Trial and Error
Feb 1, 2009 12:00 PM, By James R. Black
How to achieve maximum benefit from security technology.
- Mistake 4: Leaving out critical stakeholders
Like many businesses, campuses can be political environments with competing interests, agendas and legacy attitudes. Some administrators have developed a mindset over time that in order to obtain consensus on issues, the pool of stakeholders must be as small as possible. Security projects that proceed without involvement from important stakeholders invite criticism and open the process up to obstacles that can be avoided.
Some of the commonly overlooked stakeholders include service and maintenance staff that will have to maintain systems; field personnel that respond to system alarms; operators that will be using the equipment on a regular basis; and information-technology personnel whose network may be supporting the systems, and may be called on to perform initial troubleshooting and software updates. Other departments that may need to be included are legal, local law enforcement, human resources and procurement. Not every stakeholder needs to be integral to every security technology decision process; however, inviting these stakeholders to the table from the outset can smooth the process and remove much of the potential opposition to a security technology plan.
- Mistake 5: Deploying more technology than necessary
Just because it can be done doesn't mean it should be done. In recent years, security mandates and grant funding opportunities have enabled campuses to acquire significant amounts of security equipment. Unfortunately, funding processes rewarded those who could provide the best justification for their requests. The nature of this process meant that requests for funds to create a security plan or update company-wide security policies and procedures were given less weight than requests for "bleeding edge" technologies. As a result, whether incident-driven or not, many facilities have deployed more technology than they need. On top of this, too many clients accept "beta" test systems to cheaply augment their existing security systems.
Ultimately, shortsighted technology deployments like these have become impediments. How much technology is enough? Match every technology deployment to a specific documented need. Make sure that these needs cannot be addressed by simpler and easier-to-manage "low-tech" or "no-tech" solutions. One test to evaluate whether a school has deployed too much technology is to perform the following test. Find the person within the organization who is most familiar with the security systems. Ask that person to explain to a selected group of non-security employees (representing various skill and authority levels), what the security systems do and how using this technology benefits the campus. If the explanations are not clear, concise and incorporate every aspect of the systems, the school may have too much equipment.
Black, CPP, PSP, CSC, CET, is senior security consultant and operations manager for TRC in its Irvine, Calif., office. He can be reached at jblack@trcsolutions.com.
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