Physical security companies that anticipate and adapt to change is a sign of maturity and long-standing reliability.

Forward-thinking businesses are those which take a broader yet rigorous approach when looking at aspects that can have a far-reaching impact on the industry. These global trends include the changing nature of security threats, increased public accountability, and challenging economic times.

To plan ahead with certainty, it is necessary to form a concrete vision of what physical security can and should do to enhance its ability to fully meet the demands of the future.

The Covid-19 outbreak has put greater pressure on security guards and emergency responders to adequately help businesses carry out precautionary safety measures on top of their usual tasks.

Ensuring compliance to a building’s occupancy limits, social distancing measures, contact tracing and temperature scans are expected to be done with a good measure of respect and professionalism. Establishment owners would seek a convenient way to establish constant vigilance when regulating visitor entry and managing crowd traffic.

In a global public health crisis, preference is given to physical security companies which can demonstrate how their physical security management system can effectively perform these administrative functions while keeping accurate tabs on visitor and crowd management across multiple sites and locations.

Social unrest may not be something that private security guards are trained to handle. Yet, guards are first on the scene whenever threats or violence arise following a street protest or a road blockage near their assigned patrols.

These forms of security threats require a defensive strategy to better protect people and private property. Security operations managers can enhance their foresight and decision-making when there is constant curation and dissemination of warning signs and incidents.

Crimes peak in times of crisis. While the presence of security guards and roving patrols help deter break-ins, accomplices within the establishment are more difficult to detect. Particularly for retailers and warehouse owners, they require security personnel to be more diligent against internal theft and pilfering within their premises.

In these situations, a physical security management solution which can empower your security team with an access control system and detailed security logs makes it easier to get a lead on potential witnesses or guilty parties.

In a recent McKinsey report, the rise in extreme heat, strong rains and storm surges due to climate change will further devastate parts of Southeast and South Asia.

While mitigation efforts require government intervention, businesses cannot remain unprepared to respond when a natural disaster strikes. Physical security companies are tasked to lead business continuity measures which includes risk assessment, crisis management strategy, testing and post-crisis management. A helpful checklist on the aspects of business continuity planning can be found here.

Margins and Profitability

One way to remain competitive in the physical security business is to demonstrate added value so clients can see that the premium benefits exceed the cost of your services. Offering distinguishable features such as rapid responders and a hybrid physical security system, where newer technology and legacy systems are used together, can make your proposal more attractive over other bids.

Many businesses which adopted a hybrid system setup realised cost savings as technology enabled their current roster of guards and security operation managers to efficiently take on a wider scope of roles or assignments.

Responding to Competition

Early adopters of physical security technologies are shaping new expectations and service standards.

In the coming years, businesses will prefer physical security companies which can offer value-added options beyond basic guard services. These include:

Better Integration of Onsite and Remote Security Approaches

Timely resolution of security incidents will depend on a system that enhances a manager’s capacity to get a clear picture of an ongoing situation, perform analysis and coordinate with security personnel onsite.

In the case of remote coordination, connectivity issues can impede the quality of efforts. Hence, a physical security management system which can run even on low-bandwidth networks provides a more reliable solution.

Finding and Retaining the Right Staff

Security guard turnover remains to be a constant challenge that is why companies seek to cultivate a "people-first approach" to improve retention and strengthen the employer-employee relationship

An important part of the process is introducing technology to ease administrative burden by standardising processes and narrowing the learning gap among new and senior security guards. Technology can also play a role to break negative stereotypes and change perceptions of the security industry, potentially attracting new blood to the industry.

Risk and Uncertainty

Detecting, deterring and managing potential risks is fast becoming part of every business strategy. Physical security businesses have to emphasise the role of security as a strategic business function, and not just an operational expense.

An illegal trespass can rapidly lead to a business disruption. Cargo theft, for instance, is causing billion dollars in losses, with most small-scale cargo crimes going unreported. With the right technology and training, security guards can aid counter surveillance during patrols and be reassured that help is on the way should a situation arise.

When tasked to craft a business continuity plan, refer to this guide for reference.

Every forward-looking business wants to make their technology investment work for the long haul.

The right physical security management software should be able to enhance efficiencies well as adapt to changes in a business’ main pillars: People, Process and Technology. When these three pillars are strongly interconnected, it creates a dependable way for business to thrive in the midst of volatility and unforeseen events that can take place at any time.

