The Great Conversation

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Is it Time to Outsource your SOC?

We are seeing a trend for outsourcing security operations centers. But we have not seen an approach to assessing the viability of such a decision or a  "scorecard" for evaluating service vendors in this category.

We were asked to provide some ideas for The Great Conversation in Security that might provoke conversation on March 5 & 6.

The foundation of such a plan starts with SOC's availability. It should be a 24-hour Operations Center. It should be staffed at all times by highly trained security experts, intelligence analysts and surveillance professionals. that can cover an organization and its people around the world.

It should provide global personnel tracking, executive protection services, and emergency response to a wide range of potential client emergencies, including terrorist attacks, natural disasters and medical emergencies. And this team should always be available to the SOC to provide a level of responsiveness and reliability that goes beyond simple monitoring.

Let me give you an example: Within seconds of identifying intruders or unauthorized activity at a client facility, the SOC's Operations Team should be able to give intruders verbal commands through loudspeakers, initiate an audible alarm with strobe lights, contact designated client representatives or escalate the situation to local police authorities. It should leverage its Video-as-a-Service capabilities to leverage the feed to verify the alarm,

It should be able to be a vendor of choice for police authorities so they will prioritize their response over other standard, unverified burglar alarms. And by leveraging the security expertise of its risk leadership, not just an operator, the 24-hour Operations Center, and its highly trained team, should provide the confidence and performance measures that have not been available in the market today. 

What are the benefits?

If you have this foundation in your service level agreement (subject matter expertise, global reach, and technology that can see, hear, and be heard, you can eliminate the need for many of your on-site security guards.

It will provide the measures of performance and the confidence that your business or home will be monitored at all times and protected against break-ins, theft or unauthorized activity. 

Full-time, on-site guards are expensive. Burglar alarms provide no proactive security and because they are unverified and highly prone to false alarms, often result in delayed police response times. Your SOC-as-a-Service solution may address both of these problems. If you can provide just-in-time response through technology you have increased you time-to-value (the responsiveness of your promise to your people). You provide a proactive response that may prevent the full impact of the incident (you might protect a life or asset). And you can increase the response of the first-responder by ensuring they prioritize your alarm (through  proactive monitoring and real-time verification).

Global Guardian Sentry is an operating division of Global Guardian, an established provider of integrated global security solutions for organizations, individuals, and families. Global Guardian’s management team is comprised of veterans and federal law enforcement personnel, including former members of the US Army Special Forces, Delta Force, U.S. Secret Service Special Operations Division, and FBI, representing a level of operational security experience unmatched in the video monitoring industry. You can visit their site here.