Ifsec Global and Assa Abloy: New White Paper on Security Integration
To reap the benefits of connected security, businesses need technologies which are primed and ready to work seamlessly with each other. In a recent survey of security professionals, over 90 percent noted the critical importance of integration across building management functions. But what exactly are the benefits — and how can organizations deploy effective strategies to realize them, even with a limited budget?
A new 18-page white paper, “Boosting efficiency and streamlining security with an integrated access control solution”, from experts at Ifsec Global and Assa Abloy Opening Solutions provides the detailed background which key decision-makers need before launching an integration project.
The report examines the growing role for integration within and beyond building security. It highlights the benefits — in cost control, employee and energy efficiency, security and more — for businesses with integrated security systems and process.
This new paper includes expert input from Assa Abloy Opening Solutions, systems integrator Securitas and analyst data and is free to download.
Access control is the foundation for smarter buildings and efficient workflows
“Access control systems are often viewed as the starting point for a building to shift from operating in siloes, towards a more functional, connected and ‘integrated’ building management system,” according to the report.
The concrete benefits an organization can expect vary from case to case. The white paper studies real-world hardware integrations in the healthcare and higher education sectors in two European countries. It considers the cost and efficiency impact on the organizations which integrated access control effectively.
At the InHolland University of Applied Sciences, for example, a Nedap AEOS system integrated with Aperio wireless devices is able to control access for seven different campuses from a single, integrated point. A new university site in Amsterdam will be developed as a “smart building”, incorporating many of the same interoperable technologies integrated with an intelligent building system.
In the healthcare sector, at Centre Hospitalier Métropole Savoie in France, a single ARD system integrates Aperio locks for building access and security with an internal HR management system and the French government’s electronic Health Professional Card. Having a single credential for multiple uses increased efficiency for both security administrators and medical staff.
Long-term and short-term benefits of security integration
The paper examines how integrated solutions reward businesses in both the short and the long term. In the short run, integrated security can make employee workflows more efficient, as those real-world cases show. When facilities staff only consult or update a single interface, rather than multiple systems, they save time and reduce manual errors.
Looking further ahead, integration helps businesses to retool their building management for the challenges of the 2020s. The smart building is integrated, automated and future-proofed.
“Whereas security has mostly been a reactive profession prior to now, integrated solutions allow data to be transformed into knowledge,” explains Danny Laurier at Securitas, in an exclusive interview for the white paper. “And, when you have knowledge, you can move from a reactive to predictive risk management approach.”
Coverage of interoperability, integrating video surveillance and more
What information must company decision-makers digest to assess their specific case for greater security integration? How can they choose the best off-the-shelf integrated or integratable solutions?
Of immediate practical use, the report examines different types of integration and the technologies required to make each work. It explains how deployments can be made even when faced with tight budgets and a demand for concrete returns on investment, including for high-demand access control integrations such as visitor management and video surveillance.
Ensuring an organization buys and plans for interoperability in both hardware and software is critical.
“As well as being more flexible, solutions developed to compatible, shared standards are better future-proofed,” explains Russell Wagstaff, EMEIA Platform Director at Assa Abloy Opening Solutions. “Standards ensure investments can be made today with confidence that hardware and firmware can be built on seamlessly in the future. Compatible solutions, ready to integrate with multiple different systems, offer greater peace of mind than proprietary technologies which ‘lock you in’ for the long term.”
The white paper can be found here.
