As of 13 August 2026, AI can only partly choose an alarm system for your business premises.

What to actually do

1. Hand it to a person

   The route this page recommends

   Someone with a licence or accountable authority has to sign this before it counts.

2. Use a tool built for this

   Second choice

3. Do it yourself

   The distant third

   A chat interface, chat-fluent skill, and roughly 1 hour until you can act on the result.

   How to actually do it

   1. Open your insurer's policy or security requirements and gather the wording about alarms, monitoring, locks, premises protection and any required installer or certification.
   2. Walk through the premises and record every external door, window, roof access point, loading area, valuable-stock area, staff-only area, blind spot and place where an alarm sensor could be obstructed.
   3. Write down the business type, building size, opening hours, number of users, internet and mobile signal, existing equipment, pets, delivery arrangements and your equipment and installation budget.
   4. Paste those details and the insurer's wording into an AI tool using the supplied prompt, then ask it to cite the current manufacturer page for every product claim.
   5. Open the cited manufacturer pages and product manuals, and compare the model numbers, communications, backup power, monitoring, expansion and stated certifications against the AI table.
   6. Send the shortlist and site-survey checklist to at least one competent UK alarm installer, ask for a site survey and written itemised quote, and ask them to confirm how the proposed design meets your insurer's wording.
   7. Compare the installer's design and quote with the AI shortlist, then send the final system, monitoring arrangement and installer details to your insurer for written confirmation before ordering.

   Prompt

   Act as a UK business security research assistant, not as an installer or security adviser. Help me shortlist and compare alarm systems for these premises:
   
   Business type: [business type]
   Premises location and type: [town or region, shop, office, warehouse or other]
   Approximate size and layout: [details]
   Opening hours and occupancy: [details]
   Areas needing protection: [doors, windows, roof access, stock areas, offices, exterior or other]
   Known risks or recent incidents: [details]
   Internet and mobile signal: [details]
   Existing security equipment: [details]
   Monitoring preference: [self-monitoring, professional monitoring or unsure]
   Need for police response: [details or unsure]
   Pets, staff access and delivery access: [details]
   Budget for equipment and installation: [budget or unsure]
   Insurance requirements: [paste the relevant wording]
   Preferred installation date: [date or unsure]
   
   Using current UK product pages and manufacturer documentation where available, produce:
   1. A shortlist of up to five suitable alarm systems or system types.
   2. A comparison table covering detection, communications, power backup, app access, monitoring, installation, expansion, maintenance and any stated certifications or standards.
   3. The assumptions and missing information that could change the recommendation.
   4. A best-fit option, a lower-cost alternative and a more robust alternative, with reasons.
   5. Questions to ask each installer and documents to request before buying.
   6. A site-survey checklist covering every access point and vulnerable area.
   
   Do not invent prices, certifications, police response, insurance approval or product capabilities. Mark any detail you cannot verify from a current source as unknown. Separate equipment costs, installation costs, monitoring costs and ongoing maintenance where the sources provide them. Do not say that a system is suitable for my premises until a competent installer has assessed the site. End with a clear statement of what I must confirm with my insurer and installer before ordering.

   Open it prefilled in ChatGPT or Claude, or copy it into Gemini, which takes no prefill link.