Securing your investment

“What can stronger and better security do for my business?”

Even though this question does not require a “rocket scientist” to provide the answers, many businesses operating in St.Vincent and the Grenadines are still operating with inadequate security.{{more}}

This is not the case for the General Employees Credit Union (GECCU). The management of this country’s largest credit union made the decision that the organization is not going to be reactionary to occurrences that may disrupt productivity, adversely affect its members and erode its gains.

In May, the credit union, intent on protecting its assets, invested in a state of the art integrated security system to monitor its premises. It became fully operational in July.

This three tier security system equipped with an Access Control System, an Intruder Alarm System, and a Video Verification System allows GECCU to take pre-emptive action, which allows the company to build a cost-effective method of ensuring its business runs smoothly, members and staff remain safe, and data remains secure.

So, in essence, GECCU is building a trusted infrastructure that protects the business against disruption.

Even though the system has been in operation for just over two months, already one burglary at the credit union was foiled – thanks to the new system.

“GECCU took this step even before the latest state of security affairs to protect its members’ investments and employees’ property,” said Anton Jardine, the Assistant System Administrator, a young professional who has been supervising the installation of the security system.

Jardine made it clear that the electronic security system monitors the inside and outside of the building and instantly alerts the central monitoring station, as well as sends text messages to key senior employees, along with alerts to their email addresses.

“Even if you are overseas you still get alerts,” said Jardine, as he explained the efficiency of the new system.

One of the key components of the integrated security system, said Jardine, is that the distributed intelligence assures that the integrated systems are less sensitive to tampering than many other systems. He explained that even if one component fails, the remaining system parts will continue to work on their own.

A further benefit is that only certain employees have access to disarm certain critical points in the business. And one does not have to be on site to arm or disarm the building since this is done remotely.

“We have to move with the times. Other businesses should consider investing in a security system. The resources are here locally. It wouldn’t hurt to protect your investment,” is Jardine’s word of advice to businesses here.