BlogmyQuery – BMQ

Developing and implementing a reliable and carefully considered business security system remains a top priority for modern employers, with dedicated security teams expected to identify and neutralize sophisticated physical and cybersecurity threats with the aid of proactive and intelligent technologies. 

Commercial security systems have been revolutionized in recent years as industry professionals seek to better address novel risks, provide employees with a more convenient way to access core facilities, and markedly improve incident response times with support from integrated remote-access systems. 

With data suggesting that the number of recorded significant cyber-attacks may have risen globally by as much as 38% in the last year alone, and crimes against property account for over 60% of all reported crimes in recent times, business leaders must have plans in place to deter common threats.  

To help achieve this, here are 4 commercial security trends to consider in your company’s strategy.  

1. Mobile access control 

Ensuring that access to all company facilities is appropriately secured behind considered physical security devices is essential to protect businesses from instances of physical violence and theft, but choosing to operate traditional access control systems may no longer provide adequate protection. 

Legacy solutions such as RFID, NFC, and pin code access systems may hinder unauthorized persons from gaining property access to some degree, though in many cases, unauthorized intruders are able to compromise such systems by simply stealing, duplicating, or brute-forcing relevant permissions. 

Businesses can lessen these risks and markedly strengthen on-site security policies by choosing to develop smart commercial access control systems configured to accept secure digital credentials. Rather than issuing easily lost and hard-to-monitor key cards and fobs, mobile systems allow security teams to send staff unique digital credentials to be stored and managed within a smartphone application. 

Mobile systems offer touch-free property access, allow users to secure their credentials behind extra protections like in-device multi-factor authentication (MFA) and biometric locks, and allow security teams to remotely adjust or revoke permissions if they suspect a credential has been compromised, providing businesses with reliable 24/7 protection to deter physical intrusions and property crime. 

2. AI-informed security cameras 

Advanced AI technologies and machine learning algorithms are currently transforming a number of modern industries, with commercial security providers being just one of many to benefit from these novel solutions. Recently published data indicates as many as 77% of businesses are currently using or exploring the use of AI systems, with 61% believing AI tools to be necessary for security purposes. 

One of the primary benefits presented by the integration of AI technology alongside traditional security devices is the application of automated smart data analytics used to improve the efficacy of installed video security cameras. For example, AI-informed object detection software can be used to identify suspected weapons or contraband items, instantly alerting on-site security staff to provide a response. 

Modern AI software tools are able to apply intelligent machine learning algorithms to recorded data, meaning active systems can be configured to automatically detect anomalous events such as crowds forming in unusual areas, and instantly notify teams of disturbances via cloud-based communications. 

Installing and operating such solutions enables on-site security teams to better focus their efforts only on matters of immediate importance, removing the need for staff to constantly monitor live video feeds and ensuring that no potentially harmful incidents or significant threats go undetected or ignored. 

3. Automated lockdown procedures 

Typically, when businesses choose to install and operate modern security technologies such as mobile access control systems and AI-informed video security cameras, teams will also choose to develop a cloud-based security management platform used to provide a holistic view of all active devices.

Cloud-based security management allows security staff to view and adjust connected security devices remotely from within a single easily navigated platform, with further benefits found in the ability to link a range of Internet Protocol (IP) and Internet of Things (IoT) devices to the same system, enabling the creation of automatic security responses triggered by the activation of specific devices in the network. 

In practice, this means if a suspected intruder is detected by installed security cameras or IoT motion sensors, this information can be used to automatically engage all nearby access control devices and locking mechanisms, sealing the property and instantly notifying security staff of the unfolding event. 

Developing such a system allows for the creation of bespoke security responses as staff can choose which devices should be programmed to inform the operation of connected systems. Considering that 94% of enterprises already use cloud services, upgrading existing networks will often be achievable.   

4. Physical and cybersecurity convergence 

Modern businesses aren’t only expected to contend with a myriad of physical security threats, in fact, recent reports indicate as many as 96% of executives consider cybersecurity resilience to be a top priority with regards to internal operations. As many organizations now operate physical security devices capable of communicating with digital systems, security convergence is likely to become increasingly essential. 

Physical and cybersecurity convergence describes a considered approach to enterprise security in which all relevant digital systems and all physical security devices are subject to dedicated policies and procedures, specifically designed to protect integrated networks from both physical and cyber-attacks. 

