How to Initiate a Digital Transformation to Manage your Data
Due to the growth of campus facilities and system upgrades, organizations now have a handful of different platforms and sources of data related to access control and video surveillance. They have data coming from so many directions to the point it might feel like the organization is drowning in it.
Your company might also be in this boat. So, what’s your elevator pitch for initiating and supporting digital transformation at your organization to get your head above water? If you’re struggling with an answer to this question, the GSX 2022 X Learning Stage’s Monday presentation “Decoding Digital Transformation and Increasing Security Leaders’ Trust in Technology” can nudge you in the right direction.
Panelists David Hernandez, director of global security technology at The Walt Disney Company, and Joe Young, vice president of digital transformation at Convergint, outlined the digital transformation environment for attendees.
Young insisted that despite the phrase’s implied emphasis on technology, the most successful initiatives focus on people. The right kind of technology and system can empower employees, while providing leaders with insight into their staff and customers.
In their presentation, Hernandez and Young said that more than 80 percent of private businesses have implemented at least one element of digital transformation. They also explained that there’s a growing interest in maturing these initiatives to support the larger organization—especially since they can bridge the gap between disparate data elements.
However, the two biggest barriers to effectively leveraging technology are competition from other priorities (43 percent) and a lack of strategy (36 percent), according to Hernandez and Young. These are underpinned by a bigger issue: when management does not understand how technology can move an organization forward, leaders will not place an emphasis on its use. So, end-users and security leaders must have a strategy in how to pitch, advocate for, source, implement, use, and maintain elements of digital transformation.
“A successful digital transformation process and program lends insights that helps you with competing priorities,” Hernandez added. “It helps you focus your strategies.”
Part of that success lies in finding the common thread among an organization’s various groups.
For example, Young pointed to access control components that can provide an element of physical security for an organization’s facilities and personnel. The same solution can also inform the organization’s logistics department of patterns—how long it takes for staff to reach their desks or workstations; are there certain times of the day, week, month, or year when productivity is significantly interrupted, etc.
“It’s the trifecta of people, processes, and technology together horizontally across an organization,” Young noted.
Sara Mosqueda is associate editor of Security Management, the publisher of the GSX Daily. Connect with her at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter: @XimenaWrites.
