In an age where technology is advancing, its only fair to assume that life as we know it will continue to evolve and adapt. As modern day humans, our desire to become more in tune with technological advances increases. Most of us want the latest and greatest of everything. Why do something ourselves when something else can do it for us.
Unfortunately this also has a negative aspect – jobs are affected and lost when that exact same principle is applied. While technology is growing by leaps and bounds, it’s cancelling out some of the need for actual human interaction. It’s almost only fair to assume that while everyday tasks are changing to include modern advances – the security field will also be influenced and changed in this regard.
Security has already come a long way over the years. CCTV has been around for a long time, but with advances, quality and quantity have made footage more readily available, and more accurate and detailed. Grainy footage has long become a thing of the past.
In some cases where you may have had physical “eyes” located in various points around an event or area, this can now be (in some respects) replaced by cameras and one person behind a desk watching the various points. While this may not have the same effect as a physical person, these “eyes” should actually be able to catch a wider perspective and record these details in the event footage is needed later on. Also – why pay for a number of people just to stand around and watch for “what if’s” when you can install a few cameras and have them do the work.
For advance work, in years past one would have to spend sometimes countless hours preparing and researching. Blue prints and maps would be drawn up of each venue, route, and plan. Records logged and filed, and assessments made up. A person would spend time traveling to each point, laying the groundwork for the actual event to follow and having a plan of attack in the event of an emergency.
Nowadays, a large amount of information is readily available on the internet. Google knows all and tells all. Need a route? Google. Roadblock? Google. Even background information that in the past may at one point have been researched by multiple phone calls and record checks can almost be entirely found on Google. Especially regarding anyone who is “someone”. Google knows them and they’ll tell you all about them. So in some cases where advance work could have taken a while to prepare and draw up… the internet is taking out a lot of the guess work and travel time.
In terms of physical security presence beyond a camera, until robots are fully prepared to acknowledge and engage when a threat happens, humans will most likely still need to accommodate this role.
Great news for us humans – this keeps us employable. While technology advances and increases its role in our day to day life – at this current time, there still needs to be someone behind the cameras – behind the screens and monitors. Someone still needs to be there pull the hypothetical trigger.
The role of a security company is still crucial. Yes – cameras are important, alarm systems are important, planning is important (no – vital), but people are important. Someone to assess the risk, know the plan, know the back up plan, and make sure all of that technology is working as it should.
Your security company should be like a warm safe blanket. Something to give you that warm fuzzy feeling that everything will be ok even when it hits the fan, and technology isn’t there to tell you it’ll be ok and go this way to safety. Thank goodness for people.
Guest Blogger – Rayna Davies
