One second can make a difference in saving a life, and Dobil believes in ensuring that you have the right technology to make that extra second a possibility. Read along to learn about Unified Security Platforms and what the level of security they add could mean for you and your organization.
What is a Unified Security Platform and How Can it Benefit My Organization?
What is a Unified Security Platform and How Can it Benefit My Organization?In one of our Dobil Learning Labs, we had presenters Michael Trask, Director of Sales for North America with LENSEC and Jeff Kellock, Chief Product Officer at LENSEC define and interact with a Unified Security Platform. Some of the key takeaways are mentioned below, but to learn more visit this link.
Health, Safety, and Security
In today’s world, every second matters. There are so many security technologies available through lots of different manufacturers like LENSEC, which provide and create life safety products. There are a shocking number of organizations that take a reactive approach to safety as opposed to a proactive one, which is something we aim to help change.
Things to Consider
Depending on what your type of employment is, there are varying levels of security that may be required. Some of the things to consider when looking at a Unified Security Platform are procedures, outcomes, user interoperation with subsystems, expected permissions and training, etcetera.
Unified Security Platform– What is it?
When we are talking about a Unified Security Platform, we are talking about disparate systems, whether it is an access control system, an RFID system, an intrusion system, etcetera and taking all of these different systems that are independently operable and bringing them all together into one platform. This can increase speed and response time, use of automation which increases proactivity in the approach to security.
The ultimate goal is safety. We want to help you create the safest environment possible and not only protect assets, but protect human lives. Each second matters in any critical incident you may face and being able to pull these systems into a unified platform where you use automation to speed up that process truly does make a big difference.
A lot of Dobil’s customers when they come to us are trying to be proactive and consider the scenarios that they have been trained on or have experienced in the past and have learned valuable lessons on. They come to us with the hope to save those critical seconds that they have seen can be critical. They not only want to save time, but they also want to empower the individuals or users who will be reacting during their time
Importance of Integration and Preparation
The goal is to make sure that these individuals or users have the proper credentials and logins and are trained. One of the things we focus on as a company from a software development standpoint is making sure that there is a natural level of intuitiveness to that platform as it’s unified with all of its different subcomponents.
Regardless of how well you are trained, people will forget in the heat of the moment and so we focus on having the base level of intuitiveness as well as the automation to save those seconds when they really matter. This is what we can bring to the table in advance of the critical event occurring.
An important factor in saving those precious seconds is the integration of a Unified Security Platform, so instead of worrying about training someone to be an expert on 10 or 15 different pieces of a security system, you allow the power of the system in the background and the power of workflows to take a large portion of that pressure off.
Security and Access
As software systems grow, you will have a lot of power, assets, and devices but based on different staff roles and personnel, the access to these different components may be lacking. A great way to eliminate confusion is to limit access and adjust permissions so that there is no gray space within what they have access to and what they are supposed to be seeing or working on.
One thing to consider is changing permissions when specific situations arise, in one case being if there were to be an active shooter. Dobil has discussed with a lot of our customers and debriefed after these events have occurred to brainstorm the best possible strides to be made to be as proactive and protective as possible.
These critical seconds absolutely count, but you don’t want time where you have a lot of untrained users trying to make judgment calls or guesses on where they can go in certain areas. Some agencies asked us to limit the views of the surveillance system or have the ability to restrict access while maintaining that the right people are elevated in their access.
Software Architecture
Software companies are trying to ensure that simultaneously there can be implications happening over the network, but they are ensuring safety at the same time. This means not overloading a system, being able to have the inner workings of your facility in smooth communication with one another, and more. Interoperability is what we really look to leverage and program interfaces to be able to share information back and forth between sub-components.
Having the capability to access your site, or sites if you have multiple remote offices, not only individually but in cross comparisons, you are able to see those views or actions side by side. This allows you to make sure everything goes smoothly, but it also allows you to process a lot more information at a much quicker pace.
If you set those up through a constant distributed network, you have a continuous connection to each of those sites. If you use a federated system, you are connecting to each of those sites on demand and bringing that together. Both are available options depending on your environment and are another factor to be planned out.
You can maximize through this Unified Security Platform because it brings in all different aspects and connects them along with other sites. You can use those permissions within the application and automation of the platform and maximize your employees. You can keep eyes open and have immediate access to your other locations as well. This platform can act as a pseudo command center because you have immediate eyes on the situation at hand and could report to the authorities and give them access to the system.
For more information from Dobil on the Unified Security Platform and insight on how it works, visit our virtual Learning Labs.
