Now is the time to finalize budgets for the New Year. For any organisation looking to invest in a PSIM solution, here are some tips to keep in mind to ensure that there is budget earmarked for the technology.
Enterprises today understand that they need to be prepared for the unexpected, whether it’s a riot, terrorist attack, Intellectual Property theft, workplace violence or a natural disaster.
In order to mitigate risk (and financial repercussions),the leading enterprises know it’s critical to take a more comprehensive and collaborative approach to protecting and managing resources in order to ensure the safest, most effective and efficient response.
Justifying budget for a PSIM deployment
While budgets are tight, and in some cases shrinking, investments in technology that help companies more effectively mitigate and manage risk result in cost savings over time, and such investments and solutions are becoming more attractive.
With PSIM, organizations have an unmatched level of real-time intelligence which cannot be achieved by simply adding more security devices.
Consider how London has consistently added cameras throughout the city, but it has not decreased the crime rate.
All security technologies in place are better utilized if they can ‘communicate’ with each other. PSIM enables a company to pool data from its various security cameras and devices and analyse it to generate real-time intelligence that is presented in a single operational dashboard to verify and manage any unfolding situation.
Regardless of the type of situation that’s unfolding, from riots to IP theft, with PSIM, the right people are equipped with the right information at the right time to respond faster, more efficiently – and act on a situation before it becomes worse and potentially more costly.
Reduce the repercussions of data breaches
To reiterate an earlier example mentioned in this series, what if an unauthorized individual walked into an office and left with a thumb drive of sensitive company information?
A Ponemon survey last year put the average cost of data breaches at GB pound 4.5 billion (US$7.2 million). Furthermore, the business disruption cost for even five or ten minutes could be several million pounds. By having PSIM technology in place, organizations are able to potentially reduce the financial repercussions with these types of threats.
If an organization does not already have budget set aside for a PSIM deployment, it is important to understand how PSIM enables an enterprise to leverage existing security investments in addition to mitigating risks and financial consequences.
Maximize existing security investments
Since PSIM enables a company to pool real-time intelligence into a single operational dashboard from various technologies, organizations are empowered to maximize the ROI of existing security and technology investments already in place.
Additionally, PSIM’s ability to integrate all of the disparate security systems and devices means that organizations can avoid costly custom integrations or high costs trying to make these technologies work together, especially as newer technologies and annual upgrades are implemented each year.
The ability to optimize existing security and safety systems allows the enterprise to become more intelligent and efficient without having to spend more financial and human resources.
Know what to look for in a PSIM solution – and what may cost extra
As with any technology evaluation, careful attention should be made when selecting a PSIM solution. Many organizations claim to offer a full PSIM solution – which includes capabilities such as collection, analysis, verification, resolution, and reporting – yet are missing key functionality found in any one of these areas.
Missing elements will require investments later on to ‘fill in the gaps’ and will off-set any budget planning that has been done.
Without all of these capabilities, people are responsible for the time-intensive joboffinding, retrieving, and sharing information at each stage in the process; a particularly difficult process in the midst of an emergency.
Key areas to focus on when evaluating a PSIM solution are the platform, architecture, and solution completeness as well as the company’s reputation and commitment to security and safety.
Asking the right questions up front will helpa company decide on a solution that will be the most cost-effective, and rapidto implement and deliver on the promises of effectively managing situations when they arise.
Consider asking these questions to separate the true PSIM solutions from those looking to simply leverage the buzz around PSIM:
– Does the solution support an unlimited number of devices as well as a framework for easily and dynamically adding new devices, versions, and systems in the future?
– Does the architecture allow device updates to be made without having to install new software on desktops or bring down the mission-critical PSIM solution?
– Is the solution a true web-based architecture that allows easy distributed, remote or mobile access via a web browser?
– Do all of the capabilities – collecting, analyzing, verifying, resolving, and tracking exist within the solution?
A layer of intelligence
It’s important to understand that a proper PSIM implementation will reduce operational costs and save money by adding a layer of intelligence that will enable personnel to respond faster and more efficiently to a situation before it becomes more costly.
Additionally, PSIM technology integrates and analyzes information from disparate security devices enabling organizations to leverage existing investments and avoidinvesting in expensive custom solutions to make a company’s unique set of security technologies all work together.
When a company invests in the proper PSIM solution from the get-go, it translates to cost savings, better asset protection and in some cases – saving lives.
