It might have been stormy outside, but inside the ritzy Waldorf Astoria Beach Club in Boca Raton, Fla., this week there was a calm demeanor as end user security managers from various vertical markets met to share challenges and opportunities during the 2015 Diebold Security Symposium.
The event gathered 75 top end users to review some of the technology initiatives Diebold is moving ahead with to solve end users’ security needs. Among the hot topics of discussion were cybersecurity, cloud-based video surveillance and access control. But beyond the technology talk, end users were able to share advice on how to effectively communicate within their own organizations to overcome budget obstacles and overall buy-in for a security ‘master plan’ for their facilities.
Diebold executive vice president Tony Bierly kicked off the meeting by giving attendees an update on the company’s latest round of financial achievements, which includes 11 consecutive quarters of growth in total orders. Diebold also has had revenue growth for nine of the last 10 quarters. Bierly said the company has a 15 percent marketshare in the electronic security systems integration business, while its sister company has a 55 percent marketshare in the ATM business alone.
“We aim to have a services-led, software-enabled focus… we will differentiate on software by leveraging how we enabled end user to access data,” he said. The company is using a reporting system from SecureState as a platform for 885 users representing 38,000 customer sites to give its clients secure, mobile accessible reporting for actionable insight into data.
Jeremy Brecher, Diebold’s vice president of technology, moderated several panel discussions covering cybersecurity and cloud surveillance. He noted, “Clearly you need awareness of cybersecurity. It is not something you can shrug off.” Other tech subjects discussed ranged from NFC and Bluetooth to Smart Home.
Getting Budgets, Buy-in
One of the most valuable takeways from the three-day event was that attendees were able to commiserate over ways to get buy-in for security needs from their superiors. One idea that was floated is to create a “master plan” for your organization that covers everything from carpet color to staffing. Of course, security is also a key element of that plan. Regulatory abidance is also an important concern to be addressed in the plan, which is an area Diebold can assist in.
“Building a security plan will not happen overnight,” said Pierre Bourgeix of SecureState. “This is a step-by-step process.” That “process” includes disaster recovery, business continuity, and emergency response, not just security technology. Bourgeix and his associate Matt Neely recommended a series of starter questions be developed by security managers to ask their entire organization to help “break down the silos” between departments. “It’s OK if you can’t answer all the questions,” said Neely.
According to the group, communication with their IT manager is the biggest challenge, especially as technology such as cloud-based surveillance and access control encroach more in the IT space.
The event concluded with a lavish dinner cruise aboard the 175-foot Lady Windridge along the intracoastal waterway.
Article originally published on Security, Sales & Integration.
If you enjoyed this article and want to receive more valuable industry content like this, click here to sign up for our digital newsletters!
Leave a Reply