‘Cowboy’ – and in some cases unscrupulous – security companies have given the industry a bad name for too long. With regulation and licensing on the political agenda there’s never been a better time for all those in the industry who care about its future to do something about the unwanted minority.
Given that the present Government

has now passed legislation designed to stamp out the shady menace of ‘Here today, Gone tomorrow’ security companies, the private sector should grab such an opportunity with both hands – taking a lead in helping the manned guarding sector to shake off its shady image once and for all.

How might the responsible contractors out there go about such a task? Where necessary, clients must either be forced to accept – or be forced to understand – the true value of paying the right price for a total security service from a respected and long-established company, regardless of its size.

All-too-often, security is viewed as a service that’s bought in reluctantly. A distress purchase that end users perceive to be an unfortunate necessity with little in the way of tangible added value. Responsible contractors in our industry need to prove to in-house professionals that they’re not merely ‘renting-in uniforms’ but actually receiving a quality, customer care-focused guarding service.

Actions speak much louder than words, though, and it’s by their deeds that contractors will rightly be judged.

Legislation – including the National Minimum Wage, the Working Time Directive and the aforementioned Private Security Industry Act 2001 – will of course have a large part to play in weeding out the poor service providers. However, there are still those clients who’ll continue to buy the cheapest service available. It’s our job to convince them that a smarter, added value service can be delivered at a competitive price. It’s only when security fails that the real value of the lowest price contract is truly understood.

Overcoming churn with training

Certain areas of the industry seem to have difficulty in retaining staff, but that’s one problem which is easy to overcome. When a security company invests in training for its employees, you can almost guarantee that it’ll result in an immediate improvement so far as its employee retention statistics are concerned.

Long-term clients want to be able to deal with security staff whom they trust implicitly, and have known for quite some time. That will only be possible if we can alleviate the unacceptably high churn rates of today.

End users also want to know that they’re dealing with a mature and professional contractor, which is why it’s important for all of us to work hard at retaining our officers. They are the key to our operation. And, after all, this is a people business we’re talking about here. Of course, once a contractor provides a quality service and is recognised for doing so, the client starts to appreciate what his or her security company can do for them and will slowly begin to demand more. This is usually to the benefit of both parties.

In essence, the private security companies need to find a way of maintaining a strategy whereby security with added value is provided. A security service where training is the major emphasis

Indeed, a high level of customer care is becoming more and more important to our end users. The best way to provide that for them is through effective training.

At Initial, we teamed up with the English Tourist Board to develop a Welcome Host training package that can be used to develop and enhance the skills of security officers in their particular place of deployment. By promoting good service and the effective management of a client’s ‘guests’, the right training package can provide the all-round knowledge that’s necessary if contractors are to succeed in customer-facing roles.

Developing officers’ IT skills

Many security companies are discovering that ever-increasing numbers of clients are now demanding to be provided with IT-literate officers. In response, some companies have established in-house training courses to teach their staff what they need to know. Developing IT knowledge will be central to a contractor’s success because technology is going to play an increasing role in security provision.

In essence, the private security companies need to find a way of maintaining a strategy whereby security with added value is provided. A service where training is the major emphasis. That said, the extra cost of doing so can only be absorbed by ensuring that we provide a highly effective service, one which relies on the innovative development of business systems.

Company-wide standards

From an individual standpoint, I’ve always maintained that it’s important for security companies to excel at what really matters most. When you find yourself in management, you always have a list in front of you of things to be done and taken care of, and a list of things you’d like to be able to do. I firmly believe that, by focusing on what we need to do – and getting it right – security companies will live by an effective ethos that enables them to deal with changes in the marketplace.

In this regard, it’s important for manned security solution providers to develop company-wide standards of performance against which all levels of management are measured, and their success rewarded. This would help contractors to offer a nationally-unified and quality, value-for-money service.

Looking further afield, such standards could then form the basis for an industry-wide standard that would allow clients to compare the quality of service from one company to another, not the price of that service.

Source

SMT

Postscript

Tony O’Neill is managing director of Initial Security and chairman of the BSIA’s Manned Security Section