The security operations centre is at the crux of a communication room. It is a function that manages several functions with a built-in function of identification of root-cause problems in the business real-estates. It allows employees to use its capabilities for more than protecting the assets of the organization. So far in our previous articles, we have covered what SOCs exactly do, the functions and activities that one needs to factor in while designing the SOC. SOCs are more than just a digital recording system that security teams ( IT security or Physical Security teams ) use for their respective operations. However, there are several applications and methods by which SOCs contribute to other business functions ( whether they are revenue generation functions or support functions )
You can think about SOCs as a digital-enabled function with advanced systems and processes that augment the operations of the businesses. You can also think of it as a centralized function tool monitoring distributed areas within an organization. On the backend, it is a distributed computing architecture that is made up of several infrastructure systems backed into one system.
There are several applications of this function in businesses today and its capabilities are yet to be exploited.
Logistics Function: An ideal scenario in the logistics function will be with a complete overview of the entire functional landscape, including and not limited to:
Process stages across the organization of all logistic components
Identification and prediction of possible risks
Assess all possible options for any problem
How can SOCs assist in the logistics function?
A. A SOC provides complete visibility of all the assets of the organization ( assets in production, warehouse, or in transit ) including granular details such as:
Mode of transportation
Personnel details
Precise Location
Information on perishable or non-perishable goods
B. It helps the managers get a clear picture of the current and future availability of inventory and raw materials
C. Real-time information or predicted risks to help control revenue leakages by way of monitoring of transit of goods or monitoring or risks across storage areas.
D. Enhancement of service levels with minimal inventory thereby increasing ROI
E. Tweak enormous data to derive valuable insights at the SOC level and publish KPIs such as lead-time, Time value of money, Takt Time, Inventory turnover ratio, Inventory sales ratio.
F. SOCs can utilize its captive software to predict efficient transportation routes based on real-time traffic information, identify idle bays, identify idle spots for capacity mapping.
G. Command centres continuously communicate and process activities on multiple topics such as possible roadblocks, extreme weather conditions, specific statutory requirements, vehicle and driver safety information, etc.
2. Human Resources: The SOC generates information to identify workforce resources and to effectively address HR-related business processes. Command centres can improve decision-making and maximize operational efficiency with the guided navigation and search capability through the command centre. Identification of operational issues through metrics, graphs, and tag clouds makes it easier for the HR teams. The SOCs can:
Search and identify employees or contingent workers based on a combination of personnel identification through location identification ( either through facial recognition or access control systems ).
Analyze the workforce distribution across areas basis footfall counts identified.
Identify the strength functional wise and department wise across the area of operations
How can SOCs contribute to the HR function?
A. Calculate the number of hours available per day based on attendance.
B. Identify areas for investigations on employees.
C. Mass notifications for all employees.
D. HR can also contribute towards payroll from any access infrastructures.
F. Be a central emergency communication point for all-risk-related information, emergency response function, or HR-related activities.
3. Finance: To secure rapid information, command Centers have assisted multiple functions across the organizations by sharing real-time information and insights. Functions such as:
Cash flow management
Payments
Human Resource Costs
Inventory costs
Administration cost
How can SOCs assist in finance function?
A. SOCs can validate Purchase orders/delivery orders and collect information at the source before dispatch of goods or permitting vendors within the plant.
B. SOCs can assist by monitoring the asset life ( via predictive maintenance ) across the premises.
C. Secure areas basis criticality ( Value of Risk, which we will cover in the subsequent articles ). SOCs can monitor the value at risk across the premises and assist in detailing out high-risk areas. SOCs can share possible loss exposure and help contain any business losses.
D. Alarm management of critical zones that contain high-value assets ( people, process, infrastructures ).
E. Finance function gets inventory and stock in hand, raw materials as well as other subsequent factors.
4. Sales: As SOCs consolidate a tremendous volume of data that is critical to businesses, SOCs can contribute in multiple ways to the sales function.
Sales and delivery efficiencies
Product Demand analysis
Returnable goods are a few of the avenues where SOCs can assist
How SOC’s can contribute to Sales function?
A. Register Analysis: As SOCs secure register data from the entry points of the premises, analysis of vendor performance, product performance, credit analysis.
Order to supply turn around time helps sales function to estimate an approximate production or service time and plan the respective sales channel
Understanding the performance of vendors by analyzing delivery order, product order, goods value, and turnaround time, we can estimate effective vendors which can further help the sales and production teams.
B. Sales Target: As SOCs are aware of the product inventory list within the organization, SOCs can push data on the perishable goods list to the sales teams to plan the sales of certain products.
5. Operations: An ideal way to maintain quality in your operations is to get as granular data on your operations as possible. SOCs can contribute to your operations by way of:
Planning your production periods
Planning the resource requirements
SOCs help your operations in the following manner:
A. Production Cycle: Since SOCs have data on inventory, it can help companies predict the production cycle of organizations.
B. Resource Requirements: As we get to know the production cycles based on the inventory, raw materials, and past goods movement data, we can also estimate the total raw materials required in a particular time frame along with detailing the manpower required.
You can reach out to us and get more information on how we have transitioned SOCs to the key business contributor.