The Great Conversation

Mark Reid, Director of Safety and Security at Seattle Pacific University, visited us last year in a spontaneous and transparent conversation around his journey in creating a near-real time incident response system using intelligent IP audio integrated into access control, video, and multi-modal communications. He was told it was too expensive and, likely not possible. But he challenged those prevailing assumptions and now can activate an emergency communication procedure, including a campus-wide lock down, notification of internal emergency response team, police and/or fire emergency (911), all in under a minute.

It's all about experimentation and discovery. We have a great conversation with two companies who have the DNA of Innovation: one a prospective vendor and the other a leading hospital.

Our risks and business are constantly evolving. We need to pursue change and not have change pursuing us. I brought these two companies together to discuss how they think, how they partner, and an exciting pilot that promises to redefine how we think about learning how our people and processes are acting and performing. They are looking to collect data from a ‘turnstile on the ceiling’; a sensor that collects presence. This data will be fed into a machine learning engine that will help management determine what actions to take to optimize people entering a building. In this case it would be applied to the problem of false alarms caused by tailgating. False alarms cost time and breaches the confidence of the technology and the security program.

Their multi-dimensional pilot is testing not only if it will work but does it have value, helping Children’s establish one more spoke in the wheel of digital transformation.

Dylan Hayes is the Cyber-Physical IT Security Manager at Seattle Children's Hospital. He is a seasoned leader, planner, and enterprise change agent with 20+ year progressive career record spanning a wide range of critical business systems and operations including enterprise risk, resilience, and response.

Mike Johnson is the Program Manager of Occupancy Sensing Solutions at Orion Entrance Controls.   He is helping lead the charge to further develop the Orion vision and bring this highly anticipated, award winning product to market that will lead the industry in friction-less security, making Access in Motion a true reality.

For innovators, timing is everything. And when the window opens, only a few recognize it. And for those who do, they intuitively sense when it might close. The ability to seize the opportunity when it presents itself is both art and science.

A new utility has exploded on the scene. Like electricity, it keeps the data moving from substations that drives the economy and our lives. $50B of these utilities are being built each year. They are called data centers. If you are a company that requires this utility to meet your market window, you need it built fast, built cost effectively, and at the highest levels of design/build quality.

You also may not want to own it or operate it. You still will want to manage your business but have a partner that makes the utility function to your specifications.

We found a man who, as a child, watched Michael Dell provide a menu of parts you could pick from to build a computer. Dell’s company would assemble them at high speed, high quality and at a low price. Chris Crosby has done the same think for the business and construction process for data centers that Dell did for computers. He is the recognized visionary and leader in the data center space and has served as founder and CEO of Compass Datacenters since 2011. We caught up with him to have a great conversation about this business process innovation that he has successfully deployed that created a multi-billion-dollar business in 10 years. For our security executive community, you will be pleased to hear how he is leveraging his physical security team to do the same thing for the security processes and technology as he did for the construction of the datacenter.

Combating cybercrime is a necessity of doing business in the 21st century. Financial and identity thefts occur with annoying frequency, and no executive today can afford to ignore the damage phishing, malware, and malicious code pose to their company's future. But, with this invaluable guide, anyone, no matter what their skill level or bandwidth, can become an effective cyber risk manager. In "Fire Doesn't Innovate", cybersecurity expert and vCISO Kip Boyle of Cyber Risk Opportunities, LLC, provides the tools you'll need to:

Recognize, prioritize, and mitigate cyber risk and online threats.

Develop daily company-wide habits of good cyber hygiene.

Protect passwords, credit card information, and other sensitive data.

Adopt a 5-Principle approach that will help safeguard your business from cyberattacks.

Cybersecurity is not just a technology problem, it's a management opportunity. Learn how to manage cyber risks and ensure your company is cyber resilient now, and remain in the game no matter what the future holds. Combating cybercrime is a necessity of doing business in the 21st century.

A senior security consultant working on some of the largest projects in the world, discusses his unique approach to helping his customers bridge the gap from good to great. He helps me reframe the digital transformation discussion into a more accurate term: Digital Acceleration, which captured the anxiety, fear, uncertainty, and doubt that can occur when change is impacting your industry, your certifications, and your career.

