“When I joined Securicor someone told me that if I stayed for a year I’d stay for a long time.” They weren’t wrong. Fifteen years on from the day that Nick Buckles decided to become one of the Sutton-based security services provider’s project accountants, his work ethic and sharp business brain have taken him to the top of the corporate tree. Currently chief executive of the Security Division, it was announced only last month that Buckles will succeed Roger Wiggs as group chief executive with effect from January 2002.
For some, such a quantum leap might represent a daunting prospect, but strong-willed Buckles is clearly relishing the challenge. “I’m really looking forward to continuing the company’s long-term strategy of organic growth and strategic acquisitions,” says Buckles, “and I’m determined to realise a long-held ambition of making Securicor a top three global player.”
A glance at the statistics suggests that 40-year-old Buckles is the right man for the job. Since taking over the Security Division in November 1999, this erudite Coventry University business studies graduate has presided over no less than 15 company buy-outs in both the manned guarding and Cash-in-Transit sectors, pushing annual turnover to a record peak of over GB pound 1 billion per annum.
Multi-million pound deals have captured Securewest, Seceurop, Vanguard Security, Shopwatch and Gray Security Services to add to the existing manned guarding operation, while Guardforce and GWK (among others) have strengthened turnover at Securicor Cash Services. Buckles has also taken Securicor into aviation security – purchasing Argenbright/ADI for the small matter of GB pound 120 million – and high value goods transportation (thanks to the buy-out of Australian concern Brambles in September 2000) (see ‘Global outlook’, Security Management Today, February 2001).
“I believe that continuity is the key to any company’s success,” adds Buckles. “I’ve obviously stayed with Securicor a good while now, and over half of my senior management team has been with me since the early 1990s.”
Colchester-born Buckles has focused his attentions on creating the right management structure, making each of his team directly accountable and setting out a raft of “tough but achievable” business objectives.
“First you incentivise your team,” says Buckles, “then you invest heavily in operational systems to help them attain their goals, as well as maintain the constant flow of management information you need to run the business.”
Spoken like a man that’s quite obviously bought into his company’s socially-aware corporate culture with a vengeance. A culture that goes back to the days when ‘founding father’ Keith Erskine first began to build the business during the 1960s. “It was very much an organisation whose ethos was founded on sound principles including helpfulness, courtesy, integrity and honesty,” states Buckles. “At one stage it was actually a mutual company that existed for the common good of both its workforce and customers. A partner in society, if you like, which was quite unique at the time.”
Early days at Securicor
When Buckles first joined Securicor in 1985, he worked predominantly in the company’s UK business, which was for the most part product-oriented – encompassing manned guarding, cash services and parcel transportation. Somewhat different in set-up from that of his only previous employer, Avon Cosmetics, where he learned the rudiments of the commercial world as a business analyst. “Back then, Securicor was mainly a UK-based service business with around 30 operational territories overseas. Territories like Malaysia, Thailand and the Caribbean,” states Buckles. “When it was split into five distinct business areas, I was given the opportunity of becoming commercial manager of the UK operation.”
With the security arm ‘transformed’ into a global division of Securicor in 1989, Buckles was then appointed commercial director of the UK cash services segment in 1991. A short year later, Securicor Guarding was formed as a separate entity. That’s when Buckles really began to cut his managerial teeth, following his promotion to deputy managing director of the guarding business.
Working alongside current BSIA chairman David Cowden, Buckles set about improving the manned guarding section, which had been a loss-maker in its then short lifetime. There was a deliberate merger with Shorrock Guards, followed by an automation of the division’s operational systems – again instigated by Buckles. “We’ve had comprehensive scheduling, pay roll and billing systems in place since 1994,” adds Buckles.
A three-year stint as managing director of Securicor Cash Services followed, an era when Buckles changed its account management structure and the middle-management set-up. Again, Buckles instigated a move whereby Securicor fully-automated the process of setting up its contract scheduling procedures.
“What I’ve tried to ensure is that each system is designed to make the job of a cash services crew much more rewarding, so that team members aren’t just lugging bags of coins around all day,” opines Buckles. “They should be performing a technically competent role that offers them job satisfaction.”
In other words, a happy workforce makes for low staff churn rates and a closer bond with the end user. Erskine revisited.
Having worked in most of Securicor’s major business divisions, Buckles has learned how to spot efficient and effective ways of managing which he’s then taken with him to his next appointment. One of the key elements in his own managerial development has been the fact that he’s remained focused on – and fostered clear lines of communication with – all parts of the business. “I think that’s what has brought me closer to the workforce, and allowed me to retain a clearer understanding of the markets in which we operate,” states Buckles. An understanding bolstered by his everyday penchant for reading The Financial Times.
