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HR and Security: Work together, win together

Why HR and Security have finally teamed up

By Willem Ryan
AlertEnterprise, Vice President of Marketing and Communications and originally published on Security Today Magazine

The Physical Security industry is at an inflection point. Digital transformation and Security Convergence have accelerated, hastened by the persistent pandemic. Physical Security, HR and IT departments have been forced to work together quickly in designing back-to-work strategies, realizing that separate silos of operations just won’t cut it any longer.

The Human Side of Security

The collaboration of HR and Physical Security teams is leading the way for enterprise response and recovery in a COVID-19 world. Even more importantly—the silver lining—it’s building a stronger sense of trust and support and a positive experience among employees. (Learn more about COVID-19 back-to-work strategies here.)

The Days of Working in Silos are Over

When HR and Physical Security work together, the results are amazing. There’s a newfound focus on health, Safety and well-being—a human side that balances people, time and space—with Identity at the center of it all. Workers feel engaged and in partnership with their employer and thanks to Security Convergence, all the right mechanisms are in place to make it happen. (Learn more about the advantages of Security Convergence here.)

Securing Digital Transformation

Collaboration between departments, especially HR, has always been a goal but rarely achieved. The move to the cloud and common operating platforms as part of the digital transformation has made it far easier to integrate Security, HR and facilities technologies. (Read more about the digital transformation here).

Shift Happens

HR is at the center of this much-needed seismic shift. They need to keep people safe, manage exposure incidents and maintain business operations by having the right people at the right place at the right time. Security is refocused on Safety and protecting people from doing things that could inadvertently harm themselves and others — again lending to a positive employee experience. Real-time integration with HR software and Physical Security ties it all together seamlessly, proactively enforcing company policy and compliance while dramatically enhancing workforce productivity and experience. (Learn more about integration with SAP SuccessFactors HCM here.)

Managing people and the workspace through Identity has become critical, especially during COVID-19. Now, enterprises can focus uniquely on the individual’s Identity and characteristics, skills and requirements and tie it all together in a single, automated process. We know who is where and when and can automatically and digitally remind workers of policies while proactively enforcing safe behavior. We can correlate and provide data essential to daily activities and reentering the workplace, choregraphing the use of a space in this new normal with sophistication and ease.

Leveraging Current Technology Investments

The majority, if not all users already have an HR software system in place. What they may not know is that they can integrate it with their Security and Physical Identity platforms — leveraging their current investment. HR systems readily integrate with Visitor Management and Physical Access Control Systems (PACS) and can extend this connection to improve Security and the hire-to-retire journey. Users can migrate simply thanks to Identity Management processes that bridge gaps to incorporate their on-premises access systems. With this approach the results are a converged solution across the enterprise that effectively interfaces HR, IT, Operational Technology (OT) and Physical Security. (Learn more about PACS consolidation here.)

Next Steps

It’s no longer a matter of if an organization should digitally transform — it’s come down to how fast they can do it. Fact is, companies who made the move to digitally integrated processes prior to COVID-19 and were already heading down the path of convergence have actually fared better than those who weren’t and are now struggling to get their workforce back safely.

HR and Security collaboration is essential from a business and technology perspective. With it comes a new focus on the individual and their Safety at the workplace — creating the human side that perhaps was missing for some organizations.