Choosing the Right CCTV System for Your Business: A Comprehensive Guide

CCTV for your Workplace

Choosing the correct CCTV for your organisation can feel overwhelming, from assessing your business needs to picking a suitable system, there are a number of factors to consider before making a decision.

Why Do You Need CCTV?

Determining why you require a CCTV system should be the first step – is it required to surveil your premises, to identify persons at your place of work, to deter criminial activity, to protect lone workers on-site? With a number of cameras and systems available, the placement of the cameras will depend on what you ultimately want to gain from it. For example, to observe activity on your business premises, cameras should be placed at a higher level to achieve the best coverage. In a situation to deter criminals, positioning the cameras at eye-level will allow you to view faces more clearly.

Ask the Experts

Once you’ve decided why you need a CCTV system, you will need to assess the areas of your business you wish to have covered. This will help to identify the exact locations of the cameras to provide the best surveillance coverage.

It’s adviseable to discuss your site with a Churches security expert. We can consider your requirements and produce a plan of exactly where the system should be fit to meet your specifications. Through a collaborative approach, our experts can help you achieve your CCTV aims.

Choosing the Right System

The use of video cameras to send signals to a particular place on a number of monitored displays makes up a CCTV system.

The advantages of a sophisticated system include:

• 24/7 business safeguarding
• Continued surveillance
• Protection for lone workers on-site alone
• Deters break-ins and vandalism
• Verification of staff and visitors on-site

The three main types of system are Analog, Internet Protocol (IP) and Hybrid. Analog style systems transmit video images via cabling to a DVR where it is digitised and stored on a hard drive.

IP video cameras broadcast video over an IP network as a digital stream.

Hybrid CCTV combine analog video and IP and is an ideal system to transition to IP without the need to replace existing cameras.

Types of Cameras

As security experts, Churches has the knowledge and capacity to design, install and maintain multiple CCTV camera types, for all industries.

1) Dome cameras are most commonly found inside businesses and retail outlets. Due to its shape, it can be difficult to determine where the camera is aiming.

2) Static are fixed on viewing one particular area, i.e. at a door entrance or till point.

3) Pan, Tilt and Zoom (PTZ) can be controlled from a remote location and cover extensive areas.

Further types of camera can be viewed on our dedicated CCTV page.

CCTV Monitoring

When you have chosen the most suitable system and camera type for your business, arranging for the cameras to be monitored is the next step. Using an Alarm Receiving Centre (ARC) to oversee your security systems gives peace of mind that you’re covered 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Based at a secure Churches location, our state-of-the-art ARC connects to over 6,000 customer sites across the UK.

The benefits of monitoring your CCTV system are numerous, including:

• Immediate response to triggered alarms
• 24/7 management by trained handlers
• Meet business insurance requirements in commercial settings
• Minimising chances of loss or damage through monitoring
• Access to a secure portal to manage customer accounts

How Churches Fire & Security can help

At Churches Fire & Security, we are the experts in business fire and security protection – helping our customers to keep their property, assets and personnel safe from the threat of fire and theft.

We also offer a full range of quality fire and security services including CCTV systems, access control, intruder and fire alarms, 24/7 monitoring, sprinkler systems, visual fire door inspections, dry risers, emergency lighting and fire extinguishers.