Protecting Australia’s logistics industry

According to the Australian Logistics Council, the logistics sector provides $131.6 billion to Australia’s economy and represents 8.6 per cent of Australia’s gross domestic product (GDP), making it a key contributor to the Australian market. With such significant importance to Australia, it’s important for its assets to be adequately protected to enable operations to continue. In order to do so, organisations must implement leading security innovations beyond the deployment of just a physical guard presence, augmented by technology.

In years gone by, security referred to patrolling officer(s) at a site who were tasked with the protection, management, and ensuring continued operations or otherwise at the location. Today, with much more at risk than before, there is a greater need to integrate innovative methods of security and protection, which includes the use of technology.

Being in two places at once

One of the most well-known technology integrations is the use of CCTV surveillance. Surveillance technology enables guards to get a view of the overall site, monitoring multiple areas at once. In the event an incident occurs at a location, personnel can be dispatched to the area to investigate further, or action (such as calling the police) can be taken immediately from the control centre. This reduces the possibility for things to be missed as guards are no longer on a continuous patrol across the site. Additionally, the presence of surveillance cameras act as a deterrent for any potential intruders or wrongdoings, ultimately allowing security guards to be in multiple places at any given time.

Preparing with data

Technology integration in security does not begin and end with CCTV surveillance—today, it has evolved to be much more. For example, intelligent analytics is now a critical component of security. With intelligent analytics, security professionals can analyse data, identifying certain patterns such as specific times or locations that incidents take place. With data in the hands of security professionals, better preparation can be done ahead of time including strategically stationing guards and/or rostering more staff at certain times to ensure there are enough people to manage situations as they arise.

Seeing what’s inside

The logistics industry is tasked with the transportation of a variety of goods critical to Australia. In doing so, it’s important to ensure all shipments are screened properly and accounted for accurately. Freight screening technology not only provides this ability but does so in a way that maximises productivity allowing operations to continue flowing seamlessly. It removes much of the manual process of physically having to search what goods are being carried. Going back to my earlier point, this technology augments guards’ ability to effectively protect assets and sites, without having to slow processes or operations down.

The future of the logistics industry

There are great developments in the application of IoT sensors, accumulating data and using AI to deliver business insights through process improvements. Thanks to the integration of traditional security technologies and new-age IoT platforms, there is tremendous scope to reduce the overall technology footprint and capital expenditure. For example, a smart CCTV security camera can be integrated with an IoT platform to perform traditional security functions, as well as track and measure the performance of the logistics workflow.

Security was once solely focussed on the protection of assets. Today, its role has shifted to not only become that shield, but to also play a key role in business operations including customer experience and process workflow. Technology is the driving force behind this shift, enabling security professionals to play a much more pivotal role in day-to-day operations.