Organizations don’t usually rethink their security because they want to. It becomes necessary when something changes.
A new facility. Employees returning to the office full-time. New contractors or vendors. A new government contract.
These are all positive business developments. But they also change your security requirements. Here’s how to ensure your organization and your security strategy grow strong.
Understand your changing workplace
For many local organizations, the workplace looks different than it did a few years ago. Federal government return-to-office requirements have brought more employees back onsite. At the same time, public and private organizations alike are reassessing how much space they need (and how they use it).
CBRE reported that Ottawa’s office vacancy reached 15 per cent in Q2 2026, Ottawa’s fourth consecutive quarter of increased office vacancy. At the same time, however, demand isn’t disappearing: Colliers reported more than 400,000 square feet of completed leasing activity in Ottawa in Q2, with a preference for modern, turnkey offices.
The bottom line: Organizations are rethinking their needs and how their space serves them. So what does that mean for their security?
A new building can mean different access requirements. A larger or more active workplace can change the flow of employees, visitors and contractors. A renovated or newly occupied facility may have different vulnerabilities than it did before.
These changes may call for a review of security guard coverage, access procedures, mobile patrols or other measures unique to the facility and organization.
Understand who has access
The same principle applies to people. When your organization hires someone, changes their responsibilities or brings contractors onsite, you’re making decisions about their access: What do they need to access? What level of screening is appropriate? Are there regulatory or contractual requirements? How should their identity be verified?
For some positions, a name-based criminal record check may be appropriate. Others may require additional verification, including a fingerprint-based criminal record check. Fingerprinting can provide an additional method of establishing identity and is required in certain regulated or security-sensitive circumstances.
The important consideration for employers is not whether every candidate needs the same level of screening. It’s whether their screening process reflects the responsibilities, requirements and level of access associated with each role.
Identify new security requirements
Consider a renovation project. Your organization may suddenly have contractors, tradespeople, delivery personnel and other workers accessing a site that normally has a very different security profile. Access points may change. Operating hours may change. Valuable equipment and materials become more openly accessible.
Similar situations can arise when an organization opens or relocates a facility, expands or consolidates its physical footprint, or changes how contractors or vendors interact with its facilities.
Each change creates an opportunity to ask whether existing security measures still make sense. This is where a threat risk assessment or security consultation can be valuable. Rather than starting with a particular service, organizations can ask themselves:
- What has changed?
- What does that change mean for our people, property and operations?
- Do our current security measures still reflect the way we work?
The answers may point to something relatively straightforward, such as adjusting security coverage or access procedures. In other situations, organizations may need mobile patrols, security guards, investigations, additional screening or a more comprehensive assessment of their security requirements.
The main goal is to ensure your security strategy keeps up with your business.
Understand the cost of an outdated security approach
The problem isn’t always that new security gaps result in an incident (though that possibility becomes more likely).
An outdated security strategy can create inefficiencies, unnecessary exposure and uncertainty for the people responsible for managing your organization.
These can include making it harder to distinguish between employees, contractors and visitors; directing resources where they’re no longer needed; and failing to address new areas where resources are needed most.
In other words, an outdated security strategy can cost an organization in ways that don’t appear on an invoice.
Make security part of change management
Organizations routinely review their operations in light of change. They reassess staffing. They update technology. They adjust budgets. They revisit facilities and processes.
Security deserves the same consideration. When an organization hires for a sensitive role, it may need to revisit screening requirements. When a facility changes, it may need to reconsider physical security. When operations expand, the organization may need to examine access, patrols or coverage.
These aren’t emergency responses. They’re part of running a business responsibly as it evolves.
Get a security partner that can adapt with you
Commissionaires Ottawa works with organizations across Ottawa, Sudbury and Northern Ontario, western Quebec, and Windsor to address changing security requirements. Its services include:
- Pre-employment background screening
- RCMP-accredited digital fingerprinting
- Security guard services
- Commercial and government security
- Construction security
- Mobile patrols
- Investigations
- Threat risk assessments
- Security consulting
That range allows organizations to address different security considerations as their operations evolve – from determining the appropriate level of screening for a role, to reviewing a facility’s security requirements, to responding to changing circumstances.
So when the people, places and responsibilities that make up your business change, your security strategy is more than ready to support you.
Contact Commissionaires Ottawa for a security consultation at commissionaires.ca/en/built-to-protect.
