The Best Security Company: What Does it Mean?

Recently I’ve seen a few awards given to companies like AlliedBarton and Securitas for their individual accomplishments.  Each of those companies are capable of providing great service, but what does it take to make a security guard company great?  Whether you are a security company, security officer, or security company client you have probably asked yourself “Who is the best security company?”  Although I won’t pretend to have the answer for you, I can help by providing a framework for your evaluation.

When I was a business development executive at a security guard company,  I created a presentation for a prospective client that wanted to know if we were in fact the best security company for their needs.  In order to help them understand who we were, I asked them to evaluate us based on what I believe are the foundations of any good security company: People, Processes, and Technology.

The Best Security Company: People

The best security company’s foundation will be its officers, so finding the best candidates is crucial.  Employing proper techniques in finding officers can prevent bad hires, reduce security officer turnover, and increase customer satisfaction.  There are 4 areas within a security company that you should evaluate when trying to determine the best security company:

  • Officer Recruitment – What methods does the company use to tap into broad employee pools? A diverse applicant pool provides security companies an opportunity to find the best employees.
  • Officer Selection – What attributes does the security company use to screen potential candidates? The company’s requirements should be more than the candidate having a pulse.
  • Officer Hiring – What are the hiring practices for the company?  Is there a formal on-boarding process which explains the company’s standards and expectations? What is training like at the client location?
  • Officer Retention – What benefits does the company offer its officers?  In addition to reasonable pay, are there employee recognition programs? Are there opportunities for employee enrichment and advancement?
  • Management – What qualifications do the executives have?  But more importantly, how skilled are the managers who will be directly responsible for managing the client relationships?

The Best Security Company: Processes

Even with the best people in place, without effective processes to direct the officer’s efforts no company will be successful on a large scale.  So what processes are the most important for a security company?  I’ve outlined several below:

  • Quality Assurance – Does the company perform pre-planning to ensure that all quality requirements are being met?  Do they establish a schedule for management/client meetings? Is there an established schedule for announced and unannounced supervisor site visits?
  • Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) – How does the company measure “Success” at the site?  What metrics do they evaluate?
  • Post Orders – Do they prepare formal Post Orders for the site?  Post orders are essential in translating the client’s vision for the security program into daily activities for the security team that help ensure their success.

The Best Security Company: Technology

It is true that most security companies can probably provide relatively good service without implementing the latest in technology.  But if they don’t, their clients will derive less value from their security guard services.  The best security company will use technology to speed up work flow processes and make their client’s jobs easier.  There are three technologies that the best security companies will use: 

  • Tour Management – How does the company handle officer tour tracking if the officer is expected to make rounds? There are systems that use GPS, RFID, and QR code technology to track officer tours.  Which one does the company use?
  • Security Guard Reporting – How is the company managing the flow of information from their officers to the client?  Are they still using paper, or have they leveraged mobile technology to streamline the flow of information.
  • Officer Check/Clock-In – Security officers can not provide security if they are not on site.   What technology does the company use to ensure that the officers are on site?

Clients, security officers, and security guard company managers all have different reasons for trying to determine who is the best security company.  I hope this article will provide a framework to help evaluate that question.

Are there aspects of this list that you disagree with? Are there things on the list that I missed?  Please leave your thoughts and comments below.

By Courtney Sparkman

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