It’s time for a Security Renaissance

We’re all witnessing how COVID-19 has impacted our lives, workplaces, and most importantly- our families. We will be tasked to do more with less, and cheaper than ever before.

How do we maintain a quality operation that will clearly provide business leadership with the metrics and quantifiable data to reflect our work in a tightening economic environment? How do security firms prepare for this ‘new normal’ while building value and resiliency into their business models?

First, we will need to take stock of our new operating environment. 

The age-old security model is predicated on businesses maintaining centralized locations and security officers protecting those sites through access control, rounds, CCTV monitoring etc. Following the lockdowns throughout the world, businesses are discovering that many of their operations can be performed from employees at home, reducing the need for them to have fixed office spaces. Several major tech companies are forecasting that half of their workforces could be remote by 2022. 

Layoffs, furloughs and other labor actions are also reducing the office footprint. Cost savings gleaned from the reduced space could provide a much-needed supplement to the bottom line in high value real estate markets.

All of these items will inevitably lead to a review of commercial space, and a reduction in deployments is sure to follow as leases are not renewed and space is consolidated.

If we follow this logical progression, our industry will be faced with an abundance of potential manpower and fewer places to protect. Existing deployments will be re-negotiated or outright cut.

Traditional security needs to adapt to these fast-paced changes. We need to demonstrate our ability to provide other services and support, while overly communicating our value to the business.  

It’s time for a Security Renaissance.

So, where do we go from here? 

When I started in the security industry, many moons ago, walking and talking with the building’s staff was one of the things I enjoyed the most. It often gave me the best insights into what was happening around my facilities, and provided a conduit between myself and management. Will people still be eager to engage in idle chit-chat with the potential for virus transmission? High efficiency transactions with as little touching and talk will likely be the norm. With this, we lose the human interaction and interfaces that was commonly found at reception desks. As a customer service industry, these interactions provided a cornerstone of our work. We will have to find new ways to engage with our clients and customers.

That customer service mentality will also be put to the test as workplaces, slowly, but inevitably reopen with stringent controls and social distancing requirements. Security officers are already being tasked with enforcing these controls, temperature screening and limiting occupancy. Are our staffs trained with the de-escalation techniques necessary if someone is non-compliant?

Employees are slightly easier to enforce compliance, but for businesses that thrive on outside customers, a negative interaction between the non-compliant party and security could be costly in both legal terms as well as reputation. For a recent example with positive results, look to the incident at Costco recently. Media reports are growing as people push back on these requirements. 

We need to provide more comprehensive metrics, story-boards and presentations that communicate our value to the business. Metrics and story-telling have never been a facet of the security industry that has garnered strong support. After all, how do you quantify an averted risk? This will vary over industries, but models exist that you can use to replicate. Our peers need to highlight what has worked well and we need to become as familiar with these digital tools as the marketing teams. We need to learn from each other and our partners in marketing.

While we’re talking about digital tools, we need to ensure our teams can operate Zoom, Skype, FaceTime, and other digital applications with ease. In the new WFH environment, we may need to rely on these tools to achieve tasks remotely. What better way to show a facilities team member an issue remotely than by live video and audio? Once again, we need to become overly familiar with these digital tools and use them wisely to connect with our customers. 

Our industry has adapted to changes, and we will adapt to these new times as well. We repeatedly heard ‘flattening the curve’ and now, the security organizations that succeed will have to be ahead of this new curve.