This article originally appeared in the July 2021 issue of Security Business magazine. When sharing, don’t forget to mention Security Business magazine on LinkedIn and @SecBusinessMag on Twitter.
Imagine a place where security professionals from all walks of the industry can gather, chat and learn from each other...but without posts about their kids or their dogs or their political views. What if I told you that place already exists?
Security industry veteran Bernard Gollotti, CPP, says he created “Your Security Space” after realizing that political rhetoric and unsolicited ads were filling his social media activity feeds to the point where he had to spend more time searching for relevant security information than he did reading it. “I’m a big supporter of the other social media networking platforms, but we want Your Security Space to be more of a networking platform where security people can go and have conversations and not have to see all the ads, or pictures of what people had for dinner last night, or birthday wishes. I have always believed that the security professional security space needs strong network where people can feel comfortable going and talking.”
Gollotti soft-launched Your Security Space just before COVID and decided to hold back on promotion until Android and iOS apps were formally developed. Now, with apps in place, he has been relaunching it over the past couple of months. Now comes the drive for membership, which is 100% free for industry professionals.
“With some organizations, you have to pay a membership fee to have access to your peers – that’s not what we are looking to do,” Gollotti says. “We are looking for sponsors to support it so we can keep membership free, but at the same time, not inundate the membership with flowing ads and those types of things.”
While there are certainly Facebook and Linkedin groups where industry peers meet and collaborate, Gollotti says Your Security Space differs because its members and its content is curated. The site is divided into many groups for different topics, disciplines, and even companies, where professional integrators, end-users and others can safely share technical help and other industry information.
Content from a member’s groups is aggregated into a social media-style activity feed.
“When you set up a group you also have the opportunity to share documents and images, technical documents, and in the next couple of weeks, we will be adding video posting to the site,” Gollotti says.
Users can post blogs, vendor sponsors can create user groups on the site, and he says they intend to add a job board as well.
“This will be an environment where people can actually go and have a real conversation and talk to security subject matter experts,” he adds. “Anybody who creates content on the site will own their content.“
Now the focus turns to membership, and Gollotti realizes that to launch a social professional network from the ground up is going to take baby steps. He is hoping to break 1,000 members by September, and up from there. Membership is strictly for those who are, by trade, security professionals, law enforcement officials, have served in the armed forces, or have security responsibilities within their portfolio.
Gollotti himself has a unique perspective on the industry and its collaboration. In more than 35 years in the security industry, he has experience across multiple market verticals, with perspectives from the consultant, guard force provider, security integrator, emergency preparedness specialist, business development manager and security end-user standpoints.
“I’ve always been a firm believer that people need to work together to make the world safer, but what we’ve essentially done as organizations is to silo ourselves,” Gollotti says.
Break down the silos and begin connecting at https://yoursecurityspace.com.
Paul Rothman is Editor-in-Chief of Security Business magazine. Email him your comments and questions at [email protected]. Access the current issue, full archives and apply for a free subscription at www.securitybusinessmag.com.
