Final Product Should Achieve Your Goals
In the end it’s important to make sure that after all the consultation and negotiation, your security goals are completely fulfilled. Failing to address vulnerabilities now will only push them farther down the road. Every institution, however, comes into the integration process with different goals, and those goals can vary in complexity.
Integrating a mass notification system, for example, is often easier to accomplish because institutions generally already have those in place and can leverage existing technology. Hospitals often integrate their visitor management systems because of the amount of people they serve every day.
Komola says integrating his video system with access control is a major improvement for the security of his campus.
“If a guard is sitting at a front desk and there’s an alarm in the back of the building, they can see in real time what’s going on,” Komola says. “Is this a kid just sneaking one of his buddies in, or is this somebody who is trying to come in to do harm? That timing is critical.”
Regardless of what you’re integrating, simply considering integration shows a recognition of the changes in the campus security field over the last decade.
“Hospitals and campuses are realizing a need to behave like other more critical infrastructure systems,” says Berkly Trumbo, who works at G4S Technology with Berg. “It’s all about how do we make a smarter, more effective security program out of what we’ve got and the technology that’s coming down the road.”
The changes to the security field aren’t stopping. Integration is a way to stay ahead of the curve and maximize campus safety. According to Trumbo, security officials should always be looking for ways their systems can improve.
“The folks that are doing it the way they’ve always done it are probably going to be the ones who lose out in the end, and I mean that from the way they view physical security and the way they interact with their officers,” Trumbo says. “Just that part of our business is so much more advanced than it was ten years ago. We’re talking about drone applications for some campuses at this point. Apps that enable security officers to have a lot more power and information in the palm of their hands as they face a critical decision. So you just can’t have ‘the way we’ve always done it’ mindset.”
Zach Winn is the associate web editor of Campus Safety Magazine.
