Security solutions are effective only when they ensure the safety of the facility and the people working within them. Vishnu Mohan Choudhary, Athena's Managing Director, emphasises this reality when talking about security solutions around sensitive establishments.
The real challenge is that most security establishments follow a "fragmented approach" when it comes to protecting their premises. While some have an electric fence to prevent intrusions, others have 24/7 camera surveillance to detect and stop intruders.
Unfortunately, a fragmented or "piecemeal" solution is no longer adequate for securing important facilities. Criminals will always find loopholes in such solutions that they can easily exploit.
For today's challenges, sensitive establishments need a "wholesome" or integrated approach that leaves no loopholes in their security requirements. Before we discuss this solution, let's look at why a "siloed" approach is ineffective in the first place.
Across industries, security-related failures incur substantial business expenses and are gaining more regularity or frequency.
Despite their limitations, organisations managing sensitive facilities continue to invest in siloed or fragmented solutions to safeguard their premises. In this environment, security teams cannot succeed at their job without a centralised view of the entire premise or facility.
Effectively, CISOs and security operations teams must have direct access to every part of business operations. Some of the major challenges that security teams face with siloed solutions include:
Manual or physical security personnel are also less effective unless they have holistic visibility into the entire security infrastructure. This includes visibility into the:
With rapid technological innovation, physical and digital security are more interlinked than before. In 2023, organisations must look to eliminate siloed solutions that do not integrate these two critical domains.
Siloed or individual security solutions leave a lot of gaps for malicious elements to exploit. Next, let's discuss how an integrated solution presents business value to sensitive establishments.
Apart from serving as a deterrent, the primary objective of any security solution is to provide valuable information to manual security personnel to improve the impact of their follow-up actions. As the name suggests, an integrated security solution brings all the organisation's security strategies under a single umbrella or platform.
Integrated solutions in sensitive establishments typically include functionalities like:
To achieve these objectives, security solutions must collect real-time data to detect trends and prepare mitigation strategies. For example, to ensure optimal perimeter security around airports, a security solution can combine:
Effectively, an integrated security solution offers multiple benefits, including the following:
Every establishment has specific security requirements. Integrated solutions are flexible with their customised design that can cater to these requirements.
Integrated security solutions are easy to use, thus preventing any internal conflicts. They also offer remote access, thus enabling security teams to always maintain oversight.
Most sensitive establishments respond to a security incident after it is reported. This is not the case with integrated solutions. Through real-time and 24/7 monitoring, security personnel can proactively take action before a minor incursion develops into a full-blown incident.
Using customised dashboards, security teams now have a centralised view of their entire security apparatus. Organisations don't need to coordinate a swift response involving more than one department or function.
With the growing frequency and complexity of external threats, a fragmented and siloed approach is no longer the answer for security solutions. The solution is a comprehensive and integrated solution that combines the best of physical security equipment and digital technologies. Vishnu points out that integrated solutions "allow for smarter and more optimised patrolling" around sensitive facilities.
At Athena Security, we have developed customised integrated solutions that combine the latest technology tools with our industry expertise. Our qualified team can design security solutions according to your requirements. Read about the top trends that will dominate the security environment in 2023.
Interested in learning more about our security solutions? Get in touch today.