In today’s developing landscape of smart buildings, where connectivity and automation are part of the building infrastructure, we must recognize electronic security systems as playing an important role in maintaining building security and safety. While we often focus on utility efficiency, automation, and an enhanced user experience, electronic security systems, such as access control and video surveillance, are just as important.
Safeguarding Assets and Occupants:
Remember, Smart Buildings house valuable assets, sensitive data, and human occupants, and your electronic security systems are the first line of defense that protects your assets from potential threats. Access control systems, using advanced authentication devices like biometrics or smart cards, mitigate the risk of unauthorized access or theft.
Incident Prevention and Detection:
Video surveillance systems, Smart Cameras, Video Analytics, and AI are tools that can enhance security and safety by analyzing patterns and behaviors and alerting your security team to suspicious activities. Real-time AI monitoring can trigger specific actions within your security systems, mitigating human error and potential threats.
Seamless Operations Through Integration:
Electronic security systems can seamlessly integrate with smart building systems such as lighting, HVAC, and fire detection. For instance, it possible to to synchronize your occupany sensors and access control system to optimize energy efficiency usage in unoccupied areas of the building.
Data-driven Decision Making:
The vast amount of data produced by your security systems, life safety systems, and building utility systems provide a lot of data that can be used to drive the operational decision-making process. By pulling the data from desperate systems into a single integrated dashboard of data you can analyze the data looking at occupancy patterns, security breaches, and potential vulnerabilities to make better informed decisions.
Compliance and Liability Mitigation:
Compliance a security standards are not just best practices, but in some industries are a legal requirement. Electronic security systems may actually help business or property owners mitigate liabilities by helping to maintain compliance. Consider having a physical security assessment completed of the property to evaluate potential vulnerably and risk.
When designing or renovating a property or building to be “smart” it’s important not to forget about your electronic security systems, they should be considered an integral part of the design process. The addition of access control and video surveillance, as part of your smart building solution tells your stakeholders that an investment in cutting-edge technology will provide a safer and more secure environment for occupants and assets.
Author
Bernard D. Gollotti, CPP
Founder/Owner & Principal Security Consultant
Copyright 2024
LARGO Consulting Services, LLC is committed to providing safe and secure environments where you live, work, study, and play. For more information about our security consulting services, please contact LARGO Consulting Services, LLC online or call 833-LARGOCS. We also invite you to connect with us on LinkedIn.