Securitas SA: Multifaceted Approach Safeguards Securitas Growth

The Covid-19 pandemic has imposed undeniable change across many industry sectors. Digitisation and technological advancement are the obvious examples for most workplaces, but changes to the well-recognised social construct have also come about, with redundancies and joblessness buoyed by the total slowdown in people movement and investment. While cost containment and survival were the foremost concerns for most businesses – even the largest –, people bore the brunt.

And in South Africa, where official unemployment figures were already sitting at above 30%, millions of jobs were shed as companies looked to reduce costs and protect their future.

As economic strength wanes, crime levels increase. The South African Police Service (SAPS) highlighted a number of worrying trends for the final quarter of 2020, including an increase in the number of car jackings which reached a five year high, house robberies increasing by 7.6%, and an 8.4% increase in the murder rate for the first quarter of 2021.

This is, perhaps, the reason the country turns to private security. It is well-documented that the country has one the largest private security industries in the world, with the sector employing more than double or treble the number of people compared to the police. 10,380 security companies employ some 2.5 million security officers, of which more than half a million are active.

 One of the biggest and best in the country is the regional arm of the global Securitas business. Employing 5000 people and delivering a range of services, Securitas RSA is a powerhouse player in this busy and vital market.

 EXTRA SECURITY

“Sadly, it’s a grudge purchase because the country’s police are so resource strapped,” says Securitas Country President, Ashleigh Parry. “It creates an environment where there is an obvious need for security services. Before Covid, our socio-economic circumstances drove the need, and post-Covid so many jobs have been lost and people’s livelihoods are under pressure. The financial implications of that mean that people are even more cash strapped than they were before. It’s a terrible situation that does result in extra crime, and drives the requirement for extra security.”

In March 2020, just as the scale of the pandemic was becoming clear, Parry told Enterprise Africa that the company was at the start of the journey that would see its traditional strength – manpower – being increasingly supported by a comprehensive technology offering.

The pandemic has accelerated this rollout and has changed people’s expectations of the industry, but manpower in security has no substitute and this core strength will not ever be neglected.

“On the ground, not much can change as we rely on manpower. We have hastened our approach in supplementing manpower with technology. It has allowed our strategy to be enforced and progress more swiftly,” says Parry.

“I don’t think we will ever get away entirely from feet on the ground and our strategy has always been to complement our manpower with technology – this has facilitated that happening much quicker,” she adds “Transforming our manpower-only sites to provide a solution that involved technology is being facilitated. A lot of people are a lot more open to it and, in fact, baying for it. Accompanied with everyone’s granular focus on costs and trying to keep them under control and/or reduce them, this assists them in that aspect. Technology is cheaper than manpower and that is a widely accepted reality now.”

Securitas is a world-leader in digital solutions, sharing best-in-class offerings between global divisions. Remote video services including alarm verification, entry and exit management, perimeter protection, and virtual escort, patrol and supervision are delivered through cutting-edge cameras and software. Major clients in South Africa have made effective use of the combination of intelligent services on offer from Securitas and its testimonial book is strong. This, according to Parry, is thanks to the company focusing on its core and not spreading itself thinly across multiple product and service channels.

“We have tried to maintain our focus on our core ability and not try to offer everything to everybody. There are trends in the industry like offering thermal cameras. We looked at those offerings and made sure they align with our core capabilities and didn’t force us to try and be something different. The technology aspect, while it is a big part of our focus for our strategy, has been facilitated by Covid because lots of access and less manpower, and all the things that come with it, have been highlighted for our clients.”

The company has been on the hunt for new, faster, better, stronger products to offer to clients, and as the pandemic has worn on, the hard work has not stopped. This is driven by the desire of clients to make the most of the technology available and maximise their investments. Traditionally used to minimise loss, the varying scope of use for security technology has been highlighted. Measuring temperature, utilising analytics data, and controlling accessibility have been useful functions, previously viewed as secondary in importance.

MAN & MACHINE

At its root, the security industry is people focussed and the acceleration of technology adoption is vital but remains complementary.

“Our protective services, developed together with our customers, are designed to incorporate a high degree of technology content. While manned guarding still represents the cornerstone of Securitas, we continuously work to develop our offering,” the company states.

