective, the ability to access data is key for awareness on possible incidents and how to mitigate those risks in the future.”

In terms of SMB security now, Scripture sees more users moving from magstripe cards to a Prox card system, often based on the security of the card.

“You can reproduce a magstripe card very easily, but not a Prox card. The issue is price – it’s a balancing act: a magstripe card might cost $1, but a Prox card could be $8-$12. When you want a stronger level of security at a smaller door count, though, an investment in Prox could be worth it, from a convenience standpoint and for scalability,” he says.

Convenience without sacrificing security was a key point of the access management installation at Park Pacific Apartments in St. Louis. The 22-floor building, built in 1926 as the Missouri Pacific Railroad headquarters, has mixed-use occupancy, divided between ground-floor retail, commercial office space and high-end luxury apartments. Due to the various occupants of the building, it was necessary to separate access rights throughout the building to protect tenants and assets.

“We had Prox keycard access installed throughout the building (installed by Primary Systems, Inc.) including on the exterior doors and in the elevators,” says Samantha Faerber, the property manager at Park Pacific Apartments. “This way, if you live on the ninth floor, you can only access the ninth floor apartments. This offers both security and privacy to our tenants.”

When entering the building, tenants can unlock exterior doors with their own Prox card and then use their card again in one of the six elevators to access one of the common floors or their own floor. The common space at the top floor, open to all residents, includes several entertainment spaces, a large meeting room, a gym and access to the roof and rooftop pool. The residential lobby is also separated from the commercial lobby and retail access points. Doormen are on-site 24/7 to prevent piggybacking into the building or to help residents who have forgotten their access cards.

“We’re working to maintain an A-Class property in an urban environment,” says Faerber. “This is why we needed cards instead of a keypad system. With keypads, there is more room for error – a PIN is easier to share and abuse than a keycard.”

Faerber can also adjust maintenance workers’ and residents’ access rights throughout the year. For example, during winter months, rooftop access is limited, as the pool is closed and residents are not allowed. However, during warmer months, residents are allowed on the rooftop until midnight (“Because no one could do anything really good on a rooftop after midnight,” she says) and maintenance access is granted to manage rooftop cleaning and upkeep.

“We review access rights on a monthly basis, but we can adjust those to daily if necessary, such as if a specific apartment needs some maintenance, we could grant access to that floor.”

For a small school like Alden-Conger, there was a perception of an open campus, with teachers coming and going through various access points and community events frequently left the building open. With programmable automatic locking from RS2 and local integrator Kendell Doors, however, Shanks can program the building’s doors to lock and unlock during various community or extracurricular events on the campus.

“We introduced the new system in our summer newsletter and in the local newspaper, just so everyone who would use the school knows about our new access system and our new protocols for visiting, and for a small school today, anything we can do to enhance student safety is not a difficult proposition for people to accept,” says Shanks.

“Electronic access control provides both actionable data and peace of mind,” says Scripture. “You can use it to restrict traffic flow through certain areas or even as a timekeeping function. Some security end users have worked with access systems to control building utilities after hours to keep power costs down.”

Robert Russell, Vice President of Rock Glen Family Resorts in Arkona, Ontario, is using his access control system (currently a magstripe and Prox card hybrid from CanSec Systems) to maintain the exclusivity of the resort for his members. Card readers on the front traffic control gate, as well as on common buildings and bathrooms, help Russell investigate any issues on the property.

“We check who is recorded as swiping into an area, verify that the credential record matches the actual person through our surveillance cameras, and then take action if necessary,” he says. “The system stops a lot of people from even entering our resort to begin with. I would say that we probably saw ROI from the system within a month, just from preventing people from driving on-site to drop off trash or use our amenities without a membership.

“Our members really enjoy the system as well, because they know their kids are safer here with controlled access.”

The DIY installation even helps Russell better manage his employees on site: “The card reader at the gate tells me when they arrive at the resort, and I can check that against what time they clock in or out. So if they arrive too early or stay too late, we can look into exactly what they were doing during that extra time.”

