The future of work is a hot topic right now, as many companies are split between mandating in-person offices, moving forward with a hybrid model, or going fully remote after the pandemic. But, no matter what office setup your workplace has, office security will always be a top priority. Workplace security is no longer just about securing your physical building, but it now includes cybersecurity, data concerns, health measures, and being prepared for whatever the future may bring.

Now more than ever, getting ahead of office security issues in the workplace is important for the health of employees and the adaptability of your company. We’re going to walk you through the top security concerns for companies today, and predict what the future of workplace security looks like so you can prepare.

Why is office security important?

Security is more than just protecting your people and your property. When your workplace is properly secured and protected, you can improve your overall operations. Having good office security can help you:

  • Avoid accidents and injuries in your office
  • Ensure employee and visitor safety
  • Comply with laws and guidelines
  • Improve business operations
  • Boost employee morale and productivity
  • Lower your employee insurance costs and workers’ compensation premiums
  • Create an engaging environment for your employees
  • Reach corporate responsibility goals
  • Protect your proprietary information

While there are many benefits you can reap from a properly secured workplace, protecting your people is also part of being a responsible employer. Ensuring that your employees, visitors, and customers are properly trained and prepared for workplace emergencies and that they’re safe while at work is a must for any employer. 

Are you curious about your emergency preparedness? Take our five minute quiz and see how you can improve your plan to keep your workplace safe in emergencies.

What is the future of office security?

Office security is only strong if it’s able to anticipate future needs. The future of workplace security is going to be the use of centralized systems and data to better manage your office, your employees, and your visitors.

Security as all-encompassing consideration

As mentioned above, security is more than just protecting your building. A forward-looking workplace security strategy will include all aspects of office security including physical, digital, and health considerations. A secure workplace will have a system or systems in place to oversee all aspects of security to manage employees and equipment together.

Centralized management

For the most effective workplace security, you’ll need a system that centralizes all of your tools and helps you oversee all aspects of security and operations. Think about how you can reconfigure your systems to centralize your data, control visitor access, preserve planning documents, and create a hub for important communications.

One of the best tools you can use to centralize your workplace management is a visitor management system, or VMS. With this software you can manage security issues, oversee your employees and visitors, and communicate policies across your organization. A VMS is going to be a key tool as office security continues to evolve.

Anticipating business needs

In the next few years, having a security system that does double duty will be important. It’s not enough to just oversee and manage your office security. A thoroughly prepared office will be able to take security data and put it to use with essential automations. This can help you streamline your operations and conduct business more efficiently and intelligently. Use data to find opportunities to:

  • Automate building access
  • Utilize your cloud-based data
  • Communicate workspace availability
  • Manage office space
  • Oversee in-person and remote work

How can companies prepare for the future?

The best thing you can do to prepare for the future is to find a system that will centralize your security management and start collecting data for you. You need to start pulling all the pieces of your security together, like employee policies, emergency preparation, visitor policies, and workplace management, so you have better oversight into your operations. A VMS can help you manage all of these separate pieces, plus begin collecting data in the background so you can apply it to future business decisions while streamlining your operations.

While data can help you make smarter, data-driven decisions, it’s important to not get caught up in automations and digitizing your security. As technology gets more sophisticated, it’s going to become crucial to not let automations overtake the human aspect of your operations and decision making. Digital solutions and systems are not always one-size-fits-all, so leaving room for custom solutions and adapting to specific use cases will be key. 

Similarly, decisions need to have data to back them up, but without leaving your employees out of the equation. Data can help paint a picture, but at the end of the day your policies need to support your employees. The human element of security will be a key consideration in the years to come.

Finally, you need to prepare for cybersecurity concerns. Technology is becoming more integrated into everyday processes and operations, so finding ways to protect your employees and your data as technology evolves will be important for any security considerations. It’s especially true in the current hybrid environment where some employees work in-person while some are remote. Cybersecurity considerations need to include every environment in which work is conducted for maximum impact. 

With VMS, it’s easy to control who has access to company data and what they see. This high-level oversight lets you manage data access and capture information about employees, visitors, contractors, and more. This way, if there is a security breach or other problem, you are prepared with the data you need to investigate, as well as the features to address the problem to prevent it from recurring.  

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The best way to prepare your office security for the future is to evaluate your current systems and work toward centralizing them. Consider how you can bring your operational management together and make your systems work together. If you’re struggling to make your current systems work, get in touch with our security experts to see how VMS can help you prepare for the future of workplace security.