K-12 schools and higher education campuses face a number of challenges, not the least of which is the basic principle of safeguarding students, staff and faculty from emerging threats. They must strive to strike a balance between building a safe and secure environment and maintaining a welcoming one. A combination of policies and procedures for stakeholders to follow can be instrumental in achieving these goals, but it's not enough to simply lay down strategies. Manufacturers and integrators must work diligently to meet the needs of educational facilities by embracing convergence and unification.
One way to do this is to build technology solutions that are easy to use and install, and those that efficiently integrate with the security solutions already in place to maximise capital investments that budget-conscious schools have made. When designing a system, the unique needs of the organisation must be identified. Are streamlined management and situational awareness the goal? If so, a close integration between various systems is critical to the success of the implementation.