But what does success look like in an interconnected physical security management system? A crucial requirement when measuring success is establishing a baseline of the indicators and having a system which can accurately track and objectively compute for the improvements that occur.

The indicators are as follows:

To gain more information on achieving balancing and harmony across these
three pillars, read this article.

Mobile Operators in the APAC region are expected to invest $331 billion on 5G deployments between 2020 - 2025, promising businesses with 3x faster connection speed at greater capacity. 5G will normalise digital workplaces with the ability to tap virtual reality and remotely control connected devices or gadgets, even from a far distance.

When security management services are hosted over the internet, physical security companies can rapidly deploy applications to multi-users and store high quality data files at a longer term. Cloud-based applications are cost-effective as it does not require specialised hardware, physical storage and high setup costs.

Data collected from security management systems such as the SRM-Portal can be used to evaluate patterns, analyse trends and predict future outcomes. With Data Analytics, physical security businesses can position themselves as a proactive strategic business partner rather than just a service contractor.

Offsite security supervision will be a growing trend as companies have several sites that do not require a manager’s physical presence. A physical security management software can boost the manager’s capability to oversee numerous security personnel teams at multiple sites without compromising the quality of service.

With AI’s advanced capabilities, companies can leverage facial recognition, remote sensors, drones, HD cameras, and algorithms to scan through large databases and flag potential hazards. With actual monitoring left to robots, security guards can concentrate on tactically responding to threats and operating security missions with higher rates of success.

While other companies are rapidly adopting software as a service (SaaS) to enhance and simplify functions such as payroll and HR, physical security companies are slow in the uptake to migrate security management into a SaaS setup.

An evangelist of democratising smart security management solutions even in low-bandwidth environments, Ian Stewart, CEO of Security Risk shares its top advantages in a recent podcast:

One of the common hurdles of automation is the big up-front cost required in purchasing the software. By eliminating this hurdle, even small physical security companies can get started, knowing that their price will increase according to usage.

With usage-based pricing, the SaaS platform ensures that businesses will be able to afford and justify the price based on the features or number of users that it wants to retain or scale.

Aside from flexible cost options, the SaaS model for physical security management offers a quicker way to get value out of the software as it does not require lengthy installments even while providing regular software updates.

As the software platform of the future, SaaS has made great strides to ensure business owners feel secure in deploying customer and operations data to the cloud. Cloud service providers employ strict data security policies and best practices to authenticate, encrypt and deter system breaches.

A dedicated article on the benefits of a robust SaaS platform can be found here.

To retain business relevance, physical security companies should evolve their service delivery to better respond to new and changing needs of the market.

The pressing need to enhance safety, mitigate risk, and drive efficiencies is high in an industry expected to secure lives, properties, and ensure business continuity. To effectively meet complex market demands while keeping operational costs low requires optimising a core management function through the use of technology.

By offering a SaaS-based security management platform, a company like Security Risk is committed to helping security companies of any size to future-proof their business.

Security Risk Manager (SRM) Platform delivers value in the following two key areas:

Nowadays, security guards are expected to be more responsive than ever. To enable them to be within seconds’ reach, the Security Risk Manager Platform allows guards to capture incidents, upload photos and other critical information with automatic timestamps during security patrols.

This physical security management system allows guards to access tasks and provide updates on patrol assignments. They are also able to quickly collect and send intelligence from the field via mobile apps so managers can easily access, interpret, and respond, with full awareness, and without delay.

To help enforce site entry regulations, guards can use the platform’s contactless visitor management feature to reduce guest inconvenience while gaining better control of visitor access permissions.

A physical security management software enhances the manager’s ability to communicate and collaborate in a remote work setup. Companies using the Security Risk Manager Platform can use its dashboard to centralize, track and manage all operational security incidents while on-the-go.

With automated record-keeping, managers can meticulously keep track of all security personnel, special qualifications and roles (site patrol, mobile patrol, and emergency response), and catalogue the handover of assets (firearm, vehicle or device).

Monitoring performance and accountability are made more accurate in a digital platform that captures timeframes, completed and missed patrols, and the quality of reports generated by the guards.

In case of danger, managers receive incident alerts from their guard using a mobile app. To streamline the next course of action, managers can tap the platform’s rapid response feature to deploy nearby guards for backup, relay updates to the affected client, escalate the situation to the police, or choose to abort the emergency alert once verified.