Protecting your property, people, profits, and reputation can’t happen without a comprehensive and proactive approach to physical security. While you can install different equipment from different vendors, the result will be a fragmented system that doesn’t offer the performance and protection you expect. The solution is a unified physical security system, tailored to your specific facility, business or other commercial or industrial site.
What Is a Unified Security System?
A unified security system integrates multiple technologies and services into a single, cohesive solution for protecting your assets. A proactive, integrated approach to security includes electric fencing, access control systems, alarms, surveillance cameras, and centralized monitoring. Unified security systems are distinct from siloed or fragmented ones, which combine multiple components without cohesive, by-design integration.
How Do Unified Security Systems Work?
All components of an integrated security system are designed to work together. If you have multiple sites, a unified system lets you monitor, save, and share security data from all locations from a single dashboard. During an attempted breach, each layer of security within the unified system complements the next — for example, by deterring, detecting, and detaining:
- Deter: An electric fence is an intimidating barrier, deterring would-be intruders before they even attempt a breach. If they do make an attempt, they receive a safe but memorable pulsed electric shock. A unified system also integrates sirens and lights, further incentivizing criminals to flee.
- Detect: Video surveillance cameras record any intrusion or attempted tampering with the fence. You can review this footage from any location, and the evidence can be stored and shared with law enforcement.
- Defend: Remote security professionals monitor your property 24/7, including verifying alarms and alerting the authorities. This level of remote monitoring and threat detection helps get a faster response from police, especially in jurisdictions where visual verification is required before responding to alarms.
The Top 7 Benefits of a Unified Security System for Your Business
Here are the top seven benefits of a unified security system for your commercial or industrial site:
1. Proactive Crime Prevention
In 2023, there were more than 42,000 commercial property burglaries in the U.S. There were also over 21,000 in parking lots and almost 13,000 at construction sites. The impact of these crimes on businesses is severe, and reactive measures alone do little to minimize the damage. The best solution is to stop crime before it happens with proactive lines of defense.
Electric fencing is the foundation of any proactive, unified security solution. The sight of an electric fence and its yellow warning signs are enough to deter most would-be intruders. If the intruder touches the fence, a safe but memorable shock helps dissuade them from trying again. The Electric Guard Dog™ Fence uses pulsed electricity every 1.3 seconds, which makes it safe.
The key here is to implement security measures before a crime actually takes place, rather than waiting until after the fact.
2. Enhanced Security Monitoring
Integrating video surveillance with a unified perimeter security system helps ensure you cover and monitor all areas. Siloed systems may require you or your staff to monitor multiple devices. In contrast, a unified system gives you a central, real-time view of live surveillance footage and other security data. These features give you the full picture of your business’s security when it matters most as well as minimizes the risk of blind spots.
3. Improved Response Times
Siloed systems introduce delays that could provide a criminal with a window of opportunity. In a unified system, threat detection automatically triggers quick responses across the different security layers for decisive action.
For example, your electric fence goes into alarm and triggers a live video feed, and security professionals immediately verify the intrusion attempt via remote monitoring. Then, they share the footage with law enforcement and communicate that there is a verified threat. An integrated security system ensures that all stakeholders have access to the clear insights they need to intervene, making timely responses possible.
4. Cost Efficiency
A multi-layered, integrated approach to physical security saves your business money in several ways:
- Single-vendor service: Working with one vendor to install, monitor, and maintain your security system eliminates the administrative burden and expense of managing multiple contracts.
- Streamlined training: You only need to learn one interface and set of procedures, reducing training time and costs.
- Eliminating redundancies: Siloed systems may involve overlapping equipment and features. For example, you may have separate servers for video surveillance and access control or multiple monitoring stations. Unified systems consolidate features so you only pay for what you need once.
5. Comprehensive Risk Management
Integrating data from all security system components into a single platform makes it easier to spot patterns, identify vulnerabilities, and respond. Real-time monitoring throughout your property provides a comprehensive understanding of risks so you can intervene early before a threat escalates.
6. Simplified Maintenance and Upgrades
Every security system needs regular maintenance and periodic upgrades. Unification simplifies the process because:
- You only need to arrange maintenance with one vendor across your entire system, allowing for efficient, coordinated scheduling to minimize downtime.
- New upgrades, features, and devices are designed for seamless compatibility, promoting optimal performance and future-proofing for long-term system viability.
- Your business avoids the effort and expenses involved in integrating fragmented security layers through custom work, plugins, or replacements.
7. Removing the Need for Security Guards
The truth about security guards is that they are no longer the most effective form of commercial security, especially if you have a large site with multiple assets that’s in a remote location.
Security guards can only be in one place at one time, which makes continuous protection tricky for sites and facilities with extensive perimeters and multiple entries and exits. Remote sites often face additional challenges — for example, security personnel candidates may not want to commute to your location, or law enforcement response times may be slower. The reality is that opportunistic thieves are aware of these challenges, and they will view your property as a more attractive target as a result.
Keeping multiple 24/7 security guards on your payroll is also expensive. Thankfully, there’s another option — AMAROK helps the average customer save $120,000 annually when they replace 24/7 security guards with our unified perimeter security solutions.
Protect Your Perimeter and Assets With AMAROK
A unified security system combines multiple layers of defense to protect your business from evolving threats, offering many advantages over siloed technologies. For example, FORTIFEYE™ combines electric fencing, video surveillance, and video monitoring for a truly unified perimeter security solution. In fact, 99% of AMAROK customers experience zero external theft after investing in our solutions.
Safeguard your property, people, and profits with an industry-leading perimeter security solutions provider. Request a threat assessment from AMAROK today to get started.