Just outside Claremont, Minnesota, Dan and Lori Hodgman were seriously considering how to boost security on their new office and service building for their business – Hodgman Drainage Company Inc. While the building was under construction, temporary surveillance cameras caught numerous people pulling off the busy highway nearby to explore the new property. A broken window clinched the decision – they went ahead to add RS2 Prox card readers on six doors throughout the facility, either in the maintenance shop or the large attached office, installed by Paape Companies, Inc.

“We can control the locks individually, separating out access privileges by job, responsibilities and date,” says Dan Hodgman. “Some of our employees don’t need to be in the office, so their cards don’t have access to that area. Winter is a slower time for us, so we change shop access privileges to Monday through Thursday, unless an employee is on call, so they can take Friday off and we know the shop will be secure.”

“We save a lot of time that we used to spend checking on our old manual locks every night, and it gives us a lot more peace of mind that our new facility, our tools and our investment are secure,” he says.

“It was not inexpensive, certainly,” says Lori Hodgman, “but without it, I felt like we were sitting ducks for theft. Now, we feel like it’s more secure and our investment is safer – in the long run, it’s well worth the investment.”

“For the owners of the property, the addition of access control was not a question,” says Faerber. “It’s a preventative way of protecting our assets from unwanted visitors, insurance liability and property damage, and it lends a sense of security to our residents and tenants.”

Top 7 Questions for Choosing a New SMB Access Control System

“For small and midsized businesses, there is more of a focus on the cost breakdown when it comes to choosing a new system,” says Joseph English, Systems Manager for Academy Systems Group, a locksmith and integrator company in metropolitan Atlanta. “Larger enterprises are typically more capable of handling heavy front-end costs, such as software licenses, bulk-order access cards and readers. For an SMB, it comes down to dollars on the front end, including how many options you can have.”

While many end users are sold on a product based on its many value-adding capabilities, not all of them are necessary for an SMB’s access management to perform its original, intended function: security. So, when debating between systems and providers, English suggests seven questions that SMB end users should answer before choosing a system:

1. What is my risk level for this location? (For higher risk levels, English suggests investing in multi-level authentication at the reader, including adding a PIN or biometric component.)
2. How many users would I need to add?
3. How many doors would need access controls?
4. How would I use tracking capabilities or generate reports from access records?
5. Do I want to use access controls for time and attendance tracking?
6. Which technical option is the right fit for my business: magstripe, Prox cards, smart cards or even near-field communication (NFC)?
7. What networking options should I look for? How much can my IT infrastructure support this type of system, or should I look to outsource it? For example, using a Web-based system could prove less burdensome on staff and easier to use than a client server system, which would be managed in-house.

Once the business owner or security leader has determined which functions are necessary, and which would merely be a “nice to have” function, he or she can start whittling down the cost of the system by eliminating the extraneous features.

“SMBs shouldn’t rule out integration, either,” says English. “A decade ago when integration was getting more mainstream, it was still a heavy investment from the installer’s side, in terms of time and engineering to get multiple systems (such as access controls and surveillance cameras) to work in one program. Now, it’s starting to become an included option on hardware straight from the manufacturer, which lowers an integrator’s time investment and saves the end user money while providing more functionality.”

Learn More about Digitek Security.

“Stay Alert, Cybercrime phishing schemes can cost you plenty.”

– Melvin Thoede, eDot

The following article written by: Robert Hackett, Fortune

Cybercrime isn’t just about fancy hacks and killer exploits. An increasingly common and lucrative scam to which businesses are falling victim involves just a bit of phishing and social engineering. It’s called “CEO fraud,” or “business email compromise.”

The con works like this: A swindler fakes emails from senior managers at the target company and requests (fraudulent) wire transfers. If they’re lucky, the recipient will approve an otherwise unauthorized transaction. And—kashhing—that’s cash in the thieves’ banks.

Ubiquiti Networks is one of the latest companies to admit it’s had the multimillion dollar wool pulled over its eyes. The San Jose, Calif.-based networking equipment company disclosed it lost $46.7 million through such a scam in its fourth quarter financial filing.