This means physical security staff and IT teams will work together to assess all active systems and ensure that all settings and operational policies are configured to detect and respond to both physical and digital threats, typically via the deployment of combined risk assessments and training programs. 

Choosing to implement converged security policies ensures that all security professionals within an organization understand how to identify and address gaps and vulnerabilities in essential systems, reducing the risks associated with cross-platform breaches and strengthening wider security policies. 

Summary 

Developing a reliable and proactive commercial building security system remains a top priority for organizations across all major industries, though to appropriately prepare for and defend against modern threats, security, and IT teams must prioritize adaptive systems and policies to improve their security posture. 

By investing in smart technology systems and integrated cloud-based management platforms, business leaders are able to provide security staff with a more holistic view of all installed systems and assist teams in creating automated incident responses, helping to strengthen commercial security strategies.

Featured image by Mi?osz Klinowski on Unsplash

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For many, living on campus during college is an integral part of the university experience. Social engagement and academic sharing by living on campus enable students to enrich this period of higher education. Thanks to on-campus residence, students can access multiple educational extras including seminars, conferences and lectures, libraries, sporting activities, and university clubs. Communal living permits students to form lifelong friendships with peers and form closer relationships with faculty members.

Fortunately, residential technological advancements are not just limited to private residences, apartment complexes, or hotels. Now universities are integrating technological solutions into on-campus dorms to improve comfort, efficiency, and security.

Security is one of the principal concerns for parents when children leave for university. Violent crimes and mass shootings experienced across the nation at schools and on college campuses have shocked and worried families sending sons and daughters off to college.

Access Control for Increased Student Safety

Technological advances now permit the use of fobs, keypads, keycards, and mobile entry credentials. Keyless door locks now eliminate the need for students to carry keys or keycards. Doors can be opened using biometric scans or credentials in a smartphone app. This increases property protection, impedes unauthorized access, and significantly reduces the need to change locks because of lost, stolen, or misplaced keys. 

Access to common areas such as fitness centers, student lounges, study rooms, or pools can be equipped with secure entrance technology facilitating controlled entrance to all areas within on-campus housing facilities.

Technological security access systems also provide several other benefits such as logging who enters and exits a building and facilitating rapid entrance thanks to automation. 

Anomalies such as repeated use of entry credentials can be quickly identified and verified alerting university officials if access credentials have been stolen, cloned, or shared.

Cloud-based access control systems permit remote management from anywhere so that doors can be locked and unlocked at any time from anywhere eliminating the risk of students being locked out and vulnerable. 

Stolen credentials can immediately be disabled so that they cannot be used by bad actors. Credentials granted to service providers and maintenance professionals can be deactivated once tasks have been completed.

Security Video Monitoring

Campus security has always been a priority at educational institutions, but today’s generation of students has grown up in a world where video recording is the norm everywhere. This facilitates the use of video security monitoring within and around dormitory buildings. While privacy does remain a concern, pathways, parking lots, entrances, and exits that are a part of university housing facilities should all benefit from video security surveillance cameras with these areas benefiting from proper lighting. 

Now school video security monitoring systems integrate AI. This permits universities to use automation to monitor potentially suspicious behavior in real-time. Causes for worry can be identified rapidly with alerts sent to security personnel facilitating immediate intervention. Emergency responses become proactive instead of reactive. This greater level of monitoring helps to create a safer environment for students.

University dormitory administrators are also able to identify occupancy rates and times as well as usage patterns. This information can lead to better use of housing resources such as water and electricity increasing efficiency, reducing waste, and saving money.

Security video monitoring systems can integrate biometric facial recognition to improve access control efficiency and increase housing security. These systems can also be programmed to send security alerts informing residential managers and security personnel of a need for immediate intervention should unauthorized entrances be attempted, or suspicious behavior be detected.

Cloud-based video systems can permit security personnel or residential managers to view video feeds from school security camera systems remotely using mobile devices and video analytics can send notifications to security staff and local authorities.

Dorms Are Smarter

Thanks to greater connectivity, the IoT – Internet of Things together with machine learning algorithms and AI are able to collect massive amounts of data and analyze it in real time. Residential managers and building administrators can improve property management and services offered. For example, heating and cooling systems can be better managed thanks to data collection and analysis of energy consumption and occupancy patterns. Smart lighting for increased security can be tailored to meet traffic flow. Automated rapid access controls reduce building entrance time and security procedures are improved thanks to data collection and analysis.

