Fewer employees in traditional offices doesn’t make corporate security in 2022 any less challenging. In fact, it seems a lot more complicated than it’s ever been. How to address the corporate security management risks? It starts with understanding unexpected threats to security management.
COVID continues to complicate corporate security in 2022
For one, there’s the COVID overhang. COVID led to a surge in remote working.
But many organisations didn’t fully relinquish their vacated offices. In fact, most maintain brick-and-mortar presences.
Why does it matter? Corporate security budgets were slashed at the beginning of the pandemic. Those budgets haven’t yet recovered back to 2019 levels – not like funding was adequate in 2019.
Commercial building security funding also atrophied.
That means corporate security teams are expected to perform their functions with fewer resources.
Why fewer workers don’t mean less security risk
Business leaders might respond that less is needed because fewer workers are in the office.
That’s not how it works, though.
The remaining workers are likelier to be high-risk lone workers, i.e., those who work in a remote or isolated fashion. Officials have long had to fashion specific (often, legally mandated) protocols to keep this category of worker safe.
COVID mitigations, such as deep cleaning, also call for Facilities staff to work when no one else is in the building, creating safety risk to those workers, who are likely entitled to the same duty of care as all other workers.
Isolated buildings are also at risk
Just like lone workers, (more) isolated physical assets are also more challenging to secure.
Things have always been this way. Goods are often stored in sprawling warehouses and lots, in older spaces not designed with the corporate security threats of 2022 in mind.
COVID catalysing insider threats
Organisations also face the reality of reduced workforces and overburdened staff from the Great Resignation. According to security experts, frustrated employees may be more inclined to act nefariously, especially in an unsupervised environment.
Being able to connect from personal devices only heightens the threat, necessitating the need for the appropriate controls and technologies to ensure visibility.
Strategies for containing corporate security threats in 2022
What, then, can be done?
From the tighter integration of Security Operations Centres (into Physical Security operations) to the use of mobile apps in the field, technology can lead the way. The deployment of flexible platforms that act as the glue between people and technology at the frontlines of corporate security also constitutes a dual investment in technology and personnel.
Not all technologies are created equal, though. Operational security management technology should enable organisations to manage all aspects of physical security operations proactively – from anywhere, on any device.
The software platforms should also be based on ISO standards, streamline your operations using workflow automations to guide information capture, enrichment, follow-up tasks, and notifications, as well as validate threats and risks to drive better investment of your resources.
What other capabilities matter? Download our Guide to the Top 10 Security Threats in 2022 to find out.
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