“On June 5, 2015, the Company determined that it had been the victim of a criminal fraud,” the company writes in its 8-k form. “The incident involved employee impersonation and fraudulent requests from an outside entity targeting the Company’s finance department. This fraud resulted in transfers of funds aggregating $46.7 million held by a Company subsidiary incorporated in Hong Kong to other overseas accounts held by third parties.”

Ubiquiti says it has so far managed to recover $8.1 million of the lost funds, and it expects to regain control of another $6.8 million. The rest? Uncertain.

“The Company may not be successful in obtaining any insurance coverage for this loss,” the firm notes before providing some reassurance that the incident was a fluke. “The Company currently believes this is an isolated event and does not believe its technology systems have been compromised or that Company data has been exposed.”

Events like these are far from isolated. At the beginning of the year, the Federal Bureau of Investigation warned that such attacks are on the rise. Victims in the U.S. and abroad numbered 2,126 between Oct. 2013 and Dec. 2014, losing a combined $215 million, according to the Bureau’s analysis of data from its Internet Crime Complaint Center.

As a preventative measure, the FBI recommends that businesses implement two-factor authentication for email as well as phone verification for substantial wire transfers. And employees should always be on guard for suspicious emails—even if that means occasionally bucking your boss’ request.

Learn More about eDot.

“System design is the most important step in the security camera purchasing process. Excellent insight to get you thinking when designing your system.”

– Todd Hepler , eDot Low Voltage Division

The following article written by: Cableorganizer.com

Is your business as well-protected as it should be? Do you really know what goes on when you’re not there to see it firsthand? Running your own business is one of the most rewarding ways of earning a living, but it also leaves you with the responsibility of protecting the company and people who help you make it all possible.

One of the best ways to protect your place of business, employees and customers is to integrate video surveillance into your security system, providing a watchful eye to deter crime and keep you informed. Wondering what type of role security cameras can play in your company? Here are 10 ways that you can protect your business with video surveillance.

Monitor Stock Rooms
Whether you’re in retail or just oversee the office supply closet, installing a security camera to monitor comings, goings and product removal can greatly cut down on your losses. Video surveillance can clue you into employees who may be pilfering merchandise when they think no one is looking, or help you zone in on people who stock up on company-purchased pens, paper and printer cartridges for personal use.
Surveillance cameras are also an excellent for use in, and just outside of, remote stock rooms located in the back access hallways of shopping malls. Not only do they allow you to monitor access to the stock rooms, but can also increase employees’ safety when they need to make stock runs through these isolated, otherwise unseen areas.

Keep an Eye on Back Alleys and Rear Entrances
Many restaurants and strip mall retail stores have back doors that open onto alleys or parking areas, and these entrances can be prime targets for criminals looking to gain access to safes and back-office money-handling areas. Installing video monitoring systems near back entrances not only allows you to record any attempt at forced entry, but also lets employees make sure that the area is safe before opening the door to accept a delivery, take out trash or step out on break.

Increase the Safety of Parking Areas
While customer satisfaction is the top priority of many business owners and managers, it doesn’t mean much if your customers and their vehicles aren’t safe when they’re on your property. Employee safety is of no less importance, especially if they’re required to walk to and from their vehicles in the dark at extremely early or late hours. Video surveillance of parking areas can greatly curb vehicle break-ins and vandalism, as well as increase the personal safety of customers and employees as they enter and exit their cars.

Monitor Cash Handling and POS Transactions
Concerned that money is being skimmed from bank deposits, cashiers are ringing in unauthorized discounts or that your bartenders are giving away a few too many free drinks? Installing security cameras with a bird’s eye view of cash registers, POS terminals and other cash handling areas will let you clearly see when business is being conducted as expected, and when you’re losing money.

Prevent Robberies and Catch Criminals
It’s a simple fact: businesses armed with video security systems are far less attractive to potential thieves than those that don’t use surveillance. After all, it’s a lot safer and easier to commit a crime when you have very little risk of being seen or caught. Because they silently declare “I’m watching you,” conspicuous surveillance cameras are a very effective deterrent to break-ins and other illegal activity.