Data collection and analysis through IoT also allows for quicker maintenance and upkeep. Smoke, carbon monoxide, and fire detection sensors can alert authorities and first responders immediately. Heating and cooling systems can signal malfunctions in real time so that repairs can be addressed promptly.

Improved Connectivity

Students require better, faster, and more reliable Wi-Fi connections along with cellular signals. Apart from completing coursework, greater reliability in connectivity also permits students to remain in contact with friends and family members, alleviating parent worries. 

Campus dorms are now boosting connectivity with better networks and routers. Students benefit from stronger signals for personal needs but so do security processes and personnel. Better connectivity permits those responsible for security and safety to benefit from monitoring without interruption and to use remote security solutions such as lockdowns should the need arise.

Alarm Systems

While alarm systems are regularly used for smoke, fire, and carbon monoxide detection, student security does not end with these three threats. Alarm systems can notify students and administrators of unauthorized accesses or break-ins, intrusions, broken glass, gunshots, and dangers in general.

Cloud-based alarm systems send out mobile alerts in real-time and offer the possibility to program automatic lockdowns or evacuations when called for. Internal and external locks can be managed to contain specific threats to a limited area within the dormitory.

All Things Considered 

Security technology now aids administrators and college security personnel in providing a safer environment for university students. Parents can feel better about their children being away at college. Thanks to technological advancements being adopted within university housing, students enjoy a better-quality residential experience. Safety and security are increased allowing students to enjoy their university experience while focusing on their studies.

Featured image by Adrien Olichon on Unsplash

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Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be able to observe your entire application infrastructure?

This concept is referred to as observability.

Various companies utilize application performance management or APM tools to optimize their applications after observing them.

This is because these tools benefit teams to gain insights into application deployment environments to guarantee performance levels will never fall below certain thresholds.

Cloud Observability- An Overview

Cloud observability is a new technology that has taken the world of application performance monitoring and management by storm.

It’s an artificial intelligence-based approach to understanding your applications’ performance in the cloud.

The goal is to enable you to not only see what is going on but also understand why it’s happening, so you can take action and improve the performance of your applications.

AI Observability requires a unified view of all the components that an application has, such as the following:

• Underlying hardware and software components (such as virtual machines),
• Middleware (such as databases)
• End-user applications

Importance Of Cloud Observability for Application Performance Management

Organizations can use cloud observability tools to gain insight into their cloud infrastructures by collecting data from multiple sources across diverse environments such as:

• Physical servers
• Virtual machines
• Containers
• Databases
• Networks
• User experience management systems (UXMs)
• Hypervisors/virtualization platforms
• Storage arrays
• Operating systems
• Applications 

This data can be analyzed using data visualization tools that help users understand trends in their cloud infrastructure over time.

Cloud observability tools typically focus on three main areas:

• Performance management
• Application audit trails
• Event data correlation

Performance management helps you track down slowdowns or errors by providing metrics about how well your apps perform over time.

Audit trails provide detailed information about changes made to your infrastructure over time so you can see which actions caused problems or helped fix them later.

Understanding Application Performance Management 

Application performance management (APM) tools are crucial to any DevOps toolchain.

They collect and analyze metrics from across your entire application infrastructure, giving you the visibility to identify and diagnose performance issues early.

APM tools help identify many different types of problems, including:

• Performance bottlenecks in your code or infrastructure
• Slow or unresponsive web pages
• Errors or exceptions that occur during processing
• Slow database queries that cause long-running processes
• Service outages or other unexpected behavior

Benefits of Application Performance Management

APM has become more than just a tool for monitoring application performance.

It’s also critical to ensure that the cloud infrastructure is performing optimally.

Cloud Observability for APM can be improved by adding new capabilities such as:

• Monitoring application infrastructure
• Tracing service dependencies
• Collecting telemetry from user devices

With cloud APM, you can:

• Get real-time insights into application performance, availability, and user experience
• Proactively identify performance bottlenecks before users are impacted
• Identify the root cause of issues faster with rich analytics capabilities, including automated root cause analysis
• Automate response actions so you can fix problems before they impact customers 

How  Can Cloud Observability Enhance APM?

Cloud observability enables application performance monitoring because it provides visibility into application performance from end-to-end, that is, from the user requesting an application to its delivery by the underlying cloud infrastructure.

