Let’s start by advising that this is intended to be a high-level overview and not a state-by-state or metropolitan jurisdictional driven breakdown. However, if you are looking for such a thing, this is as decent a resource as one will find out on the net for consolidated information. Although we recommend going directly to the governmental entity in each respective state to ethically elicit information directly from them, as laws and statutes can change from year to year.
As a 2010 US Department of Justice funded research report points out, private security is an essential element of protecting persons as well as intellectual & physical property of business’ today. The private security industry has been experiencing consistent growth over the past approximate decade period of time as evidenced by a 2017 report by Statista detailing the global revenue forecast for private security to be approximately $96.3b by 2018. North America’s share of this is purportedly about 24%. Moreover, a Forbes article from August 2017 highlights that the US Department of Labor statistics claims there are over 1.1m private security officers in the US compared to 666,000 police officers. Buried within that number are that personnel operating in the Executive Protection industry as there is no separate line item for tracking this personnel specifically. The ranks within the Executive Protection segment of the industry however are growing rapidly. With each passing week/month/year there is more and more high net worth individuals coming into their own. This is causing the rapid growth within this segment of the private security services field and the need for professionalization, standards, and best practices now. With all of these moving parts in business growth, training, recruiting, hard skills, soft skills, operational tactics, etc. we cannot lose sight of our ethics. Our ethics define who we are. The French Philosopher, Albert Camus, is quoted as saying:
“A Man Without Ethics is A Wild Beast Loosed Upon This World“
There are numerous opportunities and temptations out there for any one of us to let our ethics slide, but it is important to continue acting ethically at all times. This is, however, a very slippery slope. I would go so far as to say that a person’s ethics are exemplified by how they act ethically when no one is looking or watching over them. Statutes, laws, regulations, licensing, best practices, etc., exist to ensure we all operate ethically on a level playing field with each other. There are some who may wish to bend or break said rules rather than operate ethically. They’re out there today, and their unethical actions give all of us who make every attempt to operate ethically and above-board a bad reputation, as their behavior impacts the industry negatively as a whole. It’s such unethical actions that make the news, unfortunately. Take a look over the news reports on the private security monitor from the University of Denver and you will see news stories that are generally negative towards actions taken (negligent or otherwise) by private security personnel. Those that do follow the rules generally aren’t in the news. These are the entities and people that businesses desire to do business with, at least on the surface level of things (it will get you a “foot in the door”).
How does one operate ethically in private security? Here is a list of examples (not all-inclusive):
Do not give or accept bribes of any kind
Do not make promises you cannot or do not intend on keeping
Do get all appropriate licenses to operate in any state or municipal area you intend on performing business
Do get appropriate insurance levels (typically mandated minimum by state regulations, however, some specific clients may require a higher level(s) of insurance)
Do utilize only licensed personnel for the area an operation is taking place within (i.e. if an individual is properly licensed in Washington but you have a project in Oregon just because they have a license in WA and are willing to accept the assignment does not mean they can legally operate in OR themselves based on their WA issued credentials).
Ensure you keep your certifications and licenses up to date/current. It is your responsibility to comply with the state or municipal government and/or client requirements for the assignment. You own the certifications and in many instances also the license(s); be sure they are not expired. If they do expire, it would likely bar you from an assignment until they are renewed and current.
Ensure you ethically carry your current credentials on your person during any assignment. If a person of authority from the property or law enforcement requests you to produce identification, ethically show them your current licenses as appropriate for your geographic location.
If you are acting in a subcontract capacity to another vendor company, do not issue out your company’s business card and/or similar information or solicit the other vendor company’s client for their direct business moving forward. This is bad mojo and will generally get around that you attempt to steal business. Not a reputation anyone wants in this industry for long term success.
Do not post on social media outlets before or during an assignment any information about your assignment (i.e. location, principal or company, schedule, etc details). We work under non-disclosure, confidentiality agreements and must maintain operational integrity at all times. Upon completion of the assignment if you wish to make a benign post about the assignment that is vague in it’s nature (nothing client specific, unless you have their expressed permission) that would be the time to make a post on social media if you must.
Do not speak with any members of the media about your client or your assignment. This is best reported to the client directly for their handling and/or your employer’s management but should be contained within your Op Orders or Company Handbook for reference.
Do work cordially and be cooperative with your peers and colleagues when it’s appropriate to do so (share information). If there is a subject (person) who is presenting a significant threat to the public that you know about, and there are other protective services agents working with another principal or assignment nearby, it is ethically wise and best practice to share that information with that protective team so they too can take proper preventative measures for their team and principal.
If something goes awry on your assignment, be honest and transparent about it with your client and management team. If you are not, no one will learn from the opportunity and it could cause potential stress or liability to the operational plan if it goes uncorrected.
Ensuring that a vendor agency as well as an individual(s) are operating ethically (and legally) is a critical risk management strategy incorporated into operations for those who may hire or utilize them. If the agency or individual does not operate ethically, lacks a strong Code of Ethics, or regularly practices a strategy of “cutting corners,” it will eventually catch up with them in the long term. As our industry continues to grow and expand, the people operating within it must also act ethically. Let’s be sure to pass along strong operational ethics and encourage all to behave ethically to ensure their longevity!
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Today we continue our discussion on Acumen Capacity in the protection industry series. In this article, we will focus on the third of six dimensions “Systems Judgement”.
Systems Judgment is the development of the capacity to recognize systems and connecting order in the world. This might include activities such as thinking and planning, concepts and idea development, authoritative order (laws, policies, rules, and procedures), and connecting big picture & long-term objectives.
