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Enterprise Security Magazine
Brivo
Cloud-Based Access Control for Assured Security
Steve Van Till, CEOCloud migration is accelerating in physical security due to several reasons, such as better functionality, deep mobile integration, automated software updates, and flat opex cash flows vs. big capex outlays. These systems have been particularly effective at freeing information from closed workstations and providing mobile situational awareness and control that professionals have come to expect for enterprise applications.
From a broad perspective, cloud-based access control systems are specialized IoT networks and subject to all the same cyber security concerns as any other class of IoT devices. To address these challenges, Maryland-based Brivo offers a cloud-based access control platform backed by a dedicated cyber defense team, over a dozen years of external infosec audits, and an infrastructure with all the necessary cybersecurity certifications. Brivo’s multidisciplinary platform unifies the commercial security experience across access control, mobile credentials, video surveillance, identity federation, and visitor management. The company’s platform offers customers a modular choice of features to suit their unique needs, and provides numerous integrations to third-party security devices as well as industry-specific vertical software packages such as property management, health club operations, HR systems, and identity management.
Data-Driven Security
Brivo stands out from other vendors by taking a data-centric approach to physical security, as reflected in its new Data Explorer module, currently in Beta with select enterprise customers. “Brivo is now on the fourth iteration of our software stack, and for Data Explorer we deployed entirely new data storage technologies that are optimized for analytics,” explains Steve Van Till, CEO of Brivo. “We’ve taken everything we’ve learned about how customers want to interact with their data, and made it accessible via an open-ended business intelligence interface, with AI under the hood for specific types of pattern detection. Then we dropped all that on high performance elastic computing clusters.”
The company’s upcoming Snapshot feature is another example of using machine learning to extract value from security data and improve the user experience. “For access points that are equipped with one of our cameras, it works by extracting all facial images around the time of a security event, and pre-compiling them into a matrix where they can undergo forensic review about 10X faster than with standard techniques. We also keep archival video linked to those images for cases where someone wants to go back and see everything before and after that point in time,” says Van Till.
Mobile
Brivo mobile apps have been an integral part of the offering for many years, and provide clients with two distinct sets of features: mobile management for system administrators, and mobile credentialing for employees, contractors, tenants, and other types of occupants. The company’s mobile management app gives administrators the power to do anything they want from a mobile device, such as viewing activity logs, playing live or recorded video footage, unlocking doors remotely, and configuring control panel parameters.
Launched in 2015, the Brivo Mobile Pass application makes it easy for users to open doors with their phone and ditch the old plastic access cards. Mobile Pass boasts advanced features leveraging Bluetooth and other technologies for new projects, but is also backward compatible with every system installed for the past 15 years. “Customers love our Bluetooth implementation because it automatically detects the nearest door and allows hands-free entry without removing your phone from your pocket,” explains Van Till.
Customers love our Bluetooth-based mobile credential implementation because it automatically detects the nearest door and allows hands-free entry without removing your phone from your pocket
The Brivo tagline has always been “Simply Better Security.” Its philosophy starts with unifying the security experience across access control, video surveillance, and intrusion detection. The company has made a complete UI modernization in another big piece of its fourth-generation software stack, reflecting two decades of technology investment that have continued to drive the feature-rich strategy forward to meet changing market demands.
“Our open API removes any form of siloes in enterprises,” says Van Till. The API is primarily used for identity synchronization with enterprise directories, HR systems, and other vertical applications. It can also be used as a security event data feed into other systems. “One of our customers merges the physical security data stream from our system into the same platform they use to monitor network security, which sets the stage for event correlation and a single pane of glass for their operations staff.”
In addition, a kiosk-based visitor management solution for commercial properties easily integrates with the Brivo core access control platform. With features such as guest identity, photo capture, and badge printing, the solution simplifies security and compliance for administrators and provides a secure, streamlined visitor experience.
A Client-Centric Approach to Maximize Favorable Outcomes
Brivo works with its network of over 1500 systems integrators to deploy solutions to its global client base. The integrators provide the expertise for upfront requirements analysis, installation, and the unique jurisdictional regulations that are a part of any access control solution. They also program the system to customer specifications, and assist in enrolling users and providing education.
A case in point, Brivo helped e-signature technology firm DocuSign secure hundreds of doors in its numerous offices. “Our platform has been helping the client monitor their every door, 24/7,” extols Van Till.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Brivo added several new features to its innovative platform to help clients manage their door security during and after lockdown. “While the visitor management system helps employees self-certify about their travel history using mobile devices, personnel control leaves room for manual intervention to screen people,” says Van Till.
