Checklist for Selecting a Corporate Office Security Solution

For Corporate IT and Real Estate Managers tasked with enhancing the workplace security infrastructure of multi-office enterprise companies, selecting the right security solution is pivotal. This checklist helps guide you through the critical considerations you need to make for ensuring that your office security strategy not only meets your security needs but also adds value to your business operations.

Operational Efficiency

Cloud-Based Operation: Cloud-based access control and video surveillance enable consistent technology implementation across disparate office locations with centralized control for managing security parameters and consolidating data collection and reporting across multiple locations efficiently.

Centralized Identity Management: This is a critically important feature for enhancing efficiency. When your access control system has centralized identity management, all authorized workplace occupants for all locations of the business have their individual access profiles residing at the organization’s central employee active directory database, typically managed by HR or IT,

This unifies physical access privileges with the authoritative source for all company records for everyone including pay, benefits, IT network access, and more. This greatly simplifies and automates the administration of access rights for streamlining new employee onboarding or deactivation – all occurring in one data entry in one database. such that the moment for consistent user access provisioning across all locations.

In addition, it eliminates the hassle and time loss of physical credential management as access privileges reside in the database, not on the physical credential, so if the badge or key fob is ever lost, stolen, or retained by a terminated employee, access will no longer be granted for that device. Obviously, this also significantly enhances security.

Maintenance and Monitoring: Advanced technology requires dedicated upkeep and repairs while security performance demands accountable oversight. While you can hire staff to do this or depend on an assortment of local vendors at each location, a more cost-effective and efficient approach would be outsourcing to a nationally managed security provider. This service is like how some businesses outsource IT management if it is not a core value-driver for the firm. This reduces operational burdens, allows your workforce to focus on core business activities,

Comprehensive Offering: For optimal efficiency, you may want to consider a provider that can truly consolidate your physical security operation by offering and servicing a full suite of security services, including access control, video surveillance, and visitor management, to provide a holistic security approach. It’s more efficient to work with one provider and platform as opposed to trying to manage a more piecemeal, a-la-carte mix of technology.

Consistency and Reliability

Integration Capability: Look for open, non-proprietary technology that can readily integrate with existing, frequently disparate, legacy equipment at each location to unify the operation into a central consistent system while avoiding costly hardware replacements.

Future-Friendly Technology: Verify that your solution provider has a history of investing in technology innovation so it can grow and adapt with industry change, your security strategy evolution, and business growth. You don’t want to invest in a security system that may become outdated or obsolete in a few years.

Dedicated Support: Seek accountable service providers that are readily available because you must avoid any downtime of your security system should anything go wrong. Having to search for local expertise in a pinch, especially when dealing with different local markets can be time-consuming and expensive. Again, seeking to outsource to a national managed service provider is a cost-effective effective option that provides consistency of service across all locations.

Uniform Security Protocols: In case of security incidents or emergencies, you want the response process and auditing procedures to be equitably uniform across locations to optimize response and mitigate risk. You should employ a resource, either within the technology platform you choose or through the specific personnel you have in place to monitor security, that can carry out standard security protocols and user experiences across all facilities. Again, an outsourced nationally managed security provider can ensure these are put in place and carried out uniformly across markets, saving you and you staff the effort and time.

Data Insights and Compliance

Advanced Reporting: The dynamism of hybrid work attendance makes it more important than ever to have data insight into occupant behavior over time and by location, not only in terms of space use, but also to ensure attendance policies are followed. It is important to consider whether a provider offers a centralized database with a user-friendly interface to give you the data access and transparency you need to report with actionable insight.

Identity-Based Access Control: While sensors can tell you what spaces are being used by how many people and when, they cannot tell you the identity of those occupants, like which department, which groups, on what days, are these visitors, cleaning staff, or employees? Confirm the system allows for identity-based access control, offering precise occupant data for better space utilization and security management.

Compliance and Auditing Support: Choose a partner that simplifies compliance reporting with easy auditing features and customizable report templates. Also evaluate the scalability of the reporting across locations, and if the provider has consolidated benchmark attendance data for comparing your activity to the broader market or across the nation.

Partnership and Support

Customer-Centric Approach: Select a partner known for a strong customer service ethos, willing to understand and adapt to your specific needs.

Proof of Concept: Consider partners open to conducting pilot tests or providing demos to showcase the effectiveness of their solutions in real-world scenarios.

Training and Resources: Verify that comprehensive training and support materials are available for your team to maximize the use of the security systems.

Financial Considerations

Cost-Effectiveness: Evaluate the total cost of ownership, including initial setup, operational, and maintenance costs, to ensure it aligns with your budget.

ROI and Value Addition: Assess the potential return on investment and how the security solutions can contribute to operational savings and business growth.

Utilizing this checklist will help ensure that you select a security partner capable of providing a secure, efficient, and scalable solution that aligns with your company’s strategic objectives. Remember, the right partner not only secures your assets but also supports your business’s continuity and growth.