If you are planning to update your security system, consider installing an integrated security system to better protect your staff, customers, assets, and reputation.
We see this all the time, when we take a look at a Pittsburgh and Tri-State area business or organization’s existing security system. If I do a walk-through I see a very similar setup. A camera system runs in one corner, while an access control system is in another. There is no connection between the two.
Nobody planned it that way, it just happened since the two systems were set up at different times. This is what we would describe as a siloed security system.
The Difference Between Siloed and Integrated Security Systems
Most traditional access control and video surveillance systems are siloed. Each function has its own separate, disconnected system. The software, hardware, data storage, and login credentials are different. The two don’t interact or communicate; it is up to your team to bridge the gap.
Imagine an employee uses their credentials to enter a sensitive area at 11:30 pm. In the morning, someone noticed that equipment valued at around $4,000 went missing. Your security officer scrubs the entire night’s video footage to discover the employee in the area. Next, they check the access control system to see the records. Making that connection took hours and human intelligence. Imagine how fast your security team could work if these systems could talk to each other.
When your access control system interacts with your video surveillance system, it saves time and allows your team to respond swiftly. With an integrated system, key team members might see an alert when the employee swipes their badge to enter the sensitive area at an unusual time. Using remote camera access, someone can immediately check out the surveillance footage. Your team could stop the theft as it happens.
The Problems With Siloed Security Systems
You may already see how an integrated system is better than multiple siloed systems. An old-school siloed system was fine when you had no other options. But with today’s technology, we would be doing a disservice if we don’t mention some of the problems created by siloed systems:
- Blind spots, since your video cameras record what happened, your team still needs to identify who is taking the action. Access systems can identify who, but fail to inform you whether that person has a good reason to be in the space at that time.
- Delayed response that could cost your organization thousands of dollars. An integrated system may send automated alerts connecting entry to a camera feed.
- Gaps in your audit trail, which is especially important since compliance reports (think HIPAA, OSHA, insurance audits) require documentation from both systems, which someone has to manually compile.
- Increased long-term costs with multiple vendor contracts, maintenance agreements, training programs, and hardware refresh cycles. Maintaining an integrated system and fully training staff is simpler with less margin of error.
The Hidden Costs of a Siloed System
CNBC reported that employee theft costs U.S. businesses $50 billion each year. That’s just one of many risks to manage. Of course, risk doesn’t only come from your own team. The Insurance Information Institute (III) found that false insurance claims cost $308.6 billion annually. Because of this, insurers may scrutinize your claim looking for any error, with separate systems it is all too easy to miss key information you need for an accurate report.
While no one wants to believe one of their employees, vendors, or customers might commit theft or fraud, a robust security system is crucial to protecting your reputation and business.
In 1994, the U.S. Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Statistics found that roughly two-thirds of organizations had experienced at least one major theft or fraud within a two-year period. While much as changed since the 1990s, there are even more forms of fraud and theft including data theft. The stakes are even higher.
The most common response was upgrading security and access systems. That was the right instinct, but an upgrade only works if your systems are actually connected.
Corporate espionage, unauthorized access to sensitive areas, information theft, and physical vandalism are others. Each gets harder to detect, document, and respond to when your cameras and your access control system don’t communicate with each other.
Here’s the thing about siloed security systems, the real cost doesn’t always show up as a one dramatic incident. Often the cost is quiet. It’s the many hours your security team spends manually cross-referencing camera footage with an access log.
It’s the incident that took three days to fully document for an insurance claim. It’s the compliance audit that got messy because two systems don’t generate a unified report. That slow drain is hard to see on a spreadsheet, but it adds up fast.
Key Benefits Of Integrated Security Systems
If you’ve been running separate soloes systems, switching to a unified security platform is more than just a technology upgrade. It gives you the opportunity to improve your operational approach to security.
The benefits of video surveillance and access control integration go well beyond convenience:
- Improve your team’s response time to an incident. The U.S. Department of Energy’s Physical Security Systems Assessment Guide emphasizes that the effectiveness of any physical security system depends on minimizing the time between detection and response. Every second of delay is a window for more damage to occur. Integrated systems close that window.
- Centralize access across all of your locations. For multi-site organizations like a hospital network, corporate campus, or school district having a unified system is essential and may save lives as well as money. Chances are your security team is always stretched a little thin, an integrated system makes it easier for team members to investigate through live video feed even if they are patrolling a different location.
- More robust audit trails which make it easier to provide clear evidence and document compliance to police, insurance agencies, professional oversight bodies, and other key stakeholders. It would take hours of extra administrative work to manually compile this information from separate systems.
- Reduce redundancies such as multiple alarms from each system requiring your team to spend time reconciling each. When systems are unified, you receive fewer confusing alarms since the video surveillance, access control, and alarm systems work together. Modern AI technology helps identify unusual patterns like the same car entering and leaving your parking lot for several nights in a row. It helps your team see when they need to investigate the situation.
You may have noticed the advantages of a unified system correlate with the disadvantages of running separate systems.
Installing A Smart Integrated Security System for Your Organization
2 Krew Security and Surveillance serves Pittsburgh and Tri-State area businesses and organizations who want smart, integrated security solutions. Your Access Control Systems
and Video Surveillance Systems work so much better when they play nice with each other.
Contact 2Krew Security and Surveillance to learn more about custom security system integration will suit your organization whether you have an in-house security team or just yourself.