Just recently, the sharp-suited Buckles has been seeking to introduce a far more strongly differentiated sectoral approach within the Security Division. The retail guarding sector is a good example of this, Buckles appointing a strategic account director with sole responsibility for that part of the business.
“The reason we decided to buy Shopwatch back in January was so that we could offer store detectives as part of our package to end users,” stresses Buckles. “There is still an opportunity for a major national services provider in this arena”. With Buckles at the helm, few would bet against Securicor becoming that supplier. Given that Buckles is so obviously into a systems-based approach to improving business – ploughing no less than GB pound 16 million into this strand of Securicor’s development – how does he see the spread of electronic technology influencing the profile of his 10,000-strong UK guarding workforce? The answer, once again, is sectoral in nature.
“Retail guarding, the aviation sector and blue chip office contracts will be most affected,” states Buckles. “We have to face the fact that much of the ‘pure’ security role encompassing intrusion detection and access control will be taken care of by technology. The key issue, though, is that technology will not be capable of responding to an incident, or managing that incident. There will always be a need for officers ‘on the ground’, but they’ll have to be highly-skilled.”
Surely, then, the onus must rest squarely on Buckles’ shoulders (and on those of others like him in the private sector) to steer clients away from demanding ‘the lowest price for the job’?
“Yes, the industry has a role to play here, but so does the in-house security manager,” adds a vehement Buckles. “As service providers, what we need to do is support in-house managers more effectively when the time comes for them to make statements at Boardroom level.”
The in-house security manager of today is part of a changing regime, one in which their employers are asking them to deal with any number of job functions including general facilities or building services management on top of the pure security role. Isn’t there a danger that the focus on security will wane?
“That mustn’t happen. I don’t want to see the dilution of the in-house security manager’s role in any way,” says Buckles. “If a client decides to delegate security management to a non-specialist they’ll have to outsource the entire security remit to us, which we will not complain about. But that would not necessarily raise security’s profile in the longer term.”
At the end of the day, Buckles feels that security managers must now be looking to develop their business skills. Surprisingly, he does not side with the ‘new breed’ who suggest that managers should no longer come from the military and the police, but rather from a business or IT background. “Security must remain the central skill,” stresses Buckles.
“You can always teach the business element.”
What really matters to Buckles is that his industry works as one in raising the profile of private sector security provision among its wide-ranging UK customer base.
“Risk assessment,” he claims, “should be much higher up the corporate agenda. A handful of companies are laying down clear requirements through their security managers, but sadly they’re not in the majority. Security is one element that must never be compromised by finance directors.”
Regulation and the private sector
With the Private Security Industry Act having passed into law, of course, officers in the private sector will now be subject to licensing. In the mid-1990s, Buckles was adamant that he wasn’t particularly enthused about the prospects of regulation, believing that Securicor and the other major players already showed a major differentiation in offering a higher quality product to end users. Have his views changed?
“To a certain extent my take on regulation remains the same,” says Buckles. “I don’t think the Act will have any effect when it comes to increasing the size of the current market available to higher quality security companies. Our clients are discerning enough not to choose a guarding contractor that doesn’t match regulatory standards”.
What does Buckles feel about the financial penalties that regulation will impose, with the cost of individual officer licensing borne – at least initially – by the contractor?
“The industry has suffered from a number of cost increases in the last couple of years in any case,” he retorts. “There have been changes in social legislation with the Working Time Directive, not to mention the minimum wage. These changes are all absolutely right, but we’ve not been able to pass the additional costs on to the client. End users must accept that such costs will be added in by security companies when the time comes for them to look at their new pricing plans. We have to persuade our customers that they must pay top prices for a top quality service.”
As far as Buckles is concerned, the bigger issue is that regulation “will give the general public much greater confidence in us and what we do. Through that increased confidence will come greater opportunities for the police and other regulatory bodies to outsource some of their non-core functions to the private sector.”
Buckles believes that areas like fines enforcement, vehicle escorting and custody suite guarding could be taken on by the private sector. “Before that happens, though, we’ll have to get to the stage where vetting and screening is watertight, and pay rates are equitable with those in other industries.”
Having achieved so much, one wonders what ambitions this likeable professional has for his new role of group chief executive. The response is rapid. “I want to make sure that, as a market leader in a number of sectors, Securicor actively paves the way when it comes to raising levels and standards of security provision across the industry. Of course we’ll continue to look for smaller, regional acquisitions, but for now we need to consolidate and build on what we have.”
Buckles continues: “In ten years’ time, around 20% of end users will be looking for an integrated security solution complete with monitoring and response capabilities. It follows that we’ll need a concentrated approach so that we can deliver the right business and operational models, and build-in real accountability at every level. It’s all geared towards making Securicor focused on the client and the bottom line. Only by taking the higher ground will we be able to realise these goals.”
Keith Erskine can rest easy. His cultural revolution is in safe hands.