However, cameras aren’t always a foolproof safety measure, because while most criminals are wary of being seen on video, a small percentage will still go through with their plans, anyway. But here’s the good news: video surveillance helps catch thieves. In many cases, footage from business security cameras has helped police track down criminals and recover stolen property, even in a few instances where the cameras belonged to neighboring businesses.

Monitor Employee Conduct
Ever wonder what your employees really do when you’re not around? Whether you travel frequently or just aren’t stationed at the center of the action, video surveillance can be an easy and effective way to monitor on-the-job employee conduct. Placing cameras in common areas and near workspaces lets you see what’s going on throughout your facility, and can help to curb excessive on-the-clock socializing and increase productivity.

Make Sure that After-Hours Cleaning and Maintenance Crews are Doing Their Job
At the end of the day, you and your staff shut down, lock up and go home – just in time for your overnight cleaning and maintenance contractors to arrive. If you’re unsure of whether or not after-hours crews are completing all the work you’re paying them for, check up from time to time by way of archived video footage, or even keep track remotely, in real-time, with streaming internet cameras.

Keep an Eye on Loading Docks
Loading docks can be tricky – they not only provide a way for unauthorized items to leave your business, but also become a less-obvious entry point for enterprising thieves. Installing CCTV security cameras gives you an unobtrusive way to monitor what – and who – goes into and out of your shipping and receiving areas.

Screen Who You Buzz In Through a Locked Front Door
High-end art, jewelry, coin and antique sellers who deal in rare and valuable merchandise often operate on a by-appointment-only basis, or at least keep their doors locked to buzz in customers upon arrival. Going by voice intercom alone can be a risk, as you can’t see the person waiting to be let in. Closed –circuit video is a convenient way to verify who is at the door, and whether or not they may be a security risk to you or your business.

Save on Insurance Premiums
Last but not least, a video security system can save you and your business money – and in more than one way. In addition to preventing loss of property and cash from the inside, surveillance cameras also prevent acts of theft and vandalism by outside individuals, which would require reimbursement payouts from your insurance company. As a result, insurers often grant discount premiums to camera-protected businesses, on account that they are a much lower payout risk than camera-free properties.

Learn More about Digitek Security.

“This article from Chad Brooks of Business News Daily provides good support for getting the most from your email campaigns. But here is a key point not covered: Effective emails can function as simple vivid visual ‘posters’; not columns of text. We have seen great results for clients when they follow this Visually Driven approach. For email to work, it should not look like standard email fare. And, your email title must be a very intriguing teaser.”

– Mark Ingraham, Image Perspective

The following article written by: Chad Brooks, Business News Daily

With more than 90 percent of consumers checking their email on a daily basis, businesses are quickly realizing this is one of the best ways to reach their target audience.

Whether it’s to spread company news, promote a sale or highlight new products and services, companies are finding great value in their email marketing efforts.

“2014 showed email’s continuing momentum as the best marketing tool to drive (return on investment),” Dan Forootan, president of StreamSend Email Marketing, said in a statement.

To help businesses improve their email marketing campaigns and make sure their efforts are paying off, StreamSend offers a number of tips.

• Measure it: One of the greatest aspects of email marketing is just how easily it can be measured. Take advantage of tools that show who read what and where and who didn’t as a way to best determine when to build on successful efforts or fix lagging results.
• Use video: Adding videos to emails increases return on investment and monthly revenue by 40 percent. Additionally, click-through rates increase by as much as 3 times when marketers include a video in an email.
• Go mobile: Mobile devices offer marketers a way to reach customers wherever and whenever they want. However, this makes creating a solid campaign more critical than ever, since the email will often be judged with just one glance.
• Increase open rates: To make an impact, emails need to stand out. Review open rates to see which emails are getting the most interest from your consumers. Make sure each email is serving the customer.
• Be recognizable: Since you may have only a second or two to grab your customer’s inbox attention, use a consistent look, format and subject line to make it easy for them to recognize your emails.
• Click-through: Since click-through rates gauge your success, be sure to make your call to action loud and clear so consumers have a reason to click on your links. You also need to measure links clicked to guide future content.
• RSS feeds: Businesses with regular RSS updates – syndicated live Web feeds — can more effectively connect with their audiences and attract new followers. Sharing RSS content allows organizations to multiply their number of readers, which helps draw in more customers in the long run.
• Use templates: Often the easiest and most reliable way to send emails with a branded look and optimize reader response is to take advantage of email templates.
• Add social: Emails that include social-sharing buttons have a click-through rate 158 percent higher than emails that don’t. Adding social media to an email strategy can produce large campaign results.
• Bottom line: When creating email campaigns, ensure they align with your overall business goals so you can best guide content and strategies.

