money. The initial assessment and periodic re-examination of partners ensures the solutions provided by us are always best in class and robust.”


Environmental Guarding


Guarding represents one of the largest cost elements in the security budget, so the substitution of CCTV and remote monitoring for out-of-hours protection offers major savings. The capital investment in technology can usually be written down for depreciation purposes.


There are further opportunities to defray the costs of guarding by ‘adding value’, improving business efficiency and services for building occupants. This can include deploying guards for ‘front of house’ concierge services in reception areas. For one UK bank, the service delivered savings of £130,000 annually.


Guards complete a number of duties outside normal office hours, armed with an activity checklist: from setting up meeting rooms each morning and loading photo-copiers, to checking that fire extinguishers and other appliances are within the expiry date, and reporting on damage to the building or facilities.


proportionate response to ensure the protection of people and product,” asserts Mick Phipps.


Serviced Office Group


In the corporate sector, Serviced Office Group has estimated savings in the cost of protecting property and assets at 28 per cent from its new strategy. This follows a strategic review in 2012 of its security operating model across its estate by the AIM-listed provider of office space and IT facilities, which operates 23 business centres.


Operating primarily in London and the South East, properties include the newly refurbished 33,000 sq. ft. Mermaid House office block at Blackfriars, London EC4, adjoining the Mermaid Theatre and conference centre.


All sites are monitored remotely at Accrington by Lodge Service. The network’s software and hardware platform enables monitoring of almost any client on-site system or service, including HVAC (Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning) and fire alarms, with alerts to a smartphone, tablet or other selected device, and performance matched to agreed KPIs.


Says Anne Stokes of Serviced Office Group, “By continually benchmarking our service providers we can ensure that Serviced Office Group and its clients receive the maximum benefit from both innovation and value for


The guard’s role can also include dealing with secure waste, ensuring it is properly managed at collection points, and taken out of the building and delivered to the waiting waste contractor. This reduces the number of suppliers entering the building. Access control generally is a particular area of vulnerability in offices.


A further opportunity is in the area of business continuity planning. When a building has to be evacuated following a major security alert for example, security integrity can be maintained by remote monitoring and access


used by retailers to boost loss protection and ROI from security.


ROI Strategy Checklist


• Understand the risks: assess the risk profile of the key stages of your business processes. Consider lessons from similar sites and organisations, including the potential targets and threats.


• Match your security process to the risks: protect points of vulnerability appropriately and proportionately. Combine security systems and personnel, including remote CCTV monitoring out-of-hours.


• Audit compliance regularly: check that staff comply with your processes consistently. Employment background checks, test purchasing, physical surveillance and investigations are invaluable.


• Outsource services to a monitoring centre: a higher Return on Investment from security and building services may be achieved by linking CCTV, fire alarms and other web-enabled services to a central hub, staffed 24-7.


• Add value wherever possible: guards could be trained in a series of facility management tasks. ‘Environmental guarding’ of the building fabric and facilities adds ROI from security.


• Set Key Performance Indicators: objective measures of cost and the return from security systems and services should be quantified. KPIs support planning, reporting and day-to- day deployment - and help build board-level support for security.


The strategy described blends manpower and technology to deliver tangible ROI and lower cost for security users.


control from a hub, with entry and exit controlled through the use of CCTV and a voice link, in a similar process to the management of overnight deliveries to Wilkinson’s stores.


This is just one of the areas where corporates can benefit from the new holistic strategy


Three of the parameters used to measure ROI in the retail sector. Detection can be quantified as the number of arrests and value of goods recovered during any given period; deterrence is measured in incidents where theft is deterred, and the value of the court claims by the security end user for loss and damages.


Simon Chapman Managing Director Lodge Service


www.lodgeservice.com >


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