Breaking Down Silos: Why Converged Security Matters for Events and Venues
Protective security has traditionally been divided into four key domains: physical, personnel, technical and cyber. While each discipline plays a vital role in securing places and people, they often operate in silos, with separate teams, budgets and priorities addressing isolated risks. This fragmented approach can lead to gaps or duplicated effort and often relies on expensive, standalone solutions.
As highlighted by the National Protective Security Authority (NPSA) through their Level 4 Qualification launch (see here), the future of effective security lies not solely in deeper specialisation, but in converged solutions.
At the Decision Support Centre (DSC), this principle is core to our approach, whether you’re organising a local village fete, managing security at a city centre market, or serving as the Operations Manager of a major festival or stadium event.
We recognise that the size of your audience shouldn’t determine the quality of your protection. That’s why the DSC is designed to scale, providing proportionate, accessible and joined-up support to all types of venues and events, regardless of their complexity or budget. From grassroots to national stage, every organiser deserves the tools to plan confidently.
We recognise that today’s threats, whether terrorism, public disorder, cyber disruption, or environmental hazards, do not respect departmental boundaries, organisational charts, or venue perimeters. A suspicious package might trigger a lockdown that affects access, egress and critical systems. A cyber outage could bring down a venue’s access control or payment platforms. A protest could escalate due to poor communication impacting not only the event but neighbouring sites. Drug contamination at one festival may indicate a wider trend. An outbreak of vomiting or diarrhoea could redeploy medical resources across multiple venues.
The DSC Monitoring Service delivers real-time, curated intelligence across a full range of risks, including terror threats, critical infrastructure disruptions, digital outages, severe weather and overlapping event activities.
Supported by the National Events Database, the DSC maintains a national strategic picture of venues and events in time and place. Our goal is not simply to alert, but to advise, inform and support, exactly when it matters most.
Viewed through this converged lens, the DSC also helps deliver on the expectations of Martyn’s Law, which requires venues and events to take reasonable and practical steps to protect the public. These steps are rarely confined to one team or department, they demand collaboration, shared awareness and joined-up responses that are practical and cost-effective.
You can register your interest in the DSC Monitoring Service by completing the enquiry form below.
Please complete the form below to send an online enquiry to the team at Decision Support Centre.
