There are a variety of building security risks causing headaches for security professionals and facility managers everywhere. While some of these risks are related to physical security threats, today’s biggest security challenges actually relate to the way facilities think about security.

Without abandoning old modes of thinking, your facility may never get out in front of the real risks. Below are some common building security challenges you need to address while promoting a safe and secure environment:

  1. Lack Of Situational Awareness
    Being aware of one’s surroundings and understanding how those surroundings influence dangerous situations and the severity of potential threats is the basis for every security strategy. Situational awareness is not a skill, but a mindset. The first step is understanding that threats exist. Make sure your onsite security team members trust their gut reactions and know how to pay attention to technologies and security data even when they are busy or distracted. Hostile activities sometimes go unnoticed. Situational awareness combined with rapid response helps your team stay in front of threats.
  2. Reluctance To Budget
    In order to overcome budget concerns, security professionals needs to frame new technology investments through quantifying the cost of security breaches. Is the loss from forgoing new technology greater than the cost of implementing new technologies? Security technology isn’t just about protecting premises. Today’s security technology has the power to automate processes and regulate facility activities to promote tighter, cost-effective facility management.
  3. Lack Of Integration
    Closed, incompatible technologies can’t talk to each other and can’t centralize data for security professionals to access during developing threats. Integrated security solutions capture data from multiple devices to give response teams the greatest amount of information possible. The more knowledgeable your security team is about your environment – which may span blocks and consist of multiple buildings – the stronger they are at protecting it.
  4. Going The Wrong Storage Route
    Local storage is an increasingly expensive option today, especially with the growth of IP cameras. Hosted video surveillance opens the door to cloud-based software for organizations managing and securing large amounts of camera data. Hosted solutions cost-effectively combine a browser-based security system and a site’s existing network without sacrificing performance, capacity and, especially, security.
  5. Choosing To Upgrade Instead Of Replace
    When upgrading security technology, integrators need to ensure that the chosen technology is compatible with computer operating systems. Operating systems that need to be updated create a minor but expensive hurdle to rapid installation and implementation. Installing security technologies in an integrated fashion across a single platform is the scalable option for institutions predicting growth.
  6. No Collaboration Between IT & Security Technology
    The installation of a security system over a facility’s infrastructure needs to involve a security integrator skilled in networks. Yet, today’s most successful network and data storage setups involve the expertise of a facility’s onsite technology team. A lack of collaboration between these two groups during systems integration is a mistake of considerable consequences.
  7. Lack Of Communication Among Security Team
    Disparate systems cause communication breakdown. Security teams should be able to distribute vital security intelligence to any member in the facility at any time. The inability to advance knowledge to key team members is an inability to overcome security threats. Intercom systems and enhanced video streams have changed the way security and facility management teams communicate and collaborate across an institution.
  8. Technology Implemented Without Design
    The strength of your security system depends on the layout of the technology. Security design consultants look at building architecture in relation to security. They examine and close gaps by creating a specific, layered site plan to enforce security procedures and mitigate risk. Choosing the right security system design plan is as important as choosing the right integrator.

  9. Lack Of Ongoing Maintenance & Testing
    A security system that plays a prominent role in everyday security and facility operations needs to run at peak efficiency with very little downtime. This is why institutions need to partner with a singular integrator – a security partner that installs, implements and ensures peak performance through an ongoing maintenance plan. Software updates, replacements and preventive maintenance are all important expenses that need to be considered when making a security investment.

Building a better security program in today’s industry involves a change in philosophy. One of the benefits of finding the full-package partner – an integrator that understands your current needs and satisfies them with technology that’s expandable ­and scalable – is finding a group of security professionals to help your facility’s security evolve in the direction of the industry. This is the kind of strategic partnership that improves the integrity and strength of your entire security program.

Learn how Marymount School of New York created the foundation for a scalable security strategy spanning multiple buildings across New York City.

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