What is a Risk Map?
Navigating Facility Security
Businesses often push physical security to the side, in favor of more “pressing” issues such as quarterly financials or product development, but these pressing concerns can only be achieved in a safe and secure working environment. As organizations grow, inner workings become more complex. Risk managers are hired to deal with insurance and financial risk, but are seldom educated to deal with physical security risk.
As organizations grow, their inner workings become simultaneously more complex and more vulnerable. Traditional security assessments can’t readily keep up with that growth.
That’s where Risk Maps come into the picture. They’re modern and flexible and expand the scope of risk management beyond just insurance and financial threats.
What is a Risk Map?
A Risk Map is a model of an organization’s physical security risk. Like a normal map, it displays different features in relation to each other. Instead of rivers, mountains, cities and highways, on a Risk Map you’ll find floor plans, people, threats and security operations, be they technological, physical or procedural.
How are Risk Maps different from the norm?
The status quo when it comes to navigating risk is a comprehensive security risk assessment (SRA). An expert walks through your physical space and gives you a list of directions on how to get from where you are to your security goals.
But the problem with directions is that if you stray off course at any point, they no longer bring you to your destination. And businesses, facilities and processes change frequently, rendering SRAs out-of-date in no time.
With a Risk Map, you have directions that make sense from any point — like a GPS rerouting continuously from every new turn you make and growing with you as your operations evolve.
How are Risk Maps created?
Quill Security takes the information from your organization — floor plan, specific security concerns such as shootings, where the most valuable assets are — and uploads it to a secure cloud environment where it’s combined with threat profiles and Quill’s proprietary security Measure Library. The Quill Engine computes your risk for each asset, in each location, against over 200 threats in minutes.
Once the Risk Map is generated, you can evaluate the efficacy of any measure, new or existing, along side the cost of implementation and operation.
Why do I need a Risk Map?
To understand the full costs of action and inaction
When an expert recommends “hiring a security guard” or “installing cameras,” without taking into account cost, you’re left holding the bag. Avoid the unpleasant surprise of discovering the full cost of your journey after you’re halfway through: with a Risk Map, you can determine the cost of reaching your security goals before stepping out the door.
To eliminate bias
When a traditional risk assessment is performed, consultants rely largely on their personal history and experience, leaving you with recommendations based in part, on personal bias. Accepting recommendations on the strength of eminence and without evidence leads to outdated or mismatched security measures that fail to serve your organization.
To save time
A traditional SRA can take months to get done and require extensive use of resources on your end. Analysis is still often done by hand and asking for heatmaps or intuitive visuals adds even more time.
"I conducted a risk assessment of the dangers of not doing a risk assessment decided it wasn't worth it."
Conversely, a Risk Map for a single facility can be created in less than 48 hours with a floor plan and an hour-long phone interview with the facility operator. This sketch can be used as is or as a foundation for further detail and specificity by layering on-site inspections, document reviews, and personnel interviews. Risk Map allow you to spend less time assessing risk and more time managing it.
This means you don’t have to wait until Q3 to take steps against risks identified in Q1.
To stay flexible
A Risk Map is widely flexible, and can be created showing as many layers as you like. Zoom in to inspect a threat of arson in the west stairwell, or zoom out to see the risk of all possible threats across your organization. Filter the Quill Measure Library to only recommend cameras for a specific project, or only policy measures for an annual policy review.
A Risk Map is a way to augment the intuitive process of assessing security, balancing human recommendation with unbiased data. Get to your destination in the fastest, most efficient way with a comprehensive model that shows you not just one path to security, but all possible paths.
How do I get one?
You can see your first Risk Map in just a couple days. Get in touch to find out how.