Cloud observability also helps you understand how your application behaves as it scales and responds to load changes.

Cloud observability enhances APM in several ways:

• Provides deeper visibility into application performance across multiple environments, including physical servers, virtual machines (VMs), containers, and more
• Integrates with other types of monitoring tools such as logs, tracing, and metrics so you can see how they all work together to understand what’s happening in your application environment
• Helps you manage performance for hybrid applications that combine traditional on-premise applications with cloud-based software components such as databases or message queues

Leveraging Cloud Observability for Better APM

Cloud Observability provides a real-time view of your application’s cloud infrastructure and end-user experience. It also offers advanced analytics capabilities that give you greater visibility into the health of your application.

This helps you identify and troubleshoot problems faster to resolve them before they cause any user impact.

Steps to leverage cloud observability for better APM:

Setting Up Cloud Observability Tools

Cloud observability tools offer deep visibility into cloud-based applications, enabling you to monitor critical metrics like:

• Latency
• Error rates
• Throughput to detect potential problems early on

To set up these tools, you need a monitoring agent installed in your application or infrastructure stack that sends data back to a collector in the cloud.

The collector stores all the information that is then analyzed by the tool’s analytics engine to give you insights into your application’s overall health status.

Monitoring Application Performance Metrics

Once the tool is set up, you can monitor your application’s performance metrics and log real-time events.

You can use these metrics to measure various aspects of your application’s behavior, including:

• Throughput (number of requests per second)
• Latency (time taken for a request)
• Error rate (percentage of failed requests)

Analyzing And Troubleshooting Performance Issues

Cloud observability tools provide insight into how applications are performing in production environments.

These tools can identify bottlenecks and performance issues and determine where resources are utilized or wasted.

The first function is executed by gathering and analyzing metrics from various sources, such as:

• Logs
• Traces
• Network traffic

The second function involves troubleshooting these metrics, which can be done manually or automatically with the help of machine learning algorithms.

Using Data Insights for Continuous Improvement

The good news is that there are plenty of ways to use data insights for constant improvement in your APM strategy.

By leveraging cloud observability features like log monitoring and metrics, you can ensure that all your apps perform at their peak potential. You can reduce IT costs and downtime by optimizing resource utilization.

Examples of How Cloud Observability Can Improve APM

It can help you better monitor, detect and troubleshoot issues that affect application performance.

For example, you can:

• Correlate events across multiple infrastructure layers, including application logs, network data, and server metrics. This helps you quickly identify the root cause of an issue and then take action to remediate it
• Monitor metrics from other systems that aren’t natively available via APM tools, such as security alarms or storage metrics
• Analyze historical data for proactive problem detection and troubleshooting instead of waiting for incidents to occur before investigating them

Here are some more examples of how cloud observability can improve APM:

Monitoring

Cloud observability provides insight into application performance from every possible angle, including:

• Network
• Server
• Database
• User experience

Alerts

Cloud observability alerts can be set up for specific events or activities so you can proactively identify and resolve issues before they impact users or your business.

Debugging

With cloud observability, you don’t have to wait until something goes wrong before investigating an issue. With this level of insight into your applications’ behavior, you’ll know exactly where problems exist before they affect end users or business operations.

Wrapping Up

The operational insights available via monitoring in a cloud environment are thus invaluable to the operations teams of today and tomorrow.

And as more organizations move their workloads to and from the cloud, they’ll need a new way to think about APM.

As we noted above, it may not be enough anymore to monitor an application’s latency as organizations will also need a way to accurately monitor cloud latency to attribute issues to underlying infrastructure problems.

With this additional visibility into cloud environments, such as performance and cost metrics, hybrid and multi-cloud infrastructures can address issues before they impact applications.

Featured image by Danist Soh on Unsplash

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Data visualization is a popular tool that helps companies make proper judgments. According to Bain & Company, firms with advanced analytics skills make prompt decisions five times more than their market peers.

Visual data allows you to organize information. So it’s easy to understand and allows for better planning in the future. However, data visualization can be overwhelming if you need help knowing where to start or how it works. 

In this article, we’ll walk you through five ways data visualization in decision-making can benefit you. We also answer some of the frequently asked questions.

