Now more than ever organizations nationwide need to keep their security teams informed with critical real-time data. Situational awareness helps management teams decide when to take action if a situation arises and how to mitigate risk. With a main goal of reducing risk exposure by detecting and preventing emergency events from taking place; having access to the right information is crucial. Atruly secure organization has critical security data available to its security personnel in real-time, but in some organizations, this is not the case. There are many companies out there that still have not invested in a physical security solution that provides analytics and data for analysis. Therefore, security teams are faced with a myriad of challenges daily which includes:
- Controlling Access After Hours
Not every employee is given access to certain locations of a building at any time of day. An employee with malicious intentions might want to go into a room where classified files are kept. The access control system would prevent the individual from entering, however that’s as far as it would go. What about finding out and identifying who the individual is to prevent it from happening again? If an organization has the ability to identify the person through analytics, then the situation can be corrected quickly.
- Tracking Occupancy
Today’s security teams must be able to know who is on the premises and at what time. This information is not only important to have in real-time for mustering purposes, but also when it comes to adhering to COVID-19 safety guidelines. Tracking the employees in a particular location and duration in the area helps ensure social distancing. In the event of an emergency, an organization would also want to know who is at their workstation or who is already outside of the building and evacuated.
- Tailgating (unauthorized entry)
Visitors, vendors, and contractors may want to enter a building, but they are unaware that they either need proper documentation to enter or they need to be granted access by someone on the inside. Tailgating could be caused by someone as simply as holding the door open for a visitor without a badge. A worst-case scenario of a fraudulent visitor on premises could include anything ranging from theft of equipment to unauthorized access to the company’s intranet to physical harm, or access to intellectual ranging from theft of property.
- Inactive Personnel
Deactivating badges is crucial for the safety of an organization. For example, if a recently fired disgruntled employee has not been removed from the granted database and can still roam the halls of their previous work building, they are an immediate threat. The ex-employee may know which rooms hold the extremely valuable assets that could damage an organization’s reputation if leaked to the public.
- Lack of Communication
Forgetting to notify a team member of a threat or not having a solid process in place leaves the door open for more threats to arise. Aligning processes and technology instantly prepares a security team to unprecedented challenges and issues.
Why are analytics important?
Security Insights serves as an analytic platform, providing analytical tools to security officers. Let’s say for instance, an ex-employee who is no longer authorized to enter a building can tailgate and enter afterhours. The current, inefficient security control system would require the security officer to go after that person, without knowing exactly who they are. Assuming there are no security cameras on the premises, the two individuals get away and the only data available to the security officer is the time of entry. The process of finding the two people becomes an extensive search due to the little information available. With Security Insights, the data collected from the worker’s badge is gathered onto the analytical platform automatically allowing security teams to react instantly.
Splan’s Security Insights solution is the answer to solving these ongoing security challenges. By notifying the security team in real-time about the quantity and characteristics of employees or visitors on the premises; overcrowding situations can be avoided. Similarly, if an employee attempts to enter an area where they are not authorized, the platform would flag the individual and notify the security personnel immediately. The analytics can also track tailgating by detecting a person exiting a building, who was not accounted for in the entry. Inactive badge activity would no longer be an issue with the Splan solution as the system automatically updates the database and only gives access to active employees. Security personnel can now manage everything from their own dashboard using Splan’s Enterprise-Level Event Management System and get a clearer picture. The solution delivers all pertinent information quickly to an organization’s security team and provides advance notice, so preventative measures can be taken. With the range of risks that face organizations today; better decisions can be made when the right data and analytics are in front of them.
For more information on installing visitor management software and integrating with your current access control system, please contact Splan at sales@splan.com. We can also refer you to one of our industry leading security integrator or dealer partners.