Protecting physical assets in hybrid and flexible workspaces

While the benefits of such arrangements are often discussed, with 75% of workers claiming hybrid work positively impacts work-life balance and ≈70% of employers believing flexible teams are more productive, managing a hybrid workforce can come with its own challenges.

Alongside possible communication and engagement issues, it’s not uncommon for employers to find hybrid environments uniquely difficult to secure. With people coming and going as they please, protecting physical assets in hybrid and flexible workspaces is often challenging.

Common security challenges in hybrid environments

Common security challenges in hybrid environments typically concern safely and efficiently managing access to high-risk areas and assets. In a hybrid office, workers are usually left to control their own access to the facility, making it difficult to reliably safeguard physical assets.

Poor access security in hybrid offices can give rise to threats like:

• Intrusion events: Non-employees can use social engineering tactics like tailgating to gain unauthorized access to high-risk areas.
• IT asset theft: Shared assets like laptops, smart devices and peripherals that can be booked out by employees can be vulnerable to external and internal theft.
• Unreported damage: Employees may not declare damage to shared assets on their return making it difficult to manage inventory.
• Equipment misuse: Company assets may be used inappropriately or workers may access sensitive databases from personal devices.

Top solutions for protecting physical assets in hybrid offices

To help minimise the risk of physical assets being stolen, damaged or used inappropriately, managers of hybrid workspaces must deploy intelligent security strategies and technologies.

Consider utilising the below solutions to help protect physical assets in flexible workspaces.

Security management software

Security management software helps security staff in hybrid offices to centralise important operations and manage daily tasks remotely. Users can access the platform at any time to view real-time insights related to security tasks like asset control and incident management.

Teams can use this software to track physical assets across the organisation and make sure all equipment is accounted for. The platform can also be used to manage practical tasks like patrols and review access logs to help improve security awareness for on and off-site teams.

Cloud-based access control

Cloud-based access control systems help employers to safely manage site access remotely. Staff can be issued unique, traceable credentials in the form of a key fob or data sent to their smart phones that grant access to specific areas at set times to help minimise intrusion risks.

Managers and security teams can access the system remotely to view entry logs, investigate suspicious events and revoke permissions when required. In the event that a physical asset is lost or damaged, records can be reviewed to help identify who last had access to the item.

AI-powered video security systems

Modern security cameras with AI-powered analytics features can be used to autonomously identify suspicious events and monitor valuable assets. Using object detection AI, systems can be programmed to warn operators of assets being moved without proper authorisation.

Security teams can be sent clips of the event remotely via SMS or email, as well as access camera feeds remotely to view live and stored footage. In addition, behavioural analytics can be used to detect and warn users of wider risks like suspicious motion and acts of aggression.

Summary

Hybrid and flexible workspaces can provide a wide range of benefits to both employers and employees, helping many different types of organisations to improve productivity, foster a positive organisational culture and ensure workers feel satisfied and engaged in their roles.

However, the variable nature of flexible work can make it difficult to keep track of physical assets. By exploring smart solutions like security management software, cloud-based access systems and AI video analytics, employers and security staff can maintain required visibility over key assets at all times and run effective security operations from on and off-site locations.