At the enterprise level, physical security has taken a backseat to growing cybersecurity concerns over the years. However, with new COVID-related initiatives centered on managing workplace access, the physical team has a chance to take a seat at the executive table and make a meaningful impact on digital transformation efforts.
But this isn’t some gladiator battle between the digital and physical sides of security. Health and safety are now everyone’s concern – and teams that work with their HR departments will find a treasure trove of business potential as they tackle new access-related challenges together. Let’s explore.
HR holds some of the most valuable data in your organization
What distinguishes a person off the street from someone who’s allowed in your office? Their employee identity. Those identities typically originate within a company’s human resources (HR) department, which also makes HR the binding thread of people and data at your organization.
What does this have to do with physical security? If you want to gain visibility into workplace access, you need to be linked to that data. More specifically, you need to make sure every digital identity has a matching physical counterpart.
A single source of truth for workforce identities allows you to authorize and audit every type of access at your company. Now you’re positioned to automate the enforcement of changing access and compliance policies. In the event that you need to perform contact tracing, you already have the data you need – and the collaborative atmosphere to act swiftly.
What else can you do with unified workforce identities?
In short, you can solve business challenges. For example, when you automate digital and physical workspace access, you’re helping employees spend less time getting in and out of buildings and chat rooms, opening the door for increased productivity. Also, you may not need as many security resources guarding doors and checking IDs, effectively reducing the overall cost that physical security incurs to your organization.
Let’s imagine that when contract workers badge in and out of your facilities, they’re triggering an automatic log of the exact time they have spent on the premises. You no longer have to process hourly logs submitted by those same workers – and you can ensure that you’re only paying for the exact amount of time they spend on site.
With more precise invoicing for contract employees, how much could your organization save?
What else can you do together?
Turns out, HR and physical security make a pretty dynamic duo with some mutually beneficial opportunities for collaboration that support important top-line initiatives. Why stop there?
Have you considered partnering with HR to…
- Improve employee satisfaction scores? New hires often complete surveys to help companies measure the employer experience – and how you manage their access from day one plays a part in their responses.
- Refine the background check process? Yet another key process that ensures safety – which could be optimized and streamlined.
- Raise customer satisfaction and organizational health ratings? Simplified access, facility monitoring and more satisfied, productive employees create a recipe for an elevated customer experience.
This is the beginning of a beautiful friendship
Getting in sync with HR systems can help you bring measurable progress on your company’s digital transformation goals. And it doesn’t have to be complicated. We can help you use your existing systems and data to create unified workforce identities, gain visibility, automate policy enforcement and more. Because now is a good time to stick together – and convergence can get you there effectively and efficiently.
