Over the past couple of years, there has been much talk within the security sphere that a ‘real game changer’ is on the horizon in the form of PSIM, or — to save us from the tyranny of acronyms — Physical Security Information Management.
The view was that large, complex or multi-site organisations would fall over themselves to sign up to a new paradigm emanating from Stateside — one that would see specialist software platforms integrating an array of unconnected security applications including CCTV, access control, intrusion detection, and fire.
The goal: to improve security performance, better assess risk, and drive an enhanced security culture, all through a single user interface.
Sadly, this paradigm has failed to materialise. As we sit here in hard economic times, it’s possible that the undoubted efficiency, situational awareness, and reporting benefits have been unseated by the mistaken belief that it’s all about ‘integration’, as well as the perceived costs of implementation (in both financial and process improvement terms).
Indeed, with two large global contract opportunities cancelled in the last 12 months due to budget constraints and prominent installations largely confined to the regulated environment and utilities sectors so far, the opportunity for traction appears to have stalled.
Pushing PSIM out to a broader market
So, what could be the spur to give PSIM the ‘push up the ramp’ to mass organisational adoption?
Well in part, the benefits of PSIM need to be better articulated, and in doing that, the focus needs to be widened from being purely a security solution.
Whilst the security function should remain the principal stakeholder, true PSIM should encompass much more and focus on the ability to integrate wider technologies including building management systems, data/telephony load sharing systems, and even crisis management technologies. In essence, the capabilities that the software overlay provides for real-time situational management should be seen as an organisation-wide performance improvement opportunity — one in which it can better protect its people, property, assets, and brand.
Equally, the integration community needs to work with the true suppliers of PSIM solutions (many are just single technology providers playing the PSIM game — only offering limited integration capability) to showcase the successes and to focus the debate on the financial returns that can be made by implementing it in a structured manner.
Building a business case
Integrators need to be working with their customer bases to highlight the fact that the future for PSIM is not about the information supplied, it’s about what you do with that information and how you control the actions of those receiving that information in a consistent and effective way.
Larry Lien, Prominex VP, put it simply: “If there is a smoke alarm, is there smoke? If there is, they do these five things. If not, they do these five things.”
Finally, and perhaps most challengingly, it needs a customer who has the need, the organisation-wide perspective, and the capacity to invest in a system that will drive business performance. In these times of austerity and budget trimming, this is perhaps the biggest challenge.
However, with a detailed scoping phase and perhaps a pilot implementation across a subset of sites, the end customer can mitigate any perceived risk from a ‘big bang’ approach, whilst gathering concrete evidence of benefits that highlight the wider return on investment. In this way, a compelling business case can be constructed for further phased rollout and more mainstream adoption across the organisation.
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