How can security companies prepare to take best advantage of the new opportunities?


continued


S


mart cities are within touching distance, but


only if deployed intelligently. How can the panacea of smart cities be achieved?


2021 will be no less challenging for those employed in the security sector; for many on hourly contracts the onset of the pandemic has already pushed them into other sectors, where their skills are equally valued.


As we continue into the ‘20s it will become normal for a blended approach to working, with time split between the office, client sites and home.


The flexibility and agility with which many businesses were able to swivel to home working was impressive and we should be thankful that the broadband providers kept up such a good service.


We can expect to see robust reviews of organisational resilience planning and response. What worked? Were we flexible enough? Were critical decisions made with accurate and timely information? Digital roadmaps with a timescale normally laid out in months and years telescoped into days – and delivered.


Supply chains are also going to come under a lot of scrutiny. Over the years they have been squeezed to optimise costs and reduce stockholdings at the expense of resilience. This lack of flexibility caused loss of business and rising costs from alternative suppliers. I foresee an increase in organisations wanting to have a better understanding and visibility of their suppliers’ own supply chains.


Budgets are going to be under huge pressure with security, as ever, coming under scrutiny. We will have to respond with efficiencies that don’t cut capability. This may require the use of new technologies, upskilling staff and a fresh risk-based approach. There must be an emphasis on what good security really adds rather than what it costs.


Whatever the ‘new normal’ becomes, history shows that coming out of downturns such as this will see many companies stumble, but for others it provides a fantastic opportunity to drive ahead in ways that could only have been on a distant horizon before COVID-19.


The skill sets of those employed in the profession of security are overlayed onto traits of human interaction that appeal to other industries: honesty, fairness, straightforwardness, dependability, cooperativeness, determination, courage, caring, maturity, loyalty, self-control, and empathy. They have greater value in many other customer-facing roles and will cause a shortage of quality staff in some organisations.


From our conversations with senior leaders in client organisations, many have been impressed with the agility of their security risk professionals and with their outsourced functions, that have perhaps paused frontline activities and replaced them with activities not foreseen in the contract specification.


From our perspective that has meant managing a project to provide technicians to deliver over 10,000 system upgrades in homes and businesses during the lockdown; growth in hiring protection managers in data and information sectors across the world; recruiting digital transformation champions; finding applicants with a holistic attitude to emerging risk, or the technical director that can work on a corporation’s changing needs accelerated in urgency by a factor of 10; recruiting with vendor knowledge providers to attract new client-facing skills.


As an accelerant, the pandemic has been the catalyst for change, increasing opportunities for those in the security sector for a technology revolution over the next 24 months. Whatever aspect of corporate life you are in, be that as an employee or with a vendor, you will see greater needs and demands. Whilst COVID has highlighted people’s adaptability and personal tragedies, you need a change in mindset, from the physical to plus cyber – people are intrinsic to business.


Since the start of the pandemic, this country has been in stasis. Unsure of what will happen next, many have been paralysed by indecision – both in terms of how to progress their business in one of the most turbulent economic periods in modern history, and how to keep their workforce safe yet active.


There’s no doubt our march towards a connected society has stumbled slightly. We’re more connected than ever thanks to home technology and mobiles; but in terms of services and IoT state provision, it’s taken a back seat. That’s not to say we


18 © CI TY S ECURI TY MAGAZ INE – WINE TR 2020 www. c i t y s e cu r i t ymaga z i n e . com


Mike O’Neill CSyP FSyI, Group Managing Director, Optimal Risk Group


Peter French MBE CP PSyl Managing Director, SR Personnel


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