Earlier this year, Brivo acquired Parakeet Technologies, a smart apartment solution for multifamily dwellings, apartment units, and condominiums. As modern buildings need both traditional access controls for lobbies, gates, garages, swimming pools, health, and fitness facilities, the Brivo platform will allow residents to have a mobile credential, both at the base building level as well as on individual apartment doors. This acquisition has also encouraged Brivo to enhance its capabilities further. “With deeper integration between products of both our company and Parakeet’s, including a common user interface, unified billing, and bundled services, we can provide lighting and thermostat control, timers and schedules, and sensors for comprehensive property management,” concludes Van Till. On the geographical front, Brivo launched a subsidiary in Europe in 2018 and is working with integrators in various global regions to take its value to new companies across the world.
Company
Brivo
Management
Steve Van Till, CEO
Description
Headquartered in Bethesda, Brivo is a SaaS company that offers a complete suite of physical security products and services for commercial buildings, including access control, video surveillance, and mobile credentials. Brivo provides a scalable and centralized security management system to over ten million users. The company is unique in offering both access control and video management in a single cloud-based platform that is available via web browser or mobile applications from anywhere, anytime. Brivo developed the platform to offer customers a modular choice of features that suit their unique needs, and provide numerous integrations to third-party security devices as well as industry-specific vertical software packages such as property management, health club operations, and HR systems
Brivo News
Security Gives Back: Brivo Commits to Community Service Throughout the Year
We’ve all heard of companies that boast unlimited PTO as one of their benefits, but there aren’t many businesses that offer their employees unlimited VTO (volunteer time off), allowing them to take as much time off as they want in a given year to volunteer and give back to their communities.
Cloud-based access control and video surveillance provider Brivo is one such company, though, and its employees have taken the offering to heart in a major way, with almost 90 percent of them participating in the first Security Industry Community Service Day on June 7.
Brivo has been part of Convergint’s annual Social Responsibility Day for the past few years and national key account manager Erin Astley says it’s nice to see that initiative go industry-wide this year, thanks to the urging and backing of the Security Industry Association.
“Brivo’s mission is a commitment to service, so we really go the extra mile to support our partners as much as we possibly can,” she says. “This was the first year that we got that large commitment rate from our employees, so we’re really, really proud of that, and we plan on doing this every year going forward.”
Brivo’s commitment to service mission “comes straight from (CEO) Steve (Van Till) himself,” says Astley.
“We’re in security, so I feel like the goal of our industry is trying to make the world a safer and better place and I think that volunteer work goes hand in hand with that,” she says. “Whether it’s Social Responsibility Day with Convergint or an organization asks us to fill backpacks and give them to kids in the Bethesda Md., area, we try to partake in these efforts as much as we possibly can.”
Astley says Brivo employees come to work often with community service ideas so the company’s commitment to service is growing almost every day.
“We’re always saying yes, but especially if we have a colleague of our own who comes to us with a particular request,” she says. “We really try to be involved as much as we possibly can. People are constantly bringing us new ideas and ways to get engaged.”
Why Brivo Focuses on Community Service
Ahead of this year’s Community Service Day, Astley worked with Convergint’s Erin Planting and trying to boost Brivo’s involvement level as high as possible. Once Van Till heard about their plans to take the day off across the company, chief revenue officer Maureen Perrelli and vice president of global sales Matt Fairbanks “helped to push it down from the top” and get as many employees to participate as they could.
Astley kept a tracker of what Brivo employees would be doing and where they were volunteering, passing the information on to Planting so Convergint could have an accurate headcount for its massive annual initiative that dates back more than 20 years.
She worked at a Boys and Girls Club camp in Connecticut known as Camp Schade with employees from Convergint’s Rocky Hill, Conn., Convergint Technology Center (CTC), cleaning the fence line while other volunteers were painting in an effort to reopen the camp soon.
“It had probably been 10 years since anybody had leaf-blown or raked or cut down certain trees and things like that so that was our task,” says Astley. “We went out there and, for a good portion of the day, really cleaned it up, and it was amazing to see the difference from the before and after.
“I think there was probably 20 of us. The Boys and Girls Club were over-the-moon excited to see the difference that it made. Even the neighbors who were driving by who lived on that road said, ‘Oh, my gosh! Look at this. It looks so great!’ The whole community was just psyched to see the difference in such a short amount of time,” she says.
The growth of the security industry’s community service focus from primarily one large company to an industry-wide initiative “just shows that the world needs some love and we take care of our neighbors,” says Astley.
“We’re in security for a reason,” she says. “I’m in it because it’s making this world a safer place. I feel good about my job. I’m not here to sell you anything. I’m here to make your life easier and keep you and your family safe, and I think that we all feel that same way.
“I’m not surprised at all to see that this is growing and expanding, because it’s near and dear to our core values, so I’m happy to see that this is happening,” says Astley.
Brivo did about five company-wide community service campaigns last year but Astley expects that number to grow every year.
“It changes year to year just based on what our colleagues are asking us to do and what our partners are asking us to do,” she says. “Now that we’re growing and now that people are asking us to do more, I think that number will only go up. It’s really rewarding. It’s just our commitment to service, trying to make this this world a safer, happier place to be.”