What Is a Physical Security Site Assessment and Why Does It Matter?
A physical security site assessment, sometimes called a site survey, involves a team of experts examining (either in-person or virtually using a tool such as Google Earth) your campus and its defenses against potential security incidents. It bridges the gap between when a university identifies potential vulnerabilities and when it implements a new or upgraded security system.
It sounds like a straightforward enough service, but with today’s modern security tools interwoven into IT systems and networks, a thorough site assessment means more than simply determining where cameras need to be placed.
Modern security systems, whether they involve cutting-edge tools such as intelligent video surveillance, biometric building access control or IP cameras, all require the full attention of college and university IT departments. For this reason, the process of analyzing current systems and determining how and where they can be updated or supported is best provided by a partner with deep experience in both technology and higher education.
Partners such as CDW offer colleges and universities physical security site assessments as part of their comprehensive technology and security services. Chris Black, business development manager for CDW Security, says the assessments are part of a full-service physical security analysis and solution.
“Step one would be, ‘What do you want to do? What’s going to solve your problem? And this is how we think it should be designed,’” he says. “Step two, which is the site assessment, is, ‘How can what we designed be implemented here, and where should things go?’”