How Data Visualization in Decision-Making Helps Your Business

Here are the top five ways in which information visualization can improve your decision making

1. It Empowers Teamwork Amongst Staff

Data visualization can help you empower your team to make better decisions. It gives everyone access to the same information and makes it easy for everyone to contribute. Thus it builds trust and transparency among team members. This can be important when working across departments. Or with external partners who need the same level of insight as those within your organization.

When you team with outside groups like contractors or vendors. Or even just across offices, all parties should have access to the same data. Hence, they can come together in decision-making processes. You want to avoid one group assuming something because they were able to see it first. If someone else already saw the data point, misinformation could be floating around. This could lead nowhere good.

2. It Boosts Your Accuracy

Data visualization can help you to spot errors and make edits. It also lets you quickly see patterns, trends, and outliers with a glance. This means that your decision-making process will become more accurate and efficient. Hence, enabling you to make better judgments by spotting problems faster. 

You can visualize data in many ways: graphs, charts, or maps are all effective. The key is to use multiple visual tools to explore different aspects of the same data set simultaneously. 

Lastly, it not only shows your data in a way others can understand. Ensure you also show it in such a way as to highlight problems within it. Visualization is most powerful when used as part of an ongoing talk about improving organizational processes and outcomes. 

3. Data Visualization in Decision-Making Enhances Your Speed

Visualization can help you make decisions faster. In a world of big data, we often face the challenge of making sense of massive amounts of structured and unstructured information. 

It takes time to analyze all this data manually. This can make it difficult to respond quickly when business conditions change.

Visualization tools such as Google chats, ChartExpo, and Microsoft Power BI help you make better decisions by providing a bird’s eye view. Or a high-level overview of your data that helps you identify trends and patterns at a glance. 

This idea is not limited only to business operations, informed data visualization can help anyone to make a quick and important decision, from searching for the biggest available car insurance discounts to better managing your personal finances.

Visualizations also allow you to drill down into more detailed data as needed. Hence you don’t have to pull additional reports or export specific datasets into Excel spreadsheets before analyzing them further.

4. It Helps You Identify Trends Quicker

Visualization can help identify trends and patterns more quickly than through text alone. This is a vital aspect of the decision-making process. It allows you to look at all the data you have in front of you and see if there are any crucial patterns or trends. 

If data visualization shows that a specific type of product has been selling well, this might prompt you to make more products like that. So, you can continue getting profits from that category.

If there’s little difference between your top three sales items. Or if all four are doing equally well, it may be time for some experiments with new types of products. This will generate more revenue from existing customers who already know what they like about your brand.

5. Improve and Simplify Communication in a Company

Visualization is a great way to share data with others. If you work in a team, you should ensure everyone is on the same page when planning or trying to do something. 

You can use visuals to illustrate complex data. Hence it makes the data easier to understand for those who may be unfamiliar with statistics or numbers in general. 

Typically, the human brain processes visual data 60000 times faster than text. This is according to reports from the University of Minnesota.

You can also use visualizations as part of communication. Remember, they aren’t just used for analysis but also storytelling. They help answer questions. 

If something doesn’t make sense or is missing from your work, consider using visuals as an aid. So other people don’t miss any crucial details by mistake.

Frequently Asked Questions 

1. What is a good visualization of data?

A good visualization of data conveys the message clearly and concisely. Hence you won’t rely on text or numbers to explain it. It also needs to be visually appealing. A bad visualization will confuse people or make them think they are missing something.

2. What is the impact of information visualization on decision-making?

Information visualization can help decision-makers gain insights from their data. Hence it will facilitate better decisions. For example, by comparing two bar charts with a single glance, you can quickly get the relative size of each bar. You can also look at the distribution of values along the y-axis. It shows how much variation there is in each group. 

3. How effective is data visualization?

Data visualization is highly effective at communicating information as it appeals directly to our senses. It helps us see patterns in data that we might not otherwise notice. Additionally, we are naturally inclined towards visual stimuli rather than text-based ones. When we see something, we can more easily understand how it works and behaves than if we just read about it in text form. 

4. What is the primary goal of data visualization?

The main goal of data visualization is to communicate information effectively and efficiently. It should tell a story and allow you to explore the data at your own pace.  

Conclusion

Data visualization in decision-making can be a powerful tool for you. It allows you to make sense of large quantities of data. You can identify patterns in ways that would not be possible with other methods. It also offers a way to share your findings with others in a way that is easy for them to understand. Suppose you want to improve your decision-making process; or help others make good choices, consider using data visualization.

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