Building security and automation unite security and building management systems on a single platform. This article takes a closer look at five key verticals that can especially benefit from building security and automation.
Building security and automation unite security and building management systems on a single platform. Vertical markets that can benefit from such integration range from hospitality to education. This article takes a closer look at five key verticals that can especially benefit from
building security and automation.
Unified platform
Building security and automation integrates the end user entity’s security and building management systems. Typically, they are integrated on a
unified platform, which delivers various benefits
“The use of integrated management platforms is increasingly prevalent. Such platforms allow you to integrate a wide range of security and building management solutions. Such solutions enable organizations to manage and respond to alarms and events from a ‘single pane of glass’ allowing for a common process, allowing users to make better decisions, operate more efficiently and respond to incidents more quickly,” said James Clark, Director of Sales for EMEA & APAC at AMAG Technology.
“Integrating security with building management systems enhances overall security by closely aligning access control systems with video surveillance and intruder detection to provide real-time monitoring and immediate response to security breaches. These integrations are perfect for data analytics, with unified platforms collecting and analyzing data from various systems to provide valuable insights into building performance and helping to identify areas for improvement,” said Nick Mercer, Marketing Manager at TDSi.
Which verticals can benefit?
Building security and automation can benefit a variety of sectors. Below we look at five key verticals that can especially benefit from this integration, based on our chat with Bryan Montany, Principal Analyst for Access Control and Physical Security Technologies at Omdia.
Hospitality
The ability for
hospitality operators to offer hotel guests control over integrated security and energy systems in their individual rooms through a single application is very appealing. “For example, a unified management platform can provide the capability for guests to preset preferences for HVAC, lighting, entertainment and other room variables. These settings can then be automatically applied to the room either once the guest checks into the hotel or once they scan their access card to gain entry to the room,” Montany said.
Enterprise-level commercial office buildings
According to Montany, enterprise-level commercial buildings are still one of the largest and most lucrative markets for vendors. “An interesting trend to note here is growing demand for building security and automation systems in buildings owned by property management companies and real estate developers with spaces then leased to corporate occupants. In the wake of the pandemic, demand for office space has shrunk among many occupants. This has led to the repurposing of smaller office spaces to more prospective tenants, which in turn has accelerated demand for integrated security and energy systems that allow for tailoring and customization of these spaces through a single platform,” he said.
Retail
Montany notes that factors akin to those driving growth in the enterprise-level office buildings sector will also drive growth for the use of integrated systems in shared retail spaces like shopping malls. “Owners of chains (such as fast food restaurants) can rely upon building automation and unified security systems to reduce security costs by outsourcing monitoring to centralized security teams that can remotely monitor and engage with data from many different facilities at once,” he said.
Airports
Airports have been among the early adopters of building security and automation. “Reliable occupancy tracking is a great benefit to ensure that airports can monitor passenger traffic rates across individual terminals and sectors within the building, allowing end users to make informed decisions regarding everything from store placement to expansion needs,” Montany said.
Education
Building security and automation has become a major driver for growth in the US education market, in part due to concerns for school violence and other safety incidents, which have heightened the need for security professionals to comprehensively monitor potential security breaches and abnormalities across campuses through a single application. “When access control systems are installed across interior doors at a school, an authorized individual can respond to incidents by locking down individual classrooms within the building. In addition, connected life safety systems can be remotely monitored to enable rapid-fire responses to emergency situations such as fires and gas leaks,” Montany said.