From Russia to China, to international and domestic terrorism, security professionals across America continue to try and keep up with the breakneck pace with which the range and scope of intentional, accidental, and natural threats are evolving. Such frequent shape-shifting has made identifying, responding, and overcoming emergent events more crucial than ever.
This challenge is made more difficult when key data associated with the situation is buried under a flood of information being presented to the user. Without a system that will quickly distill the most relevant and accurate information at a granular level, decision makers are unable to gain a real-time understanding of the situation at hand.
The Big Picture
With this in mind, take a few steps back to look at your security posture from a bird’s eye view. What does it look like? Are all moving parts seamlessly and efficiently integrated into one ubiquitous platform? Are all individual elements such as sensors, cameras, access control systems optimized to work perfectly in sync? Are they accessible and controllable under a single command center and dashboard?
When attempting to outpace evolving threats, these are some of the important questions that need to be asked. If you answered “no” to any one of them, it is crucial that you revisit, reassess, and re-establish your security suite to ensure the protection of your people and assets. Simplifying, reducing response times, streamlining workflows, and integrating all moving parts in your security system are paramount.
Avoid Informational Silos
A fractured security system is one of the most common, major flaws identified by security assessors and consulting experts today. Once an assessment is completed, an existing security posture will typically be either of the following two options: one that was deployed as a quick solution, or a tailored one optimized for the structural schematic and geographical location of the site.
A quick solution may have filled a few of the identified security gaps, but would have involved rushing to select and implement incompatible sensors. This modular configuration creates dangerous informational silos, and results in a fragmented situational picture.
On the other hand, a tailored system offers the opportunity to carefully select only sensors with potential for functional integration. Although this provides a highly-tailored solution to address specific needs, it requires more time to select, integrate and install such a system.
Funneling crucial security data collected from sensors, cameras, and access control systems into a unified platform with a customized dashboard featuring an intuitive user interface (UI) can also enhance readiness and reduce response times. Streamlining workflows by integrating previously siloed information into this unified platform, creates customized awareness notifications that provide the right information to the right personnel.
Again, ask yourself if your current security suite fires an alert, visualizes the most relevant information to the users and enables you to interact with that data to swiftly execute the appropriate response. If the answer is no, you must audit your posture and make necessary adjustments.
Be Proactive. Not Reactive.
Always consider all potential threats and possibilities. Gain total control of any and all situations through preventive measures that will fortify your situational awareness. Before significant investments can be made to a security solution, leaders with risk management responsibilities need a tool that can help validate the effectiveness of a security proposal.
This tool must be able to provide quantifiable ways to present “what if” analysis related to the various threat potentials that your business could and will be exposed to. For example, building a 3D model of a facility and its site enables you to run hundreds, even thousands of simulations, allowing you to accurately evaluate the effectiveness of the security proposal. It also empowers you to formulate tactical and defensive maneuvers to neutralize threats with minimal collateral damage, letting you focus on the most important aspect of your security readiness.
To learn more and find out how ARES Security can assist you in reassessing your security system, request a demo today.