Selecting the provider that can best protect your facilities, people, and assets in the most cost- effective manner is crucial to ensuring the continuing success of your operations and the safety of your employees and customers.
It is also key to maintaining your organization’s reputation, since no one wants their organization to receive negative press due to vandalism or criminal acts occurring on their premises.
There are a wide range of security services providers, ranging from small, local providers that deploy just scores of security personnel, to regional providers who serve several regions, to the massive nationwide giants, many of whom are also conglomerates with global operations.
Having held senior management positions at national and regional security services providers, overseeing large-scale security programs for high-profile Fortune 500 clients, I have an intimate understanding of customizing security coverage programs to meet the needs of clients of all sizes.
Local vs Regional vs Nationwide Providers
Small local service providers often have limited resources and very small reservoirs of personnel, whereas national and multinational providers deploy security officers by the tens of thousands but are often insensitive to the needs of smaller organizations and rarely have a good understanding of the security concerns and challenges in local areas.
In between the very small providers and the very large ones, are regional providers, who serve more than a single city or region. Regional providers often have far greater resources than small, local providers, but lack the layers of middle management that characterize national and multinational rivals.
National and multinational security providers tend to grow by purchasing large numbers of smaller providers. Attempting to integrate so many new additions into their sprawling operations results in an army of middle managers who are not familiar with local client accounts or specific needs, and are frequently replaced as they are promoted or leave the provider.
Small providers, on the other hand, tend to have management teams that are the bare minimum to support operations. While that results in lower overhead costs, it also means that their managers may be juggling so many roles that they are less able to respond quickly to client requests and needs.
Regional providers also tend to have simplified management structures that feature enough executives to provide high level oversight to individual regions and accounts and local managers who can build solid relationships with clients, by learning their specific needs.
Client-Centered Service
One of the keys to getting the best service for your security program is the ability to communicate easily with your provider and the provider’s willingness and ability to respond to requests and concerns quickly.
Security providers with fewer clients are more dependent on their reputation to attract new clients; this means they expend more time and effort to build and maintain constructive relationships. Keeping those relationships positive means exceeding client expectations and responding quickly to client concerns, requests, and issues.
This gives regional providers an edge. Clients of regional provider usually receive their own account managers. Many of these account managers stay with the provider for years and possess a deep understanding of the client’s needs and challenges and threats facing their facilities. National providers have too many layers of management, which account representatives constantly moving to new roles or leaving the company altogether, preventing long lasting relationships. Small, local providers often don’t have the manpower to allocate specific account managers at all.
The streamlined operational structures of regional providers, lacking layers of middle management, means that their frontline managers and executives are usually in direct contact with each other, so decisions relating to client accounts can be made in an expeditious manner.Decisions that might take weeks or longer at a large provider can be approved in hours at
regional providers.
Understanding Local Conditions
A deep knowledge of local needs and local security issues, including current crime trends and threats that may require specific security responses, is crucial to developing effective security programs.
Security companies with good reputations work with local law enforcement agencies, building collaborative relationships that include information sharing. This allows for immediate coordination with local police departments during emergencies, but also means these providers have access to vital intelligence regarding local crime trends.
That information allows savvy security providers to use that intelligence to help develop security coverage programs for clients that take into account challenges and threats revealed by the crime data.
Conclusions
When selecting a security services partners, organizations should select providers that have streamlined regional organizations, which translate into open lines of communication between provider and client. They should also look for providers who can offer direct access to senior management, when needed.
Potential clients should also favor providers who have the necessary personnel to provider more security officers during emergencies or as the client experiences growth. They should also consider the providers ability to offer new technologies to improve security and lower costs.
The best security services providers rely on their reputations to attract new clients. A good reputation equals happy clients, which is usually a sign that the security provider will be a good fit for your organization.
