The all-new Securitas Good Customer Award is designed specifically to honour the Securitas client who, in the opinion of a panel of expert judges, has done the most to use security services effectively in support of the host business and improve procurement processes across (and within) the security arena.
In addition, the accolade rewards those clients of Securitas who have “contributed greatly to an improvement in the standards and perception of the security industry as a whole”.
Judging day for the inaugural award takes place on Thursday 6 May at Securitas’ UK headquarters on the Lower Richmond Road in London. The adjudicators include the GMB Trade Union’s national representative Jude Brimble, Don Randall (head of security at the Bank of England) and Brian Sims, the Editor of SMT Online.
Commenting on the Judging Panel, Geoff Zeidler – the UK and Ireland managing director for Securitas Security Services – said: “This panel was designed to bring together experts representing the key participants in the decision-making chain when it comes to a customers’ security requirements and procurement – from the staff through to the Boardroom.”
In practice, the judges are looking for organisations deemed to be pushing the industry forwards thanks to the deployment of pioneering working practices, with a full and frank examination of procurement strategies, how the organisations concerned work with their security supplier and ways in which the quality of security provision has improved as a result of Best Practice techniques being introduced on a progressive basis.
Demonstrating a different and positive approach
Evidence must be demonstrated by entrants to show that:
In terms of the partnership approach, there must be clear evidence that the customer has positively affected the conditions of employment for security officers. If seconded officers are indeed seen as being part of the host organisation, an explanation as to why is requested.
There must also be a demonstration of the ways in which the host company actively enhances and promotes the core values of Securitas as a security solutions provider.
Most industry commentators recognise that the SIA’s requirements for licensing and entry to the Approved Contractor Scheme (ACS) represent the minimum standards. In terms of The Good Customer Award, the judges are looking for substantiated evidence that clients have gone beyond those basic legal requirements for regulation and training in relation to security provision.
How does the customer exert an active influence over the training and career development of Securitas’ officers? What additional measures have been put in place with the aim of transcending the bare minimum standards for instruction?
Also, what new ideas, products and/or services have assisted the security function in a positive manner? If those solutions affect other departments in the business, have they done so in an effective and fruitful manner?
When and where the idea was developed
The Securitas Good Customer Award emanated from detailed discussions between Geoff Zeidler, Brian Sims and Securitas’ service development manager John Naughton that took place last July at the global guarding specialist’s Lower Richmond Road headquarters.
“Like several of the other major guarding companies, Securitas has enjoyed a tradition of rewarding its officers for their exceptional work during the course of any given year,” explained Naughton, “but we felt that our National Awards Ceremony would be the perfect vehicle to also pay tribute to those customers whom we feel have done the most to improve overall standards within, and the perceptions of, this industry.”
Naughton continued: “This reflects Securitas’ desire to raise the appreciation of what a Security provider can offer, and develop the sort of recognition that has been achieved in Europe where service scope and trust is far greater.”
On that basis, Naughton worked closely with Zeidler and SMT Online to devise entry criteria for the award before making an internal announcement about the scheme at last October’s Leadership and Management Conference (held at the SAS Radisson Hotel, Stansted Airport on the morning of the 2009 Security Excellence Awards).
At the Securitas Leadership and Management Conference, Geoff and John asked me to make a presentation outlining what a good customer looks like and the difference they can make not only to the host business, but also to the contractor and the security industry at large.
Short-term thinking at its worst?
Turning matters entirely on their head, I began by outlining what the bad client looks like.
“For several years now, there has been anecdotal evidence to suggest that certain types of company are moving away from the traditional in-house security manager’s role. On occasion, that role is being cut out altogether or, at best, can be marginalised.”
More often than not carried through as a cost-cutting exercise, some clients are placing IT specialists or procurement professionals in charge of the security buying function. Does that not represent little other than short-sighted and short-term thinking?
Some corporate security directors are being ‘relegated’ to the role of pseudo consultant, advising procurement departments on what to buy but then having no say in what’s actually purchased. Frankly, this beggars belief.
If procurement mandarins and/or non-specialists are placed in sole charge of buying security – a concept that grates in any case, because security cannot and should not be treated as a commodity purchase – then inevitably the transaction is reduced to the lowest common denominator, that of pounds and pence.
As I said at the Securitas Leadership Conference: “This is one of the major reasons why the industry has been mired in Draconian working practices, with officers paid by the hour, training very often stripped out of the equation and career progression routes a ‘nicety’ that never really materialise.”
The bad client is also one that doesn’t mind security officers working 60 or more hours every week just to earn the so-called ‘living wage’. There is, of course, no legal requirement for security companies – and their clients – to follow the edict and ethical stance underpinning the Working Time Directive, but I believe that they should. It’s all about the well-being of the officers.
In the real world not inhabited by the bean counters, if all officers could only work a 48-hour week by law then, as things stand, they would of course require a substantial hike in pay in order to draw down their usual wage gained from working often ludicrous numbers of hours.
Don’t hold your breath
In a post-regulation world where clients still continue to batter the service providers on price, the chances of that happening are slim and, arguably, lessened still further thanks to the current Prime Minister’s stated desire to see the UK’s exemption from said Directive remain in situ.
