Companies expanding their workforces, sites or operating hours should reassess physical security against the people, assets and operations most exposed to disruption, Citiguard founder and CEO Sami Nomair wrote in a Forbes column.
Nomair set out the advice in a Forbes Council Post published Oct. 5. Citiguard publicized the column in a release dated Friday, Oct. 16. Forbes says Council Post views belong to their authors, making the recommendations Nomair’s business position rather than an independent assessment of security spending.
Nomair frames the decision around exposure. A company should map where its operations are vulnerable, then identify the people, assets and business functions most in need of protection. He says it should also consider possible disruptions and what an interruption would cost before choosing how to respond.
The response need not center on a single measure. Nomair points to a stronger physical presence, better access control or surveillance, and says businesses can combine personnel, technology and procedures. “More security is not necessarily better security,” he wrote, arguing that a less expensive arrangement can work if it addresses a property’s exposure.
Expansion can change the conditions a security plan was built for, Nomair says. He gives the example of an access procedure that may become unreliable when a company grows from 50 employees to 500. New locations, changing inventory and altered operating hours can also change security needs. He recommends another review after substantial growth and examining incidents and near misses for recurring problems.
Nomair warns that waiting for an incident can disrupt operations and bring legal, insurance or reputational costs. His column provides no estimates for those potential losses or measured returns from security spending. It presents his recommendation to identify business risks, set protections accordingly and revisit them as operations change.
