For security management professionals today, there are numerous challenges in coordinating your data, systems, processes, and resources to maximize security program effectiveness.
Information comes from many places: your electronic security systems, incident management software, watch lists, threat intelligence tools, and through manual collection. At best, some of your data sources and systems may be synchronized, such as associating live/recorded video and/or geospatial information to an alarm or event. Often there are operational issues with systems, like access control and video being managed by internal security resources, while intrusion alarms are outsourced for handling and response. In most cases, the end result is a complex, manual process to truly consolidate security data for purposes of resource allocation, assessing needs and effectiveness, and making qualified, business-driven decisions for your team. Knowing that a fully integrated system would work best for your organization, how do you determine which solutions to use?
Let’s take a look at the multiple ways to address these challenges:
Standardization: Where a single vendor is selected to address all requirements within a technology category (for example, ‘all sites must use XYZ access control vendor’).
Key points to consider:
- Standardization may be most effective when there are a limited number of legacy systems and/or vendors.
- Integration with your security processes and incident data will be reasonably straightforward as the number of integrations required is minimal.
- Where legacy systems are already widely deployed, the financial impact of standardization may be significant, and a strong business case may be challenging to develop.
- Implementing the standardized platform across numerous sites brings the challenges of retrofit projects, and may take significant time to complete.
- Procurement policies often prohibit single source arrangements, and are mandated to provide best price/value—this actually drives the deployment of multiple manufacturer platforms within a single technology category.
Physical Security Information Management or PSIM Software: A PSIM can integrate all of your disparate systems into a common operating environment and user interface.
Key points to consider:
- With the budget, resources, and time to allocate to a PSIM implementation, complete synchronization of your electronic security systems can deliver numerous benefits.
- The challenges with PSIM are the custom nature of each implementation, significant cost, and time to implement.
- There will still be requirements for additional software for real time resource allocation and management (dispatching), investigation and case management, and advanced reporting and analysis tools for the security incident data.
Incident Data Driven Solution: This solution addresses the missing components of standardization or a PSIM based approach to system design.
Key points to consider:
- You can select the elements needed to work alongside your standardized systems, with your PSIM, or deploy as a comprehensive security management solution.
- Your organization is able to manage electronic systems, standardize security processes, allocate resources, manage cases and investigations, and deliver advanced reporting from a single software, database, and user interface.
- These solutions are developed for ‘off-the-shelf’ availability, scalability is built-in, financial costs are fixed and reasonable, and implementation risk is minimized.
Although all three approaches will assist with integrating (at least some of) your systems and software together, based on our experience in the industry, we lean heavily towards an incident data driven solution. This way, security managers are able to seamlessly link their systems and incident management information together. You’re able to automate business processes, eliminate duplication, leverage resources, and maximize efficiency, especially when you combine the advanced analytic and reporting tools in an incident management and reporting software like Perspective. At the end of the day, an incident data driven integration will also give you the metrics to demonstrate security program effectiveness and show a return on investment. This is the ultimate goal.
Interested in discussing your needs with our Integrated Solutions Division? Contact us at isd@ppm2000.com.
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