Another physical security trade show has passed and while GSX 2023 in Dallas was smaller than ISC West held each spring, the quality of conversations were something to write home about. This is especially true of the many teams of end-user decision makers that walked the show floor, tasked with finding the latest and greatest technology to take back to their organizations.
But what stood out the most (and what differs from the show’s Las Vegas counterpart) is the attendance of the majority of speaking sessions and panels that became a centerpiece of the entire experience for the HiveWatch team. Participating in four sessions, team members reported valuable questions and discussions around the modern challenges of security program management post-pandemic, about the rise in collaboration between manufacturers (and at times, the need for more), and discussions around whether the traditional GSOC might need to be revisited.
Here are some other takeaways and lessons learned that may carry on into the future:
We're still talking about convergence.
Like it or not, the vast majority of manufacturers that have been talking about the convergence of cyber and physical security aren’t actually seeing it and most end users are saying the same. We’d love to think that we’ve made progress on this front, but the security leaders I spoke to this week (and heard from in the panel "The Future of the GSOC") agree that very few companies are fusing the two together. There’s a lot of room for improvement here, and I’m eager to discuss this further later this year (webinar coming soon).
Data serves more than security leaders.
Alongside Meta’s Bobby Louissaint and Moderna’s Dean Geribo, I had the privilege of talking about Mapping Security Back to the Business during the show. What stood out the most to me as we engaged with attendees was the use of data across all sectors of the business. As security leaders, we tend to hold onto the rich data we collect.
As Bobby said, “Data is the new oil,” but finding ways to use it beyond security is where we can move the needle and secure additional buy-in from decision makers. For example, building occupancy data and how it can highlight underutilized areas of a corporate campus or dwell times in cafeteria lines that can impact the time people spend away from their workstations.
There's an almost overwhelming amount of point solutions on the market.
Not sure this is much of a surprise, but the number of point solutions on the market has reached critical mass. But as organizations add more and more of these to their network and task security leaders to manage them, there has to be a way to aggregate the data collected into meaningful insights meant to add clarity – not complications – to incident management.
Security leaders need more support for reaching the C-suite.
Until security can speak to shareholder earnings and elevate the conversation around the “duty of care,” corporate security will continue to be seen as a red line item. Instead, Dean said in our panel, “Security leaders need to be business people with a security hat.” In essence, each decision and strategic vision for security needs to be directly tied to business objectives. Doing so will give security a seat at the table and be involved in critical decisions.
The security ecosystem is all about collaboration.
HiveWatch Technology Enablement Manager Jon Harris put it best when he said, “Partnership, integration, and APIs were the theme of the show – ecosystems based on collaboration between technology providers to place the needs of the customer first was an apparent focus.”
"While we're making strides, the industry still leans toward silos (many of which we aim to tear completely down here at HiveWatch). But progress is being made, and we're excited to be leading this charge."
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