Sage Conversations

The Great Conversation will be held on March 6, 2012 in Seattle, Washington. But it is not just an event. It is intended as an ongoing ‘conversation’.

So we are tapping into the issues that are driving you this year and into the future by providing a short survey. Your feedback to this survey will drive the conversation in the blogs, the Linkedin Community, the white papers, the case studies and the event itself.

In my previous blog, I spoke about the Whole Building Design 'imperative' that promises to optimize the construction of new and retrofit construction. I suggested that security should be at the table. By 'security' I meant the entire ecosystem including:

Security Dealer & Integrator Magazine (SD&I) has launched a new program ranking America’s top 50 fastest growing integrators.  As founder and Managing Director of The Sage Group we are honored to be a part of it.  We have been involved in the physical security industry for over 10 years and in the IT industry for over 30 years. We have seen many inflection points in both sectors over that period.  However, we believe the security industry’s rate of change will continue to accelerate and create opportunities for some and disruptions for others that will be profound. The very definition of what an ‘integrator’ is will have far reaching implications for them and for the technology product vendors they represent.

"There are currently no universal codes or standards that apply to all public and private sector buildings. However, most designers agree that security issues must be addressed with other design objectives and integrated into the building design throughout the process. This will ensure a quality building with effective security. This concept is known as an 'all-hazard design'." 

As mentioned in Sage News, Tom Miller attended and moderated a number of panels at ID World 2011 in Milan, Italy. Tom moderated the CEO investor forum as well as spoke at the Healthtech Innovation Conference and participated on a panel on Identity in Cloud Computing and Tracking in Healthcare.

Sage believes it is important for our readers to understand the implication of terrorist incidents that are occurring and will occur in the future. And we need to plan and respond accordingly. We live in a different world now. We must be more aware of the risks and do our part to mitigate them. Here is a post from Jeffrey Slotnick, a well-recognized consultant on risk, business continuity and operational resilience on a recent terrorist incident that took place in Seattle:

I just returned from a large industry trade show in Las Vegas. I was told there were over 23,000 people and close to 1,000 vendors. As I travelled up and down the myriad aisles I asked myself the following questions: 

Last week, an international expert on security, identity, credentialing and federation, said identity is like a utility. That is, it should be a fundamental piece of the critical infrastructure that must be used, managed, leveraged, distributed and protected like electricity. Get ready access control vendors: this is your inflection point of value. Are you going to stay on your proprietary platform or move to truly conform to the standards that are emerging in the industry? Security Executives: don't settle for the PowerPoint that says they conform. Check under the hood. Talk to your integrator and/or your consultant. Define your workflow and your compliance strategy around identity.

The Sage Group has a methodology for navigating change, we understand how to develop and guide a leadership culture, we help owners create an ecosystem map that undergirds a highly efficient and leveraged go-to-market plan and we help link the value of your intellectual property with your business.