Perhaps even a superficial change in the dynamic of the in-house security professional may be part of the way forward?
Certainly, the time has come for appointing individuals in security management roles who are, first and foremost, business ‘savvy’ and commercially astute, and who know how to manage their staff with aplomb.
Business skills are vital, as more and more in-house operations in particular are being asked – for want of a better phrase – to justify their existence now that economic times are tough.
The bad client, of course, is also one that has made little or no effort to find out about – or engage with – the Regulator. As things stand, in-house operatives don’t require an SIA licence. That’s what the law says, but many commentators – myself and Bobby Logue, the Editor of www.infologue.com, included – believe that a level playing field is way, way overdue.
While the ACS isn’t perfect for everyone (whether or not there are 655 good security companies in this country is a moot point, although that’s the number passing muster for registration on the ACS list at present), bad clients will not be writing it into their tender documents.
No longer can security be managed in a silo
Just like installers must learn from integrators who will otherwise ‘eat their lunch’, so security directors and managers have to engage with all aspects of the business – the IT Department included – and show their worth to the operation (and not just in terms of the bottom line).
Security must be situated front and centre, and at the very heart of the client’s business and recognised for the significant impact it can offer that business. It must certainly not be anywhere near the periphery.
The bad client is also one that shuns any form of two-way engagement between itself and the service provider. The word ‘partnership’ is now used like confetti in this sector, but all-too-rarely is it played out to anything like the fullest possible effect. That situation simply has to change.
There must be an ongoing dialogue between customer and contractor such that the best possible security provision is put in place and for the right price.
Time and again I’m told that the problem in this industry does not rest with the guys and girls ‘on the ground’ – who, make no mistake, ARE the security industry. Rather, it’s the lack of decent and regular line management for those individuals that’s the root of the problem.
An autopsy on the good client
So what does the good client look like? In short, the type of client that Securitas is ultimately very keen to highlight and honour?
Well, put simply this client will be the complete antithesis of what I’ve already described.
The good client is articulate, well-educated, schooled in the ways of the modern business world, forward-thinking and solely focused on making sure security is always atop the corporate agenda. The good client will also make sure that security is managed in an integrated manner to maximise the impact it has on the customer’s whole business.
The good client embraces regulation, and will insist their views on the world are represented at Boardroom level.
The good client will also network as much as possible with like-minded industry souls, attend all of the major exhibitions and conferences and join the security sector’s premier institutes and associations (including, most importantly, The Security Institute).
The good client will play a part in promoting Best Practice at all times, embracing its service providers as genuine partners and formulating security strategies based on a two-way information sharing procedure.
The good client will be the one that’s always looking to surpass the bare minimum standards for operation.
The good client is one that’s not mired in Dickensian-period thinking, and is fully prepared to put their head above the parapet when fighting for the security cause.
Pushing the security envelope
The good client wants to continually push the proverbial security envelope, try new ways of working and shun the notion that we’ve always ‘done security’ this way, so why bother to upset the applecart?
The good client will be the one who takes the counter-terror agenda seriously, and firmly believes in the aptly-coined ‘onion principle’ espoused by so many consultants when it comes to security design (ie configuration of the security regime in layers working from the outside in).
The good client is the one who doesn’t allow security officers to work until they drop.
In essence, the good client is the security manager or director who eats, sleeps and breathes the discipline and ‘art’ of security on a 24/7, 365 basis.
That last requirement may seem a tad onerous to some but, in truth, it isn’t. Remember that the terrorists in our midst, for example, need only succeed on one occasion to have a devastating effect. The security manager has to be successful EVERY time, and so do his/her colleagues in the police service.
The good client recognises that a professional, efficient and – above all – effective security operation is one based upon spending the right amount of money for the right level of service. There’s an old adage in life that suggests you cannot make a silk purse when you only wish to pay for a sow’s ear, and nowhere is that statement more apt than in terms of the spend on an organisation’s security.
In essence, clients beget the service for which they pay. If they wish to offer up peanuts, they should then be fully prepared for a breach of the ramparts and all of the opprobrium that brings with it.
…which brings us neatly back to…
“The Securitas Good Customer Award 2010 will identify all the clients who have toiled long and hard to improve the core security business, and can demonstrate a positive impact on the bottom line of the operation,” explained Geoff Zeidler.
“We know that we have many excellent customers, but in selecting one we hope to bring to the attention of the market what forms of Best Practice are possible. This can promote approaches wherein security may be seen to be a constructive part of the core business strategy, rather than relegated to a situation where it’s mentioned alongside keeping the offices clean. We also hope that, over time, the award will become a recognised reference for Best Security Practice in the business community.”
Once the winner of the 2010 accolade has been announced, SMT Online will conduct a lengthy on-site interview with the customer concerned. The subsequent article will be published on www.info4security.com, and then be featured in Securitas’ own company magazine.
The Securitas National Awards Ceremony takes place on Monday 7 June at The Walton Hall Hotel in Warwickshire. SMT Online will be there, so watch out for our post-event report complete with video of the presentation.
