Choosing fit-for-purpose infrastructure that will keep your employees, assets and information safe is vital.

Introduction

Is a security uplift on your agenda during the next 12 months? For many Australian organisations, the answer is yes.

While in 2025, our country remains a safe place. A nation where violent incidents, disorder and civil unrest are uncommon occurrences, businesses and organisations nonetheless face an increasing risk of falling victim to crime.

In modern times, it can come in a multitude of forms, from old school intrusion to the theft of sensitive IP and data theft by ill-intentioned employees.

If you’re planning on making a sizeable investment in tools and technologies to strengthen your security posture, it’s important to ensure the funds you allocate to the exercise are spent wisely and well.

Here are six factors you need to consider when procuring physical security technology for your organisation.

Alignment With Business and ICT Strategy

Gone are the days when physical security was a standalone function – the discrete responsibility of guards in the gatehouse and managers in the control room. In today’s digital times, it impacts on employees and teams across the enterprise, from compliance to IT.

That’s why it’s important to seek out solutions that are a good business fit. Ideally, they’ll enhance broader organisational goals and generate insights, such as usage trends and incident patterns, that can be used to optimise processes and resources, while keeping your people and premises safe.

The convergence of IT and physical security is a continuous trend, having first appeared in the last decade.

Technical Compatibility

Unless you’re fitting out a new building, you’ll likely already have an extensive IT ecosystem in place. Choosing complementary physical security solutions will minimise complexity and costs, and ensure your deployment goes as smoothly as possible.

Given the rapid convergence between physical and cyber security – some industry watchers have predicted the two domains will have merged into one by 2027 – compatibility with cloud platforms and identity management software should be top of mind.

Open Architecture

So should vendor lock-in or, rather, its avoidance. Historically, closed proprietary security systems were the norm. With all the downside they can entail – think costly upgrades, restrictive support contracts and lack of interoperability. You’ll sidestep these issues by opting for an open API framework that allows you to deploy tools from multiple vendors and manage them centrally, via a unified security platform.

Taking this approach gives you the option of retaining existing systems until the end of their useful life. Augmenting them with latest generation technology, a smart way to enhance your coverage without breaking the bank.

With open architecture, physical security software platforms enable organisations to reap maximum financial value from their technology investments.

Cyber Security

Physical security should be there to protect your organisation, not provide bad actors with an easy ‘in’ to your mission critical platforms and programs. Choose hardware and software from a vendor that’s serious about cyber-security and they won’t get one.

Compliance with global and local security standards, end-to-end encryption and secure data transfer protocols to safeguard sensitive information should be baseline expectations, along with granular user controls and comprehensive audit trails.

Reliability and Performance

Systems that aren’t reliable around the clock can cause significant business disruption, as well as putting the security of the premises and people they’re intended to protect at risk.

That’s why it pays to work with a best of breed vendor whose solutions come with high availability configurations, automated failover and disaster recovery capabilities and watertight service agreements.

Ideally, they’ll have solid experience in your industry and will be able to demonstrate success, with case studies and reference sites that show they have what it takes to keep your organisation safe.

Cost

While upfront investments in hardware are common, physical security isn’t a one-off purchase. Today’s complex systems have ongoing ownership costs and it’s essential to understand what these are before committing to major purchases.

Best of breed vendors will make it simple, by offering transparent pricing structures that clearly detail the licensing, implementation and maintenance costs you can expect to incur.

Securing a Stronger Future for Your Organisation

In today’s times, robust physical security is essential for organisations of all stripes and sizes. Conducting a judicious procurement process will ensure the solutions you invest in are robust, fit for purpose and represent value for money.