He also captures the heart and soul of the professionals in the security industry by telling his highly personal story of ground zero after 9/11.

Matthew Dimmick, CPP, PSP, CPD, is the translator between his clients and his engineers. He is a senior consultant at STV, an award-winning professional firm consistently ranking among the country's top companies in education, justice, highways, bridges, rail, and mass transit sectors. They provide a complete range of planning, engineering, architectural, environmental, and construction management services to transportation, infrastructure, design-build, institutional, commercial, energy, industrial, and military clients.

According to one CEO survey, the greatest challenges they are facing are a disparate remote workforce, finding the right talent, and building highly optimized operational processes. There are profit leaks everywhere. And one of those hidden cost centers is how identities are managed across the corporate silos of excellence, including security.

What we have identified in earlier conversations is the new role of the CISO in leading digital transformation. We also have identified traditional security integrators attempting to map to this trend. In our research we found a ‘boots on the ground’ Identity Assurance Principal who is an evangelist for his team of subject matter experts who are entering organizations asking the most important questions around the most urgent problems facing the CEO, CISO, and the CSO. The breakthrough thinking promises a huge return in TCO, ROI, and, most importantly, competitive positioning.

Doug Greenwald, with Convergint Technologies’ Advanced Solutions Group, is responsible for helping global companies navigate the technology evolution taking place in the security industry to identify and implement complex solutions ranging from PIAM, PSIM, Workspace Efficiency to Event Management, IOT Security, and optimization.

Lee Odess, CEO and Founder of Group337, discusses his new ebook: The Six Phase Changes Shaping Access Control as well as his upcoming keynote at the Security Investor Conference, hosted by Imperial Capital. The 6 Phase Changes Shaping Access Control explores the forces shaping the access control industry as it goes mainstream. Imagine than taking these 6 elements and creating a scorecard for the top 40 access control manufacturers. This should stimulate great conversations for months to come.

We were able to get a hold of Dr. Michael Gelles, a Managing Director of Deloitte Consulting, in 2020 to share with us his insights regarding the insider risks posed by the pandemic such as the consequences of prolonged stress on organizations, their leaders, their supply chain and their people.

Dr. Gelles is a director with Deloitte Consulting LLP Federal practice, consulting in the areas of law enforcement, intelligence, and security. Mike is a thought leader and widely published author on critical national security issues to include, insider threat, security processing, secure workforce, asset loss, exploitation, sabotage, and workplace violence. Previously, Mike served as a naval officer and the chief psychologist for the Naval Criminal Investigative Service.

Enterprise Security Risk Management (ESRM) is seen as a useful methodology for security consultants and executives. We turned to a security executive and a consultant who practice, train, and utilize ESRM to get the latest thinking and found it be a cornerstone of leadership enablement.

Once seen that way, it then can be infused with other leadership elements to take security and the organization to the next level. And, according to our great conversation, we learn that the greatest path to ‘me’ is through ‘we’. Lean in, listen, and learn from these great examples from the next great generation.

Jonathon Harris is the Vice President of Group337, a group of executives focused on business creation in the CRETech, proptech, and smart home markets in the security, access control, and IoT industry.

Tim Wenzel is the Head of Global Security, Privacy Protection for Facebook. He also was the Founding Partner of Getting Security Done (GSD) a group dedicated to accelerating the advancement of the security industry through thought leadership and directed innovative conversations. And, finally, Tim created a movement amid the pandemic called The Kindness Games urging people to “ferociously” pursue shout outs of kindness in a world of unrest and silos of polarized communities. #TheKindnessGames

The Data Waterfall is forcing a change. The current definition of integration that is pervasive in the physical security industry is changing as well as the organizational convergence spurred by digital transformation. And the next generation is forcing change. New ideas. An expectation of real time. A DNA of technology at the speed of business.

Jeff Slotnick is President of Setracon Enterprise Security Risk Management Services a company focused on professional services related to Risk Consulting, Enterprise Security Risk Management, Physical Security, Physical Security of Logical Systems, Resiliency, Training, Protective services, investigations, and the conduct of all hazards risk, vulnerability, and threat assessments.

We leveraged his eyes and ears on the floor at ISC West. His insights were valuable in helping us understand the shifts taking place in his discipline and in the industry at large.