What Is a Command Center: Ultimate Guide
As your business grows, you might need a command center to manage your operations. This is a great way to track the data your company generates, letting you decide how to make your firm even more efficient.
Read on to learn what a command center is, as well as how AV equipment can help yours reach its full potential.
What Is a Command Center?
A command center can take many forms, but is generally a special ‘hub’ that manages the firm’s data and operations over time. Depending on the size of your business, this may be a full room, or a single installation that sits within another space.
Even smaller companies can benefit from a command center. In fact, the data these hubs create could be vital for an SME assessing its long-term growth. To cut down on costs, it’s possible for these businesses to outsource a number of their command center needs.
A central data management facility on your premises will make it easier than ever for your team to deal with problems. Real-time insights can highlight bottlenecks and inefficiencies, whilst also providing ample data to backs up every decision that your team puts into practice.
The overarching goal of a command center is to create value for the company. It can do this by streamlining tasks and duties throughout the firm’s daily activities. They also offer information in perfectly-legible visual formats, which your team can customize to a degree.
What Are Command Centers Used For?
The main purpose of a command center is to monitor company data and use it to improve upon the firm’s usual workflow. However, the way your team uses it generally depends upon the type of hub. For example, security command centers monitor the building’s overall safety, usually via cameras.
With audiovisual technology becoming a key part of businesses, command centers are essential for monitoring their performance. If any part of your company’s network fails, these hubs make it easy to troubleshoot the problem. On a smaller scale, they can identify if a server is undergoing heavy load.
Command centers are also vital for managing logistics, up to and including the supply chain. For example, these hubs can also monitor the flow of goods when the business orders new stock. In addition, the transportation industry may track their fleets in real-time, and advise them on traffic conditions.
Good decisions are at the heart of any successful company. This can include the decision of if a business should expand its operations. A command center lets executives keep an eye on their current trajectory. They can use this data to determine how to take advantage of a growth stage.
What Types Do Command Centers Have? What Are the Responsibilities of the Types?
Though general-purpose command centers are incredibly useful, some industries benefit from a hub that meets their unique needs. You’ll need to conduct a thorough needs assessment of your business to figure out which approach works best for you.
With this in mind, here are several common command center types:
1. Business Application Management
These command centers are specifically for checking the company’s software to make sure it is consistently hitting key targets. This includes software that the business itself has developed, or programs they own licenses for. The firm can renew these licenses via the command center.
2. Data Center Management
Businesses, even small ones, create high volumes of data every single day — a specialized hub helps them use this information. No matter your industry, your team can monitor your technology and if it is working to capacity. These centers also maintain a firm’s disaster recovery protocols.
3. Emergency Response Center
Emergency dispatchers use special command centers to coordinate first responders. This helps them direct the right paramedic or police officer to a crisis. The data this hub collects will also be useful for making split-second decisions, possibly even in matters of life and death.
4. Security Operations Center
Businesses with a dedicated security team might have full multiscreen displays of security feeds as well as a threat response system. Security operations centers are also generally responsible for a firm’s cyber defenses, sharing some of these duties with a network center.
5. Network Operations Center
Expanding on the above, network centers can manage your IT infrastructure. They can similarly scale their network configurations to meet current demand. If your business relies on IT tools on a daily basis, a network center is essential for keeping on top of issues.
What Kind of Equipment Do Command Centers Need?
Generally speaking, centers rely on monitors and other screens to show data to users. This may be especially useful with a multi-viewer, which shows several feeds at once. Security centers in particular would benefit from this; it would allow security teams to easily track their cameras.
AV control systems are similarly essential and let staff members switch between their displays at the press of a button. Many command centers use touchscreens to improve their accessibility. In addition, interactive collaboration tools (including interactive whiteboards) are paramount if large teams will likely use the same equipment.
As some of these centers are for crisis situations, an uninterruptible power supply ensures your data hub continues running, no matter what. Without this, an outage could lead to data loss and corruption. In fact, according to an Arcserve report, 76% of companies have experienced severe data loss.
An intercom system will help teams communicate critical information to other staff members at a moment’s notice. Other audio systems such as basic microphones can also perform many of the same functions. When responding to important business data, it’s essential that the center team can clearly communicate with major stakeholders.
Final Thoughts
Command centers transform how your company uses data, allowing it to improve its operations in several key ways. By assessing your business, you can figure out which type of hub will offer the greatest benefits.
However, you can only make the most of your command center by adding audiovisual tools into your overall tech strategy.
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