The provider of bespoke security services to clients including Brent Council and the Ministry of Defence, pioneering security solutions provider AA Security has just achieved Investors in People Gold status.
Founded in 1994, the company first achieved Investors in People recognition back in 2002, using the whole process to establish a clear business plan and focusing its efforts on staff training and delivering high quality customer service.
The company achieved further Investors in People accolades in 2005 and then once again in 2008.
Wilson Chowdhry, AA Security’s popular managing director, told Info4Security that Investors in People has played “a key role” in helping his company weather the recent economic downturn.
“The recession has seen a lot of security firms go under, often because they operated at extreme margins, their staff were on really low wages and they had no more room to cut costs.”
Chowdhry went on to explain: “For our part, we downsized our operations but have continued to invest in training. Establishing a niche based on quality and well-trained staff meant we needed an external validation of that quality. Investors in People provided the perfect vehicle and, perhaps more importantly, helped to ensure we had the structures in place to see out the difficult times.”
As far as Chowdhry’s concerned, Investors in People is fast becoming a requirement for big contracts. “Achieving Gold status really establishes that we are ‘above the norm’. It really gets you noticed. It means you’re a priority on the pecking order for contracts.”
“Fantastic achievement” for the company
John Telfer – the managing director of Inspiring Business Performance (IBP), which is responsible for delivering the Investors in People standard across London and the South – explained: “This is a fantastic achievement for AA Security. I would like to congratulate the organisation and its people on their commitment to continuous improvement.”
Telfer’s certain that news of AA Security’s success will encourage more security companies to sharpen their competitive edge by choosing to work with Investors in People.
IBP enables organisations to build success and competitive advantage through the alignment of their people with the business direction and objectives. IBP helps businesses develop a more motivated and productive workforce, inspired to perform and achieve.
Through providing consultancy and a range of innovative products and solutions from the strategic to the tactical, IBP helps its clients to create working environments where employees want to contribute and succeed and businesses that customers want to engage with.
IBP works with its clients to address challenges, find solutions and implement improvements such that they can reach their business goals.
Investors in People: explained in more detail
In essence, Investors in People is a national quality standard awarded to well-run organisations demonstrating good management practice with a high emphasis on Best Practice when it comes to people management and development.
An organisation that has achieved Investors in People has been successful in adopting and maintaining its three fundamental principles…
Plan: developing strategies to improve the performance of the organisation, from business goals through to leadership strategies
Do: implementing those strategies and taking action to improve the performance of the organisation
Review: evaluating and adjusting those strategies and measuring their impact on the performance of the organisation
For more information on Investors in People visit the website
Security firm fashions ‘new green way’ for security sector
Innovative organisations have been crowned at the Green Business Innovator (GBI) 2011 Awards Ceremony, which took place at Middlesex University.
The winners are deemed to have demonstrated excellence in environmental practice across the private, public and voluntary sectors.
Award winners were selected across six categories including Carbon Reduction Initiative, Waste Management Initiative, Lean Manufacturing, Green Voluntary and Community Sector Organisation, Green Public Sector Organisation and Green Business in the Service Sector.
AA Security was a close runner-up in the Waste Management Initiative category, and was duly awarded a certificate and trophy in what was a hotly and closely contested competition.
Wilson Chowdhry commented: “We’re fairly unique in our industry, bearing in mind our stronger than normal commitment to preserving our environment. We feel it’s important that modern commercial entities working within our sector adopt such practices as news of depleting resources is affecting the global economy. We hope our success will inspire others to follow suit.”
The EcoVate Project: what’s it all about?
The Green Business Innovator Awards were organised by environmental business experts at Middlesex University who are currently managing the EcoVate Project. This provides free, tailor-made environmental support to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in London, and is part-financed by the European Union.
Through EcoVate, SMEs can receive advice on issues including waste, water, energy, transport and supply chain linkages.
Since the beginning of the project back in April 2009 more than 350 businesses have been supported by EcoVate to become more sustainable, achieve cost savings and comply with changes in legislation.
Ankit Kapasi from Middlesex University commented: “The huge success of the first-ever GBI awards in June last year encouraged us to expand our scope and boundaries for 2011. The standard and number of entries was very high, which was particularly great to see given the current challenging climate. All the organisations who entered have been working very hard to make themselves more sustainable, and I want to congratulate the winners for leading the way in environmental practice.”
In 2011, the Judging Panel included representatives from the Environment Agency, the London Borough of Camden, Waste Watch, Enterprise Enfield, AEA Consulting and Middlesex University.
Nuno Costa, a sustainable development specialist from IKEA, also spoke at the awards ceremony.
Costa was particularly impressed with the GBI 2011 trophies that had been designed and hand-made with more than 99% recycled materials, and offered the trophy designer the use of IKEA’s ‘waste streams’ to develop other products.
