Security-as-a-Service is merely a catchy name for outsourced Managed Physical Security which entails employing a security technology provider as a fully accountable agent to take over and service a customer’s entire security operation, including the cloud-based platforms, but also the myriad of other security requirements that demand time and attention. 

Why Choose Managed Physical Security? 

The central benefit of Managed Security, like outsourced IT, is that it delivers ongoing cost savings by eliminating the in-house overhead of staffing for security or wasting staff time managing of the security operations as a secondary function (like using your IT staff to perform not IT-related work such as distribute physical security privileges).  

For firms where security is merely supporting the primary business function, Managed Security is a cost-effective solution allowing them to focus on what is most critical to the business. 

In a fully managed security model, the provider not only runs the cloud-based platform, but also custom designs and installs the system for every location, as well as monitors and maintains the system operation. If a security event happens (like an access door left open) the provider will alert the proper client personnel. If a component breaks down, the provider is responsible for fixing it and ensuring peak performance. This not only extends the life of the system, ensures accountability, and keeps the system running, but also eliminates unexpected capital expenses and downtime. 

More Secure and Cost-Effective 

Everything is covered in a monthly subscription, so all monitoring, data management, maintenance, staffing, repairs, and replacements are included in a single monthly, quarterly, or annually assessed fee with no surprise expense. What’s more, everything is overseen by dedicated experts, who only do security – you don’t have to waste your internal IT, HR, or Operational focus and overhead expense managing this non-core function.  

This accountability and consistency portfolio-wide creates massive efficiency for corporate real estate leaders who gain access to a single vendor on call to address the needs of any individual location, and who already knows the system and the procedures for every location. This eliminates the inefficiency of managing an ad-hoc mix of local integrators, with no shared knowledge or protocols. It also eliminates “gaps” in coverage and security protocols between offices for more consistent protection. 

Because the managed service provider executes design and installation themselves, they control all the necessary integrations at each location. This gives them the ability to tailor the integration for each disparate legacy business system in place (like HR, Identity Management, and Facility Management) at each location, minimizing the operational disruption. This makes portfolio-wide adoption easier, faster, and less expensive due to the consistency of the installation vendor. It also makes the ongoing operation across those integrations more uniform for the client. 

Data Centralization 

Another benefit of Managed Security, especially in the era of hybrid attendance, is the data richness gained from having a single, consistent managed data platform. Not only is access data readily available for analysis, but you also gain outsourced expertise from the provider in helping customize a client’s activity reporting for auditing or assessing space use. It is significantly more efficient than trying to piece together ad-hoc data reporting from a mix of locations. 

Additionally, a managed service can integrate your access identity profiles directly to authoritative source active directory (like the master HR of IT directory), synchronizing identity management between access data and employee profiles. This enables attendance monitoring to be more accurate for understanding the sources occupancy and space use by user, by location, by day and more. This is critical knowledge for understanding hybrid usage patterns in each office location. 

Summary 

Managed Security is a remarkably efficient and cost-effective approach for securing multiple office locations and is especially relevant in a highly variable hybrid working environment. Outsourcing to experts frees corporate real estate leaders from the non-strategic workload that security management presents for most organizations. It also delivers more uniform, high quality security performance across all locations to minimize security risks and foster a safe and productive work environment.