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Home sweet home

With more South Africans calling a security estate home, one has to agree that the allure of the properties behind the high walls and access controlled entrance does create the sense of security that South Africans are looking for.

While most are willing to pay up to 50% more for a property in a security estate the responsibility now sits heavily on the shoulders of the board of trustees and or the security management to spend these hard earned rands in order to deliver the appropriate level of security that attracted most of the residents in the first place.

The cornerstones of estate security should be:

1. Perimeter security.

A. Physical intruder detection (zoned electric fencing, Infrared beams etc).

B. Perimeter CCTV surveillance.

2. Access control.

A. Biometric access control (resident entrance system, visitor management system etc).

B. Licence plate recognition.

3. Integration.

A. The CCTV, access control and physical security systems should be integrated.

4. Installation and maintenance standards.

A. Nationally certified and accredited installers should be the service provider of choice.

B. Tailor-made and stringent service level agreements have to be implemented, and made part of the security budge; 40% of any security expense should be reserved for the management and maintenance of the investment.

C. Trained on-site security administrators form a crucial part of a successful estate security system.

With all the innovative technology available to us, the most important key to any successful estate security system is the clarification of the customer’s needs during the inception stages and the management of the client’s expectations during the implementation phase. Competent security companies should be commissioned to design the system and its functionality, based solely on the needs and flow of the estate in question. The most important part of post installation period is training; the end user has to be trained in order to enjoy the full scope of functionality that their new system offers.

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