How security technology can support the post-pandemic workplace
An article written exclusively for Facilities Show by FMJ
According to a report on the Security Equipment, Access Control and CCTV market by Mintel, the adoption of next-generation security systems and the replacement of legacy systems with newer technology has been a long-term market driver.
Francesco Salau, a leading analyst in the B2B sector, advises that “demand for AI and thermal imaging technology as tools to enforce social regulation compliance at workplaces and venues helped accelerated existing trends, driving further development in favour of greater interoperability and interconnectivity”.
The experts' view
FMJ asked a group of security experts which technologies they’d predict would have the greatest benefits for the security of premises and how digital solutions can support more traditional manned guarding?
Mark Rogers, Sales & Marketing Director, Corps Security predicts that as as COVID restrictions fall away, customers who were previously reluctant to invest in security technology are seeing the benefits of a blended approach to security – where tech complements security officers and responds to the individual business security needs of each site. Some buildings can be remotely locked, and the lights switched off at night, leaving BMS systems to track lower risk points while monitoring temperature, potential flooding and break-ins.
He believes that any technology integration is an investment but, done smartly, can reduce a business’s overall
security spend. The cost savings realised from having people on site only when necessary, for example, offers a great opportunity for businesses to invest this back into their people, paying the Real Living Wage, upskilling officers and training them to work with new technologies more efficiently.
The provision of physical security to a hybrid work model is one of the biggest challenges facing the sector, says Matt Winn, Sr. Director, Public Relations and Corporate Communications at HID Global. This is because it requires FMs to reassess how users access doors, networks and more. New standards such as multi-factor authentication (MFA), ‘passwordless’ authentication and an increase in the use of contactless technologies can help support with this by supporting access and egress for a remote workforce.
The increased use of physical and logical security also offers users the benefits of producing a steady and growing flow of information. Data such as this creates context around human behaviours and patterns of activity, whether in a physical space or in a network. These insights help to highlight anomalies, empowering security professionals to more quickly identify or predict abnormal behaviours.
Security and Health & Safety are closer than ever argues Stephen Webb, Director of Technology Solutions, Bidvest Noonan. The focus of security will always be on securing people, places, and assets, but it has drawn closer to safety in recent time, with a range of supporting technologies. He says that a blending of manpower and technology could for example extend to the use of a remote video surveillance program, enabling a saving or in certain instances, a redeployment of site operatives.
When these technologies are correctly selected and deployed, along with a remote video monitoring resource and mobile response service, an extremely effective and efficient security solution can be delivered to both manned and unmanned locations.
But as Rogers concludes, suppliers can only provide high quality service if they ask the FM teams the right questions.
"That’s the first step in mitigating specific risks to premises. It’s important to recognise the individual security drives for a business, and how serious and prevalent these risks are. Then it’s a case of demonstrating the know-how involved in adding value to the security provision on offer. It’s about implementing the right solution that will take care of your assets and people, and tech often plays a big part in that."
FM Clinic on the security sector will be published in the March issue of FMJ
Published 25/02/22