More sophisticated threats require a more sophisticated security design. Systems like access control, surveillance, and intrusion detection play an essential role in protecting your people, assets, and infrastructure, but traditionally they operate in silos. Being separated made for easier installation, but it limited their abilities.
Imagine, for example, an unauthorized person attempting to enter your facility through a compromised access point. This might trigger an access control alarm, but if that system is siloed, it won’t also trigger video from your surveillance system or link the incident to a perimeter breach. Without that information, you are missing essential context to tell your security teams if this alarm is a false positive or the start of a major security incident.
This is why high-security government facilities need to focus on unified security design. Integrating these different security systems into one comprehensive platform can provide a more holistic view of your security.
Learn more about integrated security design, why you need it, how to achieve it, and the potential pitfalls you’ll want to avoid along the way.
What Is Integrated Security Design?
Integrated security design combines multiple security systems into one comprehensive platform. Rather than operating as separate systems, they work together and communicate with each other to create a more effective, multi-layered approach to security. By sharing data and information, a unified security system can give security teams a more comprehensive view of what’s happening around the facility, including potential threats and escalating incidents.
Integrating your security system offers numerous benefits, including:
- Better detection of potential threats
- Faster incident response time
- More effective, streamlined security operations
- Cost savings through reduced redundancy and better resource allocation
While smaller facilities may be able to secure their properties with siloed systems, it’s much more effective for high-security government facilities to adopt a unified security design.
Best Practices for Integrating Your Security Systems
Integrating security systems requires careful planning. First, you’ll need to consider which aspects of your security you’ll want to integrate. The most common systems include:
- Intruder detection systems
- CCTV – Video Management Systems (VMS)
- Automatic access control
- Perimeter intrusion detection
- Security lighting
You may also opt to integrate systems such as your internal communications system, human resources system, or specific health and safety measures. What you choose to integrate largely depends on your facility, primary security risks, and budget.
When moving forward with unified security design, you’ll want to go through these five steps:
Assess
Start by evaluating your current security systems. Take stock of what you have in place and where there may be opportunities for improvement. You’ll want to assess your hardware, software, and overall security infrastructure.
Plan
Once you know what you have, create a plan to unify it. Develop a roadmap that outlines your integration goals, timeline, and budget. You’ll want to identify trusted vendors and security specialists who can help you achieve these goals. You’ll also need to consider:
- Data formats — Creating a standard data format across your systems will simplify data exchange and analytics reporting.
- Scalability — Ensure your integrated system can scale with your needs to accommodate future growth. A cloud-based system is helpful for this.
- User-friendliness — Focus on creating a user-friendly interface that encourages protocol adoption. The more it feels like a natural part of work life, the more reliable your security measures will be.
Implement
Depending on your current infrastructure and budget, you may want to take a phased approach to integration. You’ll need compatible systems and interfaces that can exchange data. Thoroughly test the system by simulating real-world scenarios to see how it responds. Make sure your newly integrated system adheres to data protection regulations.
Maintain
Once your integrated system is running, establish a maintenance protocol to keep hardware, software, and configurations up to date. Your maintenance protocols should also include rigorous evaluations to check for vulnerabilities within your system so that you can mitigate any potential risks. You’ll also need to train security personnel to operate the system and troubleshoot any issues they encounter.
Potential Pitfalls to Watch for in System Design
Integrating your security systems can result in a stronger, more comprehensive layer of protection for your high-security facility. But it can be a complex process with a lot of potential pitfalls. Here are a few common ones you’ll want to watch out for:
- Security risks — Integrating multiple systems can create new vulnerabilities if implemented incorrectly. Data breaches, unauthorized access, and system failures are all potential risks.
- Compatibility issues — Different systems may have incompatible hardware, software, or communication protocols. This can make integrating them difficult, if not impossible.
- Data integration challenges — Merging data from various systems can be tricky, especially if that data isn’t in a unified format. This can make reporting and analytics much more complex and time-consuming.
Once you know the potential pitfalls to watch for, they are much easier to avoid. Additional testing can overcome many of these challenges, but one pitfall prevents integration more than any other: skill gaps.
Integrating a security system requires specialized knowledge, and this unique skill set may not be available within your organization. You may need to seek outside help from a trusted vendor.
Ariel Secure Technologies can help.
We Offer Seamless Security Design for High-Risk Facilities
Ariel specializes in creating unified security systems tailored to the unique needs of high-security facilities. When you partner with Ariel, you join a trusted team experienced in developing comprehensive security solutions for high-security government facilities. For more than 30 years, we have worked directly with facility managers, intelligence community directors, and civilian agencies that need seamless security infrastructures that protect people and assets without hindering efficiency.
Our security experts have the knowledge and experience to design and implement an integrated system that delivers exceptional results, including accurate alerts, comprehensive coverage, and detailed analytics. We do more than design and install, too. We also provide ongoing support, maintenance, and optimization services to ensure your system continues to function optimally over the long term.
Contact Ariel Secure Technologies today to learn how we can enhance your security through smart integrated system design.
