Security Sales & Integration September 2022 - 39

they look for in such vendors, impact of the
pandemic and supply chain are discussed. The
objective is to help integrators gain a better perspective
on how today's commercial customers
think and what they really need most.
What are the top three security
or safety challenges right now within
your organization?
Anthony Pluretti: The challenges are always
changing. In our position, we have to always
be the most adaptable and pivot quicker than
anyone else. At Widener University, we're looking
at the safety of our institution in the physical
realm regarding the community around it.
In higher ed, very few of us get lucky to be
placed in a community where there's very low
crime in the neighborhood that surrounds the
institution. The biggest challenge is not only
are you trying to keep the community safe
from itself internally, but also trying to have
some type of territorial reinforcement that protects
the community from people coming into
it and committing crime or crime bleeding
into the area.
Surveillance systems are always going to be
a challenge. The more technology you implement,
the more technology that can break or
get outdated or need service. We have a relatively
small to medium-sized surveillance system,
about 450 cameras. Making sure they are
always online, always looking at the right place
and are the right solution for the job, making
sure that when they do go down, they get back
up as quickly as possible is always going to be a
challenge. Same with card readers and stuff like
that. Not only that, but also constantly trying
to optimize and update that as new technologies
come out so we have the right technology
for the problem.
Then everyone, post-pandemic and with the
Great Resignation, is dealing with staff shortages
and how to remain competitive as inflation
continues to go up and pay is going to have to
continue to go up. All of us have margins. It's
difficult to maintain that as it's changing every
day in what's needed to be competitive.
Paul Sarnese: COVID certainly forced migration
of a lot of people outside of healthcare.
Staffing and recruiting have really been
a challenge. Every business is a microcosm of
society and we're seeing an increase in violence
in society. Look at the airline industry and the
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SEPTEMBER 2022 Security Sales & Integration 39
increase in assaults they have experienced the
past 12 months. We're seeing the same thing in
healthcare. But violence in healthcare is nothing
new. Healthcare employees are four to five
times more likely to be a victim of aggravated
assault than any other industry. Those things
don't positively effect on ability to recruit and
retain people. As my friend says, " We're all
fishing from the same pier when it comes to
recruiting for security officers, and the pool is
getting a little shallow. "
Then
because
of
the
financial
impact
COVID had on healthcare organizations,
certainly safety and security, we're competing
for the same capital and infrastructure and
operating dollars as everybody else. We have
to be good salesmen. We have to justify any
new expenditure we want to implement, if it's
a system or a process or whatever it may be.
We're competing with others looking for the
same dollars for maybe clinical equipment
that's the latest, greatest technology to heal a
particular disease.
Allen Cain: I could probably give you a list of
20 or 30 or so challenges. When I took this
role more than four years ago, I came into the
organization thinking I was going to tweak
what they had in place. However, I quickly
realized the school district was way behind
probably the rest of the country in regard to
safety and security. I spent my first two, three
weeks going through the whole school district
and doing my own threat assessment, figuring
out where our weaknesses was, our vulnerabilities.
In turn, I built my wish list. The top three
things were fencing around our campuses, the
camera technology and secured entryways into
the front of our schools.
The challenges
are always
changing. In our
position, we have
to always be the
most adaptable
and pivot quicker
than anyone
else.
- Anthony Pluretti,
Widener University
Located just outside
Philadelphia, in addition to
its security systems, Widener
University staffs a 75-member
strong team to help keep
its campus of some 3,000
students safe.
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