Eighteen months ago, Francis Peck left the logistics industry to take over the task of transforming one of the security industry's greatest dinosaurs, the Corps of Commissionaires. Marie Saveri muttu asked him about his vision for the company's future
It could hardly be described as a logistical nightmare, but perhaps his background was the perfect breeding ground for the job Francis Peck, managing director of the Corps of Commissionaires, was to inherit in October 1998. Logistics, after all, is about the art of moving, lodging and supplying troops and equipment. That's exactly what the Corps had been doing, albeit its first responsibility being guarding, since the Crimean War in 1859. Some industry observers might even have gone so far as to describe the company - unkindly one might add - as still belonging to said War.

Peck sees it rather differently, emphasising the traditional values, culture and reputation the Corps has inherited. But he's the first to admit that the company lacked commercial input. Some of his predecessors, while they sported impressive military credentials, had little to contribute to the company by way of consumer values. Indeed the culture of employing personnel for the Corps was just the opposite. In Peck's words, it had acted "a bit like a charity employing people once they left the Services".

Changing the guard

Today the Corps employs 3,500 people internationally and recruits some 800 people every year, and not just from the Services. Indeed the average age of Commissionaires, which not so long ago stood in the mid-fifties, is creeping downwards although it is still in the 'high forties', says Peck. A year ago, Peck recruited an HR director and set about changing the culture of the organisation from an inward-facing one to a customer-focussed culture. As a result, and since Peck's arrival, the Corps has increased its turnover from £28 million to £45 million by focussing on providing services to the banking, finance, shopping centres and property sectors and broadening its range of activities.

Customer first

The emphasis is now on providing business solutions to its customers. The approach seems to have paid off, and the Corps is now introducing services which meet more of today's security needs. Three months ago the Corps opened its first remote monitoring centre which sports some of the latest dark screen technology. Originally intended to be a joint venture from a base in London with RemGuard, the two companies could not agree on fundamentals, leading the Corps to set up a deal with Balfour Kilpatrick, which provided all the equipment while the Corps concentrates on running the centre. The ideal clients are multi-site customers, says Peck, because "we can offer them a better service". And its latest venture is e-guard, a vehicle tracking and monitoring service which is already proving a success in recovering stolen cars.

This investment in technology solutions is in part attributed to the effects of the Working Time Directive which has lifted base costs across the whole of the guarding industry. Although the Corps has traditionally paid its staff a regular salary instead of an hourly rate, like many other forward thinking guarding companies it has also begun thinking in terms of the total service. Accordingly its range of services has also broadened and staff are now multi-skilled. As well as the security function, guards also perform reception duties, operate telephone exchanges, work in post rooms and dispose of waste.

Internally too, Peck acknowledges that the company stems from a low-tech base. But here also, the Corps has taken on a new IT team and is installing LANs and WAN infrastructure as a management tool to drive the business forward. Eventually it will be used as a vital communications tool both internally and externally.

Corporate strategy

In turnover terms, the Corps holds a place among the top ten guarding companies in the UK, and although in size it is still way behind its competitors, it's making headway by organic and strategic growth, rather than by acquisition. Citing Group 4 and Burns as examples, Peck says: "Other companies are either taking over or are being swallowed up by larger players. The Corps cannot be taken over because our shares are not available on the open market. So we can tell our customers confidently that we will still be here in five years time."

“The vast rump of the 2600 companies out there are one man and a dog independents who are totally reactive and don’t do anything to enhance the image of the industry. The only way the industry is going to be successful is to become a proactive force.”

Apart from its guarding and remote monitoring business, it has a special projects department which works globally providing a range of skills which include counter-terrorism training to foreign police forces while complying with the Foreign Office. Three years ago, it also began an executive recruitment agency in the UK which operates separately. And globally, it has two sister companies, also called the Corps of Commissionaires, but which run totally independently in Canada and Australia, which between them employ 16,200 people and have a joint turnover of £122 million.

What he has achieved so far, however, only scratches the surface of his vision for the Corps, says Peck. Having started his career in retailing, with long stints at both John Lewis Partnership and Habitat before he joined the logistics industry with the National Freight Consortium (now Exel Logistics) and the Transport Development Group, Peck has a firm grip of the strategy needed to implement changes to bring the Corps into the 21st Century. And coming into the industry with a fresh pair of eyes gives him the objectivity that only an outsider can bring.

Says Peck: "My vision is that we will double the size we are now, within our strategic plan and internationalise the company. Eventually we will see 25% of our business outside the UK, excluding Canada and Australia. I am not interested in being the biggest. But I am interested in being the best. We want to be seen as the market leaders in niche markets. We want to be the first reference point for customers who want to buy services in the financial sector and in property."

Image management

So what are the drawbacks? Peck pulls no punches here. Having been on the National Manned Guarding Committee and just been elected to sit on the governing council of the BSIA, Peck reveals a passion to drive the industry forward: "The whole structure of the security industry suffers from a poor image, and that's because there is no regulation. The Government always seem to have 10 good reasons why they will give priority to other matters and not security. But what's happening out there is that whenever there is a problem, the police do not have the manpower to cope with it. There's got to be a stage where certain areas of current police responsibility can be passed on to private companies. But, fundamentally, if the security industry, as it must in the coming years, works more closely with the Police, we must have regulation in place. We already have a close relationship with Police, but they can't give work to, or share information with, the private security industry without a licensing element."

On his wish list for the security industry, Peck puts Regulation first, followed by recruitment and selection with a strict 10 year vetting process, and thirdly that the industry should become a proactive force, to use the knowledge and experience to move businesses forward.

He continued: "The vast rump of the 2,600 companies out there are one man and a dog independents who are totally reactive, and don't do anything to enhance the image of the industry. The only way the industry is going to be successful is to become a proactive force."

Outside regulation

While a lot hinges on regulation in driving the industry forward, Peck, draws some parallels on image with the logistics industry. "The logistics industry has come from the 'grease under the fingernails', 'dirty trucker type' to a much more sophisticated e-commerce based, 24 hours system, delivering small quantities of product around the country to supermarkets who have shelves filled two or three times a day. It's a dramatic change in a decade. I think the security industry, with the help of the BSIA who can start to draw the strands together, can start to make that change happen. But it has got to be done nationally. You have to start from a basis of knowledge. You have to be able to educate and train people and carry that message to the customer in a planned and structured way."