Prism Health

BACKGROUND

The largest nonprofit provider of HIV medical care services in North Texas, Prism Health North Texas (PHNTX) has been connecting people living with HIV to the care and services they need in their area for the past 35 years. They highly value the privacy and security of the people they serve—and they needed a system that did the same for them and their facilities. Director of Infrastructure Matthew Shaw leads the deployment and management of technology across PHNTX, including physical security across all clinics, pharmacies, and partner locations. 

THE CHALLENGE

Their security systems were neither in sync or user-friendly. According to Matthew Shaw, their systems were disjointed and unable to speak with each other. “Door controllers, cameras, and environmental monitoring were all under different providers.” They needed a single system that integrated all their security features functionality—plus they needed it to scale with their rapid growth and be easy to learn and manage for new team members coming onboard.

WHY VERKADA?

The solution is simple to deploy and manage. Matthew said they found the system to be both intuitive and easily scalable. “Devices are plug-and-play, technical support is easy to reach, and we can quickly search for answers on a user-friendly knowledge base.”

Intrusion detection and incident resolution are fast and seamless. “If the cameras pick up unusual activity after-hours that triggers an alarm, Verkada’s professional monitoring service will check camera feeds to verify the event before dispatching emergency services.” This means they can do a video verification to determine whether there’s an actual intrusion or if it’s just a passing car or somebody walking close enough to a window to trigger the alarm.

Multiple security features work together in one system. “We chose Verkada as a single pane of glass where access control, cameras, environmental monitoring, and alarms are natively integrated to one cloud-based platform.” This was an improvement over their previous system, which was made of a variety of components, all from different providers

Security alerts happen instantly. When there is a security breach, Matthew said the feedback comes in at lightning speed. “If a security event triggers an alert, I get an email and text message with a link to the footage. Within seconds, I can determine the cause and share the video with first responders as needed.”

WHAT'S NEXT?

Rapid growth and expansion. Matthew currently has Verkada installed at 13 PHNTX locations, with plans to add it to 3 more sites in 2022, with more to come in 2023; as well as their Prism Health HQ in Dallas, Texas. They’re also sharing the security love with one of their partners. “We’re onboarding our pharmacy partner Equitas, who will be utilizing Verkada Cameras, Environmental Sensors, and Alarms at their clinics,” Matthew said. Plus, “we’re going to start using Bluetooth LE door access for areas limited to IT, facilities, and higher-ups.”

Experience the benefits of Verkada firsthand, at no cost to you. Get a free trial or live demo to see how Verkada can simplify and strengthen security across your organization