FEATURE ARTICLE, JUNE 2006

NATIONAL SECURITY FOR OFFICE LANDLORDS
Taking advantage of technology, companies are going national with their office security systems.
Ted Low

Low

Two dominant security trends have emerged both nationally and on the West Coast: 1) the demand for a single enterprise security system that serves multiple locations and 2) the desire to outsource security system operation and management to experts with a national footprint.

System Complexity Increases with Multiple Locations

An all-encompassing security program for any facility protects employees, visitors and physical assets. It also prevents theft, breach of confidential information and the failure of critical systems. A security system must also be user-friendly, cost-effective and functional. These challenges are amplified when securing multiple locations with an enterprise security system.

Enterprise Security Systems

National firms mandate that an enterprise system meet the following criteria:

• Convenient access for travelers. Traveling employees need convenient access to multiple offices and the buildings in which they are located — with one card. Maintaining firm-wide user information in a single, shared database ensures authorization changes are made in revr office is a non-negotiable feature.

• Unlimited expansion. As national firms add employees and lease additional space within a building, they want their enterprise security systems to be expandable. As technology evolves, firms demand the ability to implement additional features and functionality without having to replace the system.

• Centralized, professional monitoring. To provide a secure environment for staff who work beyond business hours, a security system must be monitored 24/7 by professionals who can initiate an appropriate response to alarms. National corporations want to establish a single set of customized responses to various alarms that are consistent across multiple locations.

• Single-source responsibility for ongoing management. A critical point for consideration is who will be responsible for running the enterprise security system — from programming and card administration to backing up the user database and implementing upgrades without disruption. Companies can staff and run the system themselves, or they can outsource system operations and management to experts.

Outsourcing Security Operations to a Single Responsible Provider

Increasingly, building owners, managers and tenants are outsourcing the operation and management of their security systems to single-source experts with a national presence. In-house security system management is cost-prohibitive; it requires creating a technological infrastructure and hiring or assigning staff to perform the requisite tasks of ongoing system management across multiple locations. National firms want to outsource responsibility for the enterprise system across all locations to a single provider.

With outsourcing, an off-premises security specialist with a national presence performs the critical functions of ongoing system management on behalf of its national client. The benefits of outsourcing enterprise security operation and management are many:

• Lowers cost. Entrusting security to system experts with a national presence saves hundreds of thousands of dollars and relieves a company of the hassles and expenses of running an enterprise system across multiple locations.

• Mitigates liability. Outsourcing the critical functions of ongoing system management to experts reduces legal liability.

• Instills user confidence. Well-run, always functional security systems build user confidence and peace of mind.

• Never becomes obsolete. An enterprise security system designed and managed by experts may be customized and adapted to meet a variety of requirements. Its flexibility ensures it can accommodate future change.

Outsourcing: A Case Study

With offices in Los Angeles, New York and Washington, D.C., the law firm of Milbank, Tweed, Hadley, & McCloy LLP was tasked with upgrading the inconsistent standards, functionality and performance of the disparate security systems installed by multiple vendors across its multiple offices. Milbank Tweed’s Executive Director James Lantonio worked with a leading office and building security specialist to identify and customize an enterprise system to meet the firm’s security needs. Milbank Tweed elected to outsource the 24/7 operation and management of the system to experts.

“We’re in the business of providing legal services — not in the business of providing security,” says Lantonio. “It’s much better to have an expert running your security system. You have one organization that is accountable and responsible for everything that needs to be done in the area of security.”

Cost savings were an immediate benefit for the law firm. Milbank Tweed’s cost/benefit analysis revealed that outsourcing its enterprise system would cost substantially less than creating in-house security departments, establishing monitoring facilities and investing in a technical infrastructure to secure its multiple facilities.

“Running a system yourself is a major, major investment in human capital,” says Lantonio.

The features of Milbank Tweed’s security system include:

• One access card — Each employee, including traveling professionals, carries a single card that enables access to all of Milbank Tweed’s offices and the buildings in which they are located. Milbank Tweed’s user database is current in all of its locations.

• One contract — The law firm negotiated a single contract to secure multiple offices.

• Round-the-clock protection — All alarms, including fire, life safety, access control and other critical mechanical systems, are monitored 24/7 through secure data lines that connect the site to the security company’s off-premises operations center. Security specialists initiate Milbank-specific responses that are consistent across all locations.

• Centralized administration, reporting and control — In real time, Milbank Tweed personnel in any office can add, remove and change authorization for cardholders over the Internet as professionals are hired, terminated or assigned new privileges. Executives can audit and control the system over the Internet and access customized activity reports and traffic histories as needed.

Outsourcing system operation and management will deliver state-of-the-art functionality for Milbank Tweed’s enterprise security system for years to come. As technology changes, the system will keep pace and remain functional.

Use Experts’ Systems to Protect Your Enterprise

As companies establish new offices in disparate locations, their security needs become increasingly complex. The need to standardize and customize their high-tech electronic security systems into one enterprise system is best served by outsourcing their operation and management to experts, thereby ensuring all locations are safe and secure around the clock.

Ted Low is Kastle Systems’ Vice President of Regional Sales for the Western Region.

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