SecurityWatch

From your favorite local eatery to a small graphic design firm, small businesses are literally everywhere. Crain’s New York reports on data from the U.S. Small Business Association indicating that the five boroughs of New York City represent the 2nd highest number of small businesses in the U.S., behind only Los Angeles.

With the number of small business loans recovering and the economy hopefully turning a corner, now might be the time to start your own venture. If you do so, don’t forget to consider your security system needs. From alarm systems to simple access control and video surveillance systems, DGA’s managed security services take the worry, and the hassle, out of security for even the smallest businesses.

Earlier this month, a town in southern California passed an ordinance stating that the police need a “visual non-police on-site verification of suspicious or criminal activity” before they will respond to alarms caused by tripped sensors. There’s no such ordinance on the books yet in New York City, but police departments everywhere are lowering the priority they put on alarm signals because of the cost of responding to the high-incidence of false alarms.

We understand the need for fiscal restraint, but such measures are of little comfort to our customers who are trying to keep their businesses safe. Our DGA AgentCheck service helps give our customers the peace of mind that all alarms are taken seriously. With AgentCheck, our own trained, uniformed agents will investigate alarms and report their findings back to our monitoring center. The agents will survey the interior and exterior of your facility or just the exterior, depending on the level of service that you select.

Contact us to learn more about AgentCheck.

According to the Labor Department, the unemployment rate rose in July to its highest level in six months. Letting employees go is never easy. Oftentimes, these people are not just our coworkers; they’re our friends. Still, companies have to be prepared that a laid off or fired employee represents a potential security threat. Whether disgruntled or desperate, a person who has lost his job may be inclined to retaliate.

Many companies protect themselves with access control systems—also known as card access—that prevent unauthorized people from unlocking various doors throughout a facility. When an employee is let go, an access card’s rights should be immediately revoked so that the card won’t open any doors. Unfortunately, this doesn’t always happen. The person responsible for updating the system may not be available or familiar with the access control system’s management software, or may even be the one who is losing a job.

It would be a lot easier if you could update your access control system with one phone call.

That’s exactly why we created our DGAPass managed access control system. DGAPass addresses all of these issues so you can take full advantage of the benefits of access control. There’s no complex computer hardware or software to maintain, because all DGAPass systems are managed remotely by the DGAPass Card Access team. We’re available 24 hours a day, every day. If you need to modify or delete a card’s rights, just call us. As soon as the change is entered, the system is immediately updated. And because we’re security experts, we let you get more out of your access control system, including extensive reporting via our web portal, and email alerts when specific doors are accessed.

Managed access makes sense at any time: You focus on your business and you let the security experts focus on keeping you, your employees and your property secure. But managed access and managed security services in general can be especially beneficial during uncertain times when your security needs are constantly changing.

For more information about our DGAPass managed access control system, please contact us.

This summer’s blistering heat has stressed air conditioners and the power grid to their breaking points. When these systems fail, we’re all sent scrambling to find ways to keep from broiling. But it’s not just people who need to stay cool. Excessive temperatures can cause computers and other equipment to overheat, potentially damaging equipment and destroying data.

The most critical computer equipment in most companies is the servers, network routers, and storage devices sitting in your server room. It’s crucial that you know when they’re threatened by heat and other environmental problems.

DGA ServerGuard is a customizable environmental monitoring and security system that warns of problems in your server room. ServerGuard can be configured to immediately notify you when temperature and humidity are outside preset ranges, as well as if water is present. ServerGuard can also integrate access control so you can monitor and restrict who enters your server room, and video surveillance to record everything that happens inside. ServerGuard has several ways to send you alert messages including email, SMS text and telephone, so the message goes through even if your network is down.

It’s hard to believe, but we’re only halfway through this scorching summer. Don’t let the heat knock your business out cold. Click here to learn more about ServerGuard and request a free consultation.

Too many video surveillance systems fail to record or archive important incidents because of improper installation, inadequate user training, or poor servicing. DGA Security Systems provides managed video surveillance that addresses these problems by offering expert design and installation, and ongoing training, service and support. Today, DGA announces the launch of its Video Clip Retrieval Service, the latest enhancement to its managed surveillance solution.

Video Clip Retrieval makes accessing surveillance video as easy as filling out a web form. Once DGA receives a request from a customer, its experienced technicians log into the surveillance system, isolate the required video segments, post them to a secure web site for quick access, and deliver a copy to the customer on DVD.

DGA also archives the requested footage in its highly secure UL Listed monitoring center. Since video surveillance DVRs (digital video recorders) constantly overwrite old video to make room for new video, this provides an added safeguard against losing footage video. DGA customers can always access their video when they need additional copies at a later date, such as for legal or insurance purposes. DGA’s Video Clip Retrieval Service is a standard part of DGA’s managed video surveillance service.

Companies that don’t use a managed surveillance service are left on their own when an incident occurs. They need to figure out if the event was actually recorded and, if so, how to save it before it is deleted.

“The market has many video surveillance DVR systems that are being promoted as set-it-and-forget-it solutions, but a surveillance system is only as good as the company that stands behind it,” said Stanley Oppenheim, DGA’s founder and president. “Video Clip Retrieval is another example of how DGA is always there to help our customers when they need it most.”