Viewing Security Entrances Through ROSI-Colored Glasses

The term ROSI (Return on Security Investment) has long been used by cybersecurity providers to measure and articulate the value of their solutions. When applied to physical security, especially security entrances, ROSI represents a paradigm shift, moving beyond risk mitigation to highlight the broad business benefits of advanced security systems. For security integrators, understanding and leveraging ROSI can help end users make informed decisions. By emphasizing the tangible business advantages, ROSI builds a strong case for investing in solutions like security entrances that drive value across various operations and initiatives.

Why Security Entrances? 

Security entrances and revolving doors offer integrators a compelling product to recommend and install for their customers, providing benefits that extend well beyond their core function. These systems support overall business operations and scalable building management, driving higher ROSI for end-users. Security entrances bring environmental benefits such as air quality and temperature, and drive energy efficiency.

For instance, a 2006 MIT study showed that revolving doors significantly reduced air infiltration compared to standard doors, leading to substantial CO2 emission reductions.

Energy costs are a significant concern for businesses. Security entrances provide an “always open, always closed” solution, which significantly reduces energy loss around doors and windows. These entrances contribute to lower energy bills and a reduced carbon footprint, appealing to users focused on sustainability and long-term savings. This also helps them understand the broader impact on their operational costs.

Mitigating Risk and Enhancing ROSI

Secured entry solutions bring an attractive and welcoming appearance while maintaining robust protection. This balance between aesthetics and security has propelled these systems into mainstream use.

Security entrances effectively mitigate risks through advanced technology. Tailgating, a common security breach where unauthorized individuals slip in behind someone with valid credentials, can now be identified and access denied in real-time. Similarly, piggybacking involves two individuals colluding to use one authorized credential to pass through a secured entrance together. Even with access control systems in place, criminals can exploit tailgating or piggybacking tactics to gain entry. Security entrances are designed to thwart these physical breaches, providing a more secure environment.

This proactive approach eliminates reliance on alarms and security officers, ensuring a higher level of protection. Other features like dual-factor portals equipped with facial recognition technology add another layer of security by verifying that the person attempting to enter matches a valid set of credentials before granting access.

These secured entry solutions operate around the clock, reducing the need for multiple security guards. This shift allows organizations to reallocate resources and manage labor costs while maintaining continuous, reliable protection. For security integrators, highlighting the cost savings and productivity gains of security entrances is crucial. Demonstrating how these systems provide a cost-effective alternative to traditional manned security posts can help clients see the long-term ROSI of advanced security entrances.

Ensuring Compliance and Security with Advanced Entry Solutions

Maintaining compliance with regulations is essential for today's organizations to prevent fines, audits, or product recalls. A major aspect of compliance involves controlling physical access to sensitive areas.

Regulations mandate controlling physical access and taking reasonable measures to prevent unauthorized entry and maintaining records of authorized individuals for review or audit. Security entrances play a critical role in securing entry points and monitoring access, helping clients avoid non-compliance penalties and pass audits. By integrating these systems, organizations can meet regulatory requirements and maintain certifications. Each application has unique security requirements, making your expertise as an integrator essential for meeting compliance goals for regulations like GDPR, FICAM, HIPAA, and others. Collaborating with experienced consultants and manufacturers further ensures successful regulatory adherence.

Enhancing Loss Prevention with Security Entrances

Physical security plays a vital role in preventing theft from unauthorized access and screening visitors and employees as they exit. However, with the plethora of entry solutions, products, sensors, and AI video analytics available, selecting the right combination of devices and technologies can be challenging.

The design and selection process for secured entry solutions should optimize time, training, and labor resources, and where feasible, incorporate new technologies. The strategy is to narrowly define threat avenues, similar to how IT professionals use honey-pots, by pinpointing areas where shrinkage can and can’t occur. Below are potential entry/exit workflows for a layered physical security strategy:

• Perimeter/Parking Lot: Two-way full height turnstiles equipped with access control, tailgating and piggybacking prevention, intercom, video monitoring, and an adjacent ADA pedestrian gate.
• Initial Entry, Divestment, and Screening: Employees divest personal belongings into lockers and proceed through metal detectors attached to one-way inbound full height turnstiles with access control, tailgating and piggybacking prevention, ADA entry portals, and weapons detection screening.
• Tracking Breaks and Lunches: Employees enter through waist-high tripod turnstiles during breaks or lunch, allowing management to collect data on who is on and off the floor and for how long.
• End-of-Shift Theft Deterrence: When exiting, employees approach an array of two waist-high turnstiles: one leading to an exit and the other to a search/pat-down area with a guard. This solution serves as both a deterrent and a preventive measure to reduce shrinkage due to employee theft.
• Exiting Facilities: One-way outbound full height turnstiles can be used for those leaving the screening area to access lockers and exit the facility.

By implementing these security measures, organizations can significantly reduce the risk of theft and enhance overall security, ensuring a more controlled and secure environment. This supports a more robust ROSI for organizations.

Securing Stakeholder Buy-In: The ROSI Advantage

Helping users grasp the ROSI of security entrances involves illustrating benefits across energy cost savings, compliance, loss prevention, and risk mitigation.

Security entrances mitigate risks by deterring, detecting, or preventing unauthorized entry, ultimately reducing the need for manpower to supervise entry points, and creating a payback on the capital expenditure. Additionally, educating all employees about security measures makes them part of the solution. This increased awareness and understanding can improve engagement and adoption, with the benefits and rationale for security investments filtering up to executive management and decision-makers.

By understanding and communicating the ROSI of security entrances, integrators can help end-users make informed decisions that lead to improved efficiency, reduced costs, enhanced compliance, and better loss prevention. This approach not only showcases the tangible benefits of advanced security solutions but also establishes integrators as trusted advisors who prioritize their clients' success.