Integration Challenges Are Among Campus End-User Concerns

SSI’s sister publication, Campus Safety Magazine, has just published the results of its latest security technology survey, which queries university, K-12 and hospital protection professionals about the systems installed at their facilities.

While several notable concerns do emerge from the survey results, by and large the end-user respondents said they are generally satisfied with the public safety technology deployed by their institutions. A significant majority had a high or relatively high rate of confidence in their systems.

Perusing the survey outcome could help installing security contractors gain a better understanding of particular pain points experienced within individual market niches of the campus environment. What follows is an overview of just some of the results.  

Access control — Only 7% of all respondents said they have no problems with their access control systems. Hospitals expressed the greatest confidence in their access control technology, with more than two-thirds (64%) rating it as good or excellent. Conversely, 45% of universities and 49% of K-12 schools rated their access control technology as good or excellent.

More than 56% of hospital respondents indicated that lack of a visitor management system is one of their top five access control challenges. When the data is broken down further, more than two-thirds of the respondents from health-care facilities with fewer than 200 beds or more than 600 beds marked this as an issue for them.

Less than a third of respondents indicated the lack of integration between access control and other public safety systems, such as video surveillance, intrusion and fire detection, was one of their top access control concerns. This problem is more prevalent with institutions of higher education that have more than 50,000 students, as well as schools, universities and hospitals with 3,000-5,000 students. More than two in five (43% and 42% respectively) are having trouble with systems integration.

Video surveillance — Of the institutions that indicated they had challenges, older systems appear to be causing the most trouble. Four of the concerns most often mentioned by respondents are related directly to technology obsolescence.

More than a third of K-12 and university respondents (36%) say integration with other public safety systems is a top video surveillance challenge, but that percentage goes up to 46% for hospitals. Thirty-one percent of higher-ed respondents said many of their cameras are old and don’t capture usable images, while 38% of K-12 respondents indicated this was an issue. By contrast, nearly half of all hospital respondents (49%) said this was one of their top video surveillance challenges.

Intrusion detection — More than a quarter (26%) of all respondents rated their intrusion systems as somewhat or completely unacceptable. Universities were the most dissatisfied, with 18% saying their technology was somewhat unacceptable, and another 11% saying it was completely unacceptable.

To view the complete survey results, click here.

Rodney Bosch | Managing Editor

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About the Author

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Although Bosch’s name is quite familiar to those in the security industry, his previous experience has been in daily newspaper journalism. Prior to joining SECURITY SALES & INTEGRATION in 2006, he spent 15 years with the Los Angeles Times, where he performed a wide assortment of editorial responsibilities, including feature and metro department assignments as well as content producing for latimes.com. Bosch is a graduate of California State University, Fresno with a degree in Mass Communication & Journalism. In 2007, he successfully completed the National Burglar and Fire Alarm Association’s National Training School coursework to become a Certified Level I Alarm Technician.

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