Learn more about The eDot Family of Companies.

“Cold calling potential prospects is the fuel to any sales engine. Whether it is achieved by internal or outsourced telemarketing it needs to be done in order to consistently generate new business. Since most companies lack the manpower, experience, or desire to make these calls you should rely on a dedicated call center to be an extension of your internal sales/marketing strategy.“

– Bill Kerth, Movere Teleservices

The following article appears in, Marketing MO

The phrase “cold calling” sends chills down the spines of many business people. It’s often viewed as an intimidating, difficult, and boring process … and that means it doesn’t get done as often as it should.

Telemarketing for B2B helps companies reach a group of targeted prospects or customers to communicate a message, gather feedback, and determine a next step for the relationship. Telemarketing can be an important part of any marketing strategy – for example, you can use it to

• Generate leads
• Qualify prospects who have downloaded information from your website or attended a webinar
• Follow up on a direct mail or email offer
• Take orders for special promotions
• Keep your marketing database current
• Conduct marketing research

In many companies, sales reps should make hundreds or thousands of cold calls every month to set appointments and/or generate leads. But busy reps usually prefer to work on closing their existing pipeline. Prospecting often slips on the priority list; as a result, the sales pipeline isn’t always filled with new prospects.

If cold calling is an effective way to introduce your company to new prospects, don’t ignore it. Instead of forcing a sales team to devote time to prospecting, many companies use an in-house or outsourced telemarketing group to make a high volume of calls, find decision makers and qualify leads for the field sales group.

When telemarketers handle prospecting, salespeople can spend 100% of their time selling and closing. Your company can produce more revenue in the same amount of time; your reps earn more commission, they’re doing what they love, and they’re more satisfied with their jobs.

You can use telemarketing for B2B in a variety of campaigns:

Before you begin

If you can immediately gain new prospects and customers, don’t hesitate to launch a telemarketing campaign right now. You may also decide to pursue telemarketing after developing your annual marketing plan.

Set your goals

You can use telemarketing in many ways; brainstorm the campaigns that will work best for your company. For example, you may need to generate leads for your sales team or use telemarketing to support other marketing campaigns.

Forecast and budget; determine whether to build in-house or outsource

• Estimate your call volume, then think about hours of operation, fluctuations in call volume, and the skill set you’ll need in your reps.
• Your call volume also drives your headcount, software, phone system and the office space you’ll need.
• These requirements will help you decide whether to use a vendor or hire and manage a team in-house. If you look at vendors, the requirements will make your discussions easier and faster.
• Budget for everything including headcount, software licenses, bonuses and management.

Develop good scripts

• Reps will need to capture attention, build value, and close; a good script will help them do it consistently.
• Make your scripts conversational, simple, and focused on the end goal.
• It helps to make and listen to calls as you’re developing and refining your script. What looks good on paper may not work on the phone.
• Get feedback from your team as well.

Train and coach your team

Regular coaching and quality assurance is crucial.

• Engage your reps, role-play and guide them through calls.
• Listen to calls regularly, evaluate your reps and coach them to improve their performance.

Make it fun!

Telemarketing is a tough job and turnover is a big issue.

• Make things fun with contests, events, and other incentives.
• Make their space comfortable and interesting – tiny cubes, old chairs and windowless rooms don’t put a smile in anyone’s voice.

Report your results

• Define the reports you’ll need — your system may not be able to provide all of the data, but you can probably find an alternate solution.
• Use reports to consistently evaluate progress and improve your campaigns.

Learn More about Movere Teleservices.