This ongoing development has also been required internally where, again, the pandemic has altered the norms. Asked what changes have been felt, Parry cites collaboration.

“It is in line with how most other companies have progressed. Moving from a lot of personal interactions to remote and virtual meetings was a big change. Interestingly enough, that process allowed a lot of our teams to become much closer because it was much more regular and forced. That was a positive side effect as we realised more cohesiveness and closer interaction among teams and divisions.

“More of the technological proficiency we have studied during the Covid period is about the stabilisation of platforms and the uniform standardisation of aspects that run behinds the scenes. Being able to be brand agnostic and bring new tech into our network while offering the same streamlined service – a lot of hard work is being done on that.”

Thanks to this improved cooperation and intimacy within teams, a fluid and flexible mindset has been accepted by all.

“The big thing for us is a conceptual mindset change. It’s more about being able to keep up with change while being flexible because we don’t know that the next disruptor is going to be. Covid as a disruptor has highlighted how flexible we need to be and how we need to adjust very rapidly to changing circumstances. That change in focus and mindset allows us to rapidly deploy and be very movable on what is required for our clients,” says Parry.

One of the criticisms of security firms – especially the large, global organisations in SA – is typical of those across all industries: cumbersomeness. Where speed and decisive action is essential, large players can take time to deploy as direction is needed from the top and through many managerial layers. At Securitas, this has been identified and mitigated by removing unnecessary layers, and installing clear communication channels and empowered employees.

“We have 5000 employees and our agility comes from our flat management structure. Decisions are made easily, and those in senior roles are empowered to make decisions rather than having to go through red tape and bureaucracy before anything gets done. That is refreshing for clients as well as they are able to get hold of a decision maker easily and they don’t have to wait for a whole lot of decisions to be approved,” says Parry, an industry veteran with experience across several industry-leading organisations.

It is this nimble, agile approach that has allowed the company to swiftly roll out its strategy of twinning technology with traditional manned guarding. While others were still looking into rudimentary technologies, Securitas was already rolling out data analytics and detailed intelligence reports for customers, proving the worth of a multifaceted approach.

“It was Covid that forced an acceleration of our digital strategy in this instance, but it will be something different in the future. The dual aspect strategy, pairing digital with human resources – rather than specifics around hardware – is what our clients are really buying into. That, coupled with our transformation, is helping us. We are approaching clients saying this is a great time to start reviewing things and looking at risk assessments with this new approach in mind,” says Parry.

PROTECTING ETHICS

But, of course, quality human capital, technological leadership, and an agile and deft strategy mean nothing without a commitment to good governance and sustainability. At Securitas globally – more than 370,000 people across 58 countries – the entire operation is reinforcing its purpose and ensuring each employee is familiar with exactly what is expected.

“From top level down, through country Presidents and all the leadership teams, we are going through a process of signing a commitment letter to our values and ethics so that we can broadcast and ensure that we are living and breathing good governance and doing the right thing,” explains Parry. “That is so important in the environment in South Africa because of the disastrous corruption the country has witnessed. We are finding more and more that companies want to do business with clean organisations. A couple of the deals we have landed over the past few months have been a result of us actually coming second in the bid process, but the initial winner has failed in due diligence. We are never wavering in our commitment to our ethics are keen to broadcast that to our customers and partners.”

During 2020, the number of registered, employed private security agents in South Africa increased for a fourth consecutive year, according to the Private Security Industry Regulatory Authority (PSIRA). The relatively uncomplicated and less restrictive environment is often viewed as a quick route into employment for many, and as demand continues to boom while state police effectiveness remains under scrutiny, it seems that this is an industry that will grow in power, pressure, and potency.

For Ashleigh Parry, the past 18-months have been challenging operationally and the Country President is still hoping to revert to a more recognised environment soon, but provision of quality service remains the number one priority – as it always has.

“Last year was hard and this year is harder because there is so much fatigue in dealing with so many new things around how we interact and engage. There is a sense in our minds that it is temporary but a very long temporary, and everyone is feeling the same fatigue around how work is progressing and if we will ever get back to normal and interact with colleagues in a regular way. We will continue to lead the transformation of the security industry by putting our clients first. We will continue to solve problems by offering qualified and engaged people, in-depth expertise and innovation across a portfolio of services, the ability to combine services and solutions by using data to add further intelligence,” she concludes.