Smart mobile devices have become almost as necessary as breathing today. A wide range of devices are available – more than ever before, and at ever more affordable price points, fueling their ubiquity. The capabilities of these smart mobile devices are also expanding. They allow us to access more social media platforms than we have friends, provide us quick access to all the information on the web, handle our schedules, and most importantly, they allow us to be proactive with our security.

Being proactive means increasing the awareness of, and taking early action for, potential or actual security issues. Of course, in the past, there have always been a few people that were aware of security issues, and would go out of their way to report a situation they noticed. Today, these powerful mobile technologies have empowered everyone in the organization, to become proactive supporters of security. Everyone can now make a positive difference in our communities and work environments.

Implementing a proactive approach begins by adding smart mobile security solutions to our devices. First and foremost, these solutions improve access to “human sensors” or employee “see it, say it” reports. These reports help gain insight into the issues surrounding your organization, in some cases, even detect when incidents are becoming more likely.

As technology has evolved, security threats have unfortunately evolved as well. These threats can no longer be prevented by building a tall fence. Instead, addressing these threats requires communications, compliance and coordination.

The increasing trend towards a mobile workforce and multi-site organizations has added a new layer of complexity and importance to security that also needs to be covered. Even if your people may not be at your main site, they are still an asset and a responsibility to the company. The same goes for multi-site organizations; if the security of your site in Tokyo is compromised, it will have an effect on your site in Los Angeles.

With an increase to the number of people we come in contact with, the amount of information being passed around, and the number of sites we visit, keeping track of all our assets may seem like an impossible task. Controlling threats to our assets using only traditional physical security systems is no longer possible, so awareness and reporting has become more vital than ever. With the correct smart mobile security solutions, an organization can take early action allowing them to deal with issues when they’re small and before the issues become large and costly.

Security plans that relied on being reactive have begun to change and become more proactive by making use of new smart mobile security solutions. Being proactive is most effective with increased situational awareness. Awareness derives from your physical security systems, and now also from human sensors (employees, security officers, PD, etc.)  being able to easily connect to the organization through smart devices. By empowering stakeholders to be able to report issues, you take advantage of an ability that cameras and other alert systems don’t have: human intuition.

While receiving information is important, being able to broadcast a custom message to all users, or even just one user, in the middle of an emergency is a powerful capability for an organization to employ in their emergency plans. Through the new mobile solutions, you are also able to trigger outgoing messages that can notify important public safety organizations like the Police Department, thus improving response times and saving lives. Smart mobile security solutions combine the physical systems with human insight, dramatically increasing an organization’s situational awareness with unparalleled capabilities to detect and respond to unfolding events in real-time.

The ability to improve situational awareness is crucial, but there will still be times when a major security issue breaks out and an organization needs to be able to react quickly. Being able to initiate a lockdown from your mobile device than becomes a crucial feature. Triggering your PA system and 2-way radios with a custom alert message from your mobile device can make a big difference in how soon your people are notified.

In this time of increased threats, using smart mobile security solutions is a tremendous advantage. The change begins with security plans focusing further on improving preemptive security measures and improving the response time to unexpected security issues. Implementing the correct mobile security solutions can be the difference maker.

Although organizations have already spent years creating secure defense measures against threats, it is time they bring the assets they’ve been protecting (their people) to be part of those defense measures. By leveraging data from their people, organizations improve total awareness and elevate their security.

If done correctly, members of an organization can manage, identify and respond to security threats from the palm of their hand.