Our journey began on August 12, 2025, with a simple question posted to the CONNECTS Open Forum:
“To all my fellow ASIS Members, is it time for ASIS Connects to have a GSOC Community?”
Respectfully, Damon Hood
The response was immediate. More than 50 security professionals replied with a resounding “Yes!”
Following that strong show of interest, the concept was presented to the Community Vice Presidents. With their approval, the FUTURE Operations Center Interest Group was born, and just six months later, we’re ready to launch.
The Problem We’re Addressing
The core issue identified, and the one this community is prioritizing, is simple but critical:
Operations centers work in silos, while threats do not.
Most organizations maintain multiple operations centers, each focused on a specific protective discipline. Physical security teams monitor the cameras in the Global Security Operations Center (GSOC), while cybersecurity teams oversee networks in the Network Operations Center (NOC). Business continuity teams maintain the Emergency Operations Center (EOC), while emergency management teams coordinate response efforts. Each center performs its mission professionally, but often independently.
Today's threat environment makes “converged” incidents the norm, not the exception. A cyber incident can trigger a physical response. A workplace violence threat can involve security, HR, legal, and communications teams. Yet many operations centers still lack shared frameworks, common language, and integrated processes to work effectively across disciplines.
That’s why ASIS International is launching the FUTURE Operations Center Interest Group - to build a community focused on next-generation, multi-disciplinary, intelligence-led operations centers, and to advance a shared framework supported by modern tools, integrated processes, and collaboration across protective disciplines.
Our Focus
The interest group will work to develop cross-functional frameworks and common operating language that applied across all types of operations centers, with a particular emphasis on:
- Improving decision-making through integrated intelligence
- Enhancing data sharing across disciplines
- Strengthening reliable, cross-functional communications
By bringing together practitioners from Physical Security, Cyber, Crisis Management, Business Continuity, Human Resources, Legal and beyond, we aim to identify shared challenges, document proven approaches, and develop practical strategies for effective cross-functional engagement.
Our goal is to help ASIS members and their organizations turn individual operations center capabilities into coordinated operational resilience. Whether you manage a single-purpose GSOC or coordinate joint operations across multiple disciplines, this interest group will provide the forum, frameworks, and peer network to support that evolution.
What to Expect
As a member, you'll gain access to:
- Peer Forums: Share real-world challenges and solutions with practitioners facing similar integration issues
- Practical Tools: Frameworks, templates, and protocols for cross-discipline coordination
- Case Studies: Learn from real implementations and honest discussions on what worked and what didn’t
- Sub-Communities: Engage in focused groups addressing specific operational challenges and how to adapt to future approaches
- Standards Development: Contribute to best practices that will help guide the industry forward
You'll build a strong peer network while helping shape standards that address today’s operational realities.
Who Should Join?
This interest group is open to all ASIS members involved in operations center or working across protective disciplines, including:
- Current operations center (GSOC/SOC/EOC/NOC/etc.) leaders and practitioners
- Corporate security, physical security, and cybersecurity professionals
- Business continuity, crisis management, emergency management, and risk leaders
- Intelligence, investigations, and protective services professionals
- Human Resource, Legal and Communication teams
- Anyone tasked with bridging silos and enabling multi-discipline operations
Whether you're designing a new operations center, modernizing an existing one, or exploring where operation centers are headed, this community is for you.
Getting Started
For decades, our industry has optimized individual protective disciplines. The next evolution is integration. If you're interested in joining this conversation and contributing your expertise, we invite you to join the FUTURE Operations Center Interest Group on ASIS CONNECTS and register for our kickoff call on January 16 at 10 AM ET below.
Bring your experience, your challenges, and your ideas. Together, we will shape the future of operations centers.
Bruce McIndoe is President of McIndoe Risk Advisory LLC and a Top 40 Global Thought Leader in Life Safety 2024 & 2025. He is also a co-chair for the FUTURE Operations Center. Connect with him on LinkedIn here.
