Have you been reading up on the latest technology trends in the security industry?
If you are a forward-thinking leader in security management, the array of articles about everything from robots to license-plate recognition software to biometrics may leave you bewildered. You may go to bed at night wondering, “Is my security company keeping up with all this stuff? Can these tools make my life easier?”
You certainly are right to ask these questions. After all, your primary focus is to protect the assets of the company by effectively and efficiently reducing risk and managing threats, irrespective of the source. (As a forward-thinker, you have adopted, at least in part, an Enterprise Security Risk Management (ESRM) approach.)
While you are proud of the security program you have put in place within budget, doubt never leaves you. When you look at the security guard company’s invoice — one of the largest, if not the largest, expense of your entire security program — those technology articles may leave you asking, “Can I get more peace of mind for what I’m spending with this firm?”
Benefits of the right security technology
I am not advocating technology for technology’s sake. Being an early adopter who just loves technology and will adopt anything in an effort to be cutting edge can actually harm you in the long run － a trap to be avoided at all costs.
But if you have done your homework on technology, you have partnered with a security company that uses technology to take you beyond the age-old discussion of hourly rates and number of hours per week. Your security provider is using workforce management software that provides data to support security recommendations and decisions. As a result, you can:
- Evaluate performance based on concrete metrics
- Start with the end in mind and base your security provider’s performance on a predefined service level agreement
- Harness the data agents gather daily and translate the insights into concrete actions and results.
Having adopted technology in a well-thought-out organized way, you can confidently face your management teams and clearly show how your technology-supported security program provides value and return on investment.
Guess who gets left in the doghouse
But what if your security company is not keeping up to date with technology?
That is bad news, and there is no good news. You are missing out. You are left to your own resources, which may mean a lot of long days at the office manually and painstakingly preparing your data and business intelligence. You can be sure you will be missing out on valuable security data, the opportunity to dial up your prevention efforts, and the additional peace of mind that lets you sleep better at night.
In the end, the question that security technology should answer is not “How big is your company?”, or “How early did you adopt this tool?”, or “What bells and whistles are available?”, but rather, “What is the best security solution?”
When technology is applied properly, information flows between true business partners and that drives better overall security solutions and, thus, safer environments.
