So near… and yet so far…
Not one business sector exists where innovation and technological developments have not had a major influence on areas such as Health and Safety, cost reduction, revenue growth and productivity. The Internet in particular has had a profound effect on how companies interact with their customers (and internally), while mobile telephones bring new remote communication opportunities with workers that bit further afield.
However, some sectors appear more reticent to embrace change than others. The security guarding sector slots awkwardly into this category as something of a laggard.
Fair enough. It’s unfair to bracket all security companies in this way. Of course there are guarding contractors keen on introducing innovation and raising the bar. However, despite their best intentions, many firms remain static. As other industry sectors burst at the seams with potential new applications, why is the security guarding sector so apparently backward at coming forward?
It is so near to embracing tomorrow, yet at the same time so far away from it.
Typically wary of change
The reason for my general label of ‘laggard’ is not to suggest that companies are unwilling to pay for innovative new services. Typically, it’s because the sector is so set in its ways and, by and large, is wary of change. Furthermore, the benefits of innovation haven’t been correctly identified nor sufficiently demonstrated. It’s a mindset which appears to be established in many security guarding companies and a failure of solutions providers selling technology to clearly explain the benefits.
By itself, innovation is no panacea. Solutions also need to be practical, easy to deploy and provide tangible benefits for all – from the security officers at the gate right through to the finance officers who eventually sign off the budgets.
CCTV is a great example of where a once simple and standard technology has evolved to become a highly sophisticated and flexible tool in security operations. CCTV began life in the domain of building security, but has since developed to provide a variety of incredibly useful applications (for example Automatic Number Plate Recognition, speed cameras, congestion charging in London, facial recognition cameras on the London Underground and iris scanning for airports).
The technology – which really began as the ‘child’ of security guarding in the 1940s – has undoubtedly blossomed.
Technological developments alone didn’t drive this level of success. It took a good degree of imagination on the part of the CCTV providers and the security firms investing in technology to explore the future potential.
The Internet and Internet-based applications harbour exactly the same potential to change the face of security provision in a way that was previously unimaginable. The Internet now makes it possible to run virtual security operations that provide firms and clients with solutions which are fast, flexible, highly secure and incredibly innovative.
Near Field Communications
Today, mobile telephones appear to be more like Swiss Army knives with their ever-increasing set of digital applications all embedded within one device. A digital camera for recording and instantly uploading at the touch of a button the images of any incidents found. Then there’s lone worker monitoring and ‘proof of presence’ via Radio Frequency Identification or NFC (Near Field Communications). Less well-known is the fact that mobiles like Nokia’s 6131 NFC device (pictured, right) – developed with the security guarding sector in mind – are free with a standard airtime package.
Such technology, then, is available now, while developments are occurring at a rapid pace. Another challenge facing the security guarding sector, though, is how creative and open-minded it’s going to be in relation to the possibilities offered by all of this new technology. Solutions providers can offer innovative and business-challenging applications, but the powers-that-be within the guarding sector must be receptive to change, not to say proactive about it.
It can become a chicken-and-egg scenario. If the security guarding sector fails to recognise – or even consider – technology for whatever reason (usually the fear of change or “we cannot afford to invest and, in any case, our customers are asking us for new solutions”) then the providers of that technology will look elsewhere, often to more forward-thinking markets where companies are keen to embrace innovation – and all of the attendant benefits that come with it.
Innovators are disillusioned
The net result is leaving innovators like ourselves – and, no doubt, many before us – disillusioned with the guarding sector. In turn, it leaves security guarding companies scratching their heads and wondering why nobody is developing solutions for them.
As has been the case in the CCTV sector, the winners in the security guarding marketplace will be those contractors brave enough – or perhaps that should be creative enough – to recognise that the Internet will have a massive impact on how they operate. Subsequently, the demand will be there for solutions which help to put the forward-thinking firms one step ahead of their competitors.
Michael Elliott is the founder and managing director of Over-C.
