In today’s business world, terms like convergence, synergy and integration are used so frequently that it’s easy to dismiss instances where they actually are occurring. Integrated security systems are a case in point. Behind the growth in security system integration projects is the realization by leaders, managers, school principals, healthcare executives, and more that the risks their organizations face pose catastrophic threats.

Security system integration refers to the trend within a growing number of organizations to merge physical security applications, such as access control, and logical security applications, such as biometric identification programs that allow employees to use the corporate network, into a single, comprehensive system.

There are a number of benefits to integrating the different elements of an organization’s physical and logical security system.

• Firstly, it provides a more comprehensive approach to security that’s less vulnerable to incidents and better able to respond if one occurs.

• An integrated security system also offers the benefit of better protection against the reality that you can perpetrate physical threats logically, and logical threats physically.

• In addition, an integrated system typically provides operating efficiencies. As a starting point, calls to the IT help desk generally drop when employees can use one credential to access both their computers and their workspace. The more credentials or passwords they have to manage, the greater the likelihood that they’ll forget one, and need to call on the information systems staff.

• Lastly, as new open-standards software applications come onto the market, it’s becoming increasingly feasible to manage an integrated system from a single software package. You’ll have one interface to deal with, so there’s less training and it’s easier to support!