More than three years ago, the world was jettisoned into crisis mode with the emergence of Covid 19. Everyone—from families to companies to countries—went into lockdown mode. Even though we distanced ourselves from others, there was a sense of unity, of camaraderie.
We were in this together.
Since that time, frayed nerves became even more tenuous. Politics were interjected into policies, driving a wedge between populations who were, for a brief time, united.
Supply chain shortages continue to wreak havoc on a country used to abundance and business owners struggle to keep their doors open because of employee shortages.
Businesses that were already adopting temporary changes to keep their doors open, need to keep their options open for even more creative solutions, or to modify those solutions already in place.
In the risk, security, and incident response industry, five areas emerged as focal points. As the crisis continues, and mental health becomes even more tenuous, these segments continue to be critical areas for focus.
Automation is essential for critical event management
Stripe, Dropbox, Slack, WhatsApp, Uber, Airbnb, and Kickstarter were all launched during the last financial crisis. Each model disrupted its industry by streamlining its processes, and saw significant success by embracing automation.
Now the security sector itself needs to adopt automation processes. Automation is one of the biggest improvements that the industry can leverage for critical event management. It allows managers to regain control over ever-increasing security issues and build trust.
Automation is also critical in reacting to crises. Consider, for example, the increased focus on the Black Lives Matter movement. During a time of heightened emotions and a call for change, other disruptive factions have brought a dangerous element to peaceful protests. With hundreds or even thousands of people coming together in a small area, malevolence can insert itself quickly.
Automating security measures decreases response times and empowers personnel to quickly react to an escalating event.
People come first during incident response processes
The pandemic is hopefully slowing down, but that’s difficult to see at this time, even as the long-term repercussions increasingly become obvious.
However, the businesses that keep their doors open will be those that put employees at the forefront. The individual will become the cornerstone. The growth spirit that organizations need to get through this worldwide crisis will mean putting people first.
The security community is no exception. Putting people first will mean that they are at the center of your decision-making. Employees should now—and rightly so—be involved in the incident response process.
Allow them, for example, to quickly signify any problematic situation and to contribute to the recovery. All this will:
Strengthen the resilience of the organization
Create a feeling of confidence and security
Limit interruptions and disruptions
Increasing this focus will ultimately promote strong growth for the organization.
Optimizing resources is essential for critical event management
In addition to causing irreparable damage to individuals and their families, the pandemic has had significant economic consequences.
The security industry must quickly find ways to reduce costs while continuing to carry out our responsibilities. It will become essential to promptly put in place the technologies necessary to improve efficiency in security management while enhancing our response to various incidents.
Consider, for example, how the airline industry has been impacted by security risks, even in flight. Travelers’ tempers are short because flights are continually postponed or cancelled because of sick personnel, and enforcing new regulations such as mask mandates has created even more resistance.
More than ever, security is essential. The best security managers have been those who demonstrated the increased improvement in organizational resilience in a tight financial environment.
Incident response protocols need to be in place
All of this will only be possible through the development or adoption of incident response protocols. Every incident, whatever it is, follows a response protocol (whether it is planned or not).
Criminals and potential active killers are effective because they planned to set into motion a series of events or demands quickly. Nobody knows where or when this is going to happen, but security has to be trained to react quickly.
In January 2022, for example, a gunman entered a synagogue in Colleyville, TX, and took four people hostage. In all, an estimated 200 law enforcement personnel responded to the situation, and the hostages were rescued without injury. The gunman was killed.
Strict protocols are necessary for all levels of security, including cybersecurity, physical security, business continuity, IT recovery, health and safety, and emergency management. These protocols put people at the center, allow continuous optimization and automate most actions.
Identifying structured versus unstructured data is crucial during incidents
Becoming efficient in incident management will require being able to rely on relevant and precise data. However, all data is not equal. It will become imperative to organize and select the essential information properly.
The multiplication of incidents and sources alone will justify the implementation of decision support solutions. The primary point is that company’s management will increasingly seek to monitor incident management in real-time.
The pressure will come as much from boards of directors, regulatory authorities, and markets as from other stakeholders, including customers and company partners.
Only structured information will provide the correct view.
A quicker, better, and less costly response is increasingly crucial as the pandemic shows few signs of slowing down. Everyone will evaluate our actions more than ever.
Along with the pandemic, social and political upheaval has introduced uncertainty in just about every facet of our lives. We have adjusted to these challenges, but it’s essential that we continue to look at ways to put our people first, automate processes, minimize unnecessary costs, and focus on providing optimized security.