The capacity to understand how the world around you fits together along with the cause and effect is not universal. Some individuals with high clarity can quickly and easily see patterns, understand the why behind actions, and make better decisions. The benefits of systems judgment capacity can be seen throughout the law enforcement industry for example. There are a large number of departments who use training simulators to help officers improve their systems judgment skills (Basich, 2016). The use of these training simulators allows the officers to experience various scenarios increasing their knowledge base and more quickly react and apply better judgment in decision making.
Benefits of Systems Judgment include
*Enjoys and depends on structure and order
*Understands the need for laws, policies, rules, and order
*Genuine willingness to cooperate
*Objectively evaluates ideas, plans, and theories
*Open, two-way communication with authority figures
How many times have you worked with someone who refuses to listen to directions and thinks they know better?
This describes an individual who exhibits a negative bias while maintaining a high degree of clarity in thought and analysis. Although clarity can be an asset, when paired with a counterproductive outlook, it becomes a significant barrier to team cohesion. Such a person may consistently pursue alternative courses of action primarily to achieve personal objectives, rather than aligning with the group’s agreed strategy.
This lack of connecting with the team’s purpose, connecting with shared goals, and connecting with established protocols fosters a “lone wolf” dynamic. The result is a breakdown in operational synchronization, delays in project timelines, and an elevated risk to the principal. In complex assignments, particularly those involving protective operations, success depends on all members connecting their efforts, maintaining a unified schedule, and adhering to coordinated plans to ensure the safe and effective completion of the mission.
Low Clarity with Negative Bias: Someone with this combination would very likely be confrontational, have alternatives to all directives, and generally believes he or she knows more or knows it better than the boss. This also can indicate someone with low levels of knowledge or highly specialized knowledge limiting their knowledge outside of the specialization. If the individual follows direction, they will likely not understand the rationale behind it.
High Clarity with Positive/Neutral Bias: The benefit of selecting the right professional for this assignment with high clarity and neutral or positive bias includes values structure, identifies with the company, and will respect authority & processes
Let’s take a little deeper look into this dimension of Acumen Capacity™.
The Systems Judgement dimension is evaluated in two ways first is the clarity and second the individual’s bias. The clarity tells us how well the individual can discern values in situations in the outside world. Bias provides additional insights how the individual see the world around them.
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Acumen Capacity Index™ Series – Understanding Others
Today we continue our discussion on Acumen Capacity in the protection industry series. In this article, we will focus on the first of six dimensions “Understanding Others”. This is a critical aspect of assessing your specialist for assignments and matching the principal’s needs. It sounds like a simple concept, yet a large number of professionals either cannot or choose not to develop their ability to understand others. The definition for “Understanding Others” is the individual’s ability to identify uniqueness and individuality in others around them. The goal for understanding your specialist’s level of clarity and bias on this is to provide you the insight to align your specialist with the needs of the assignment. This results in an overall improved client experience.
Top 6 Benefits for “Understanding Others”
Clearly Understanding People
Ability to adapt to different people
Perceiving the needs of others
Ability to see things from a people perspective
Ability to appreciate others
Ability to apply an understanding of people
Each of these show up in different ways for your organization, your client, and the principal themselves. If we think about the day-to-day tasks and responsibilities associated with protection details, you can certainly recall situations where an individual’s acumen capacity either helped or hindered the assignment. This can range from a specialist who is unable to be flexible and adapt to the strong behavior style of a principal in one assignment, to the extremely detailed behavior required in the next.
You might even think about a prior situation where you had multiple specialists on an assignment and not everyone was able to work together. You may have that one person who the rest of the team does not like working with or can’t get along with no matter what you have tried.
When one team member does not see the value in his or her teammates and is disengaged, it can be a significant distraction to the entire team, thereby putting the principal at risk. Conversely, when the team possesses a high level of acumen capacity and clarity in understanding others, they are better equipped to connect effectively and function cohesively as a unified unit. This alignment fosters successful assignments, satisfied clients, a well-protected and content principal, and even increased job satisfaction among the specialists who executed the assignment.
Let’s take a look at a very common scenario for executive protection specialists.
Does this scenario sound familiar?
Your specialist is on assignment with the principal. During the assignment, the principal changes the plans. The principal decides they want to visit a restaurant, nightclub, or some other event. The specialist is now being asked to make it happen.
The specialist’s ability to understand people and connect with others is critical to achieving this goal. This might be the manager at a restaurant or club that you need to influence to get your principal into the location or get a reservation short notice. This may include the ability to build rapport with local security or law enforcement to park in a specific area for your principal not normally allowed.
Those with strong clarity and acumen capacity in this area will successfully navigate such situations, resulting in a positive client and principal experience. Those with low clarity and limited acumen capacity will likely fail, leading to a negative client experience and potentially the loss of the client. Granted, this request by the principal may or may not fall within the original scope of work; however, once it is made, the specialist’s ability to successfully address and navigate the request becomes essential.
Let’s take a little deeper look into this dimension of Acumen Capacity™.
The Understanding Others dimension with acumen capacity is evaluated in two ways first is the clarity and second the individual’s bias. The clarity tells us how well the individual understands the uniqueness of others and connects with people. Bias provides additional insights into the individuals world- and self-views. Does the individual have the capacity to see the other person’s perspective?
Psychologist Sherri Campbell shared with Entrepreneur.com “Success in life and business boils down to effective interactions, humility, self-awareness and the all-important skill of perspective taking. These elements are the keys to success of any kind” (Campbell, 2016)
If you have any questions, feel free to reach out and contact us!
Co-Authored by: Michael Delamere
Works Cited
Campbell, S. (2016, May 12). Understanding the Other Person’s Perspective Will Radically Increase Yours. Retrieved from Entrepreneur: https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/275543
Today we continue our discussion on Acumen Capacity in the protection industry series. In this article, we will focus on the second of six dimensions, “Practical Thinking,” and why this matter is critical to operational success.
According to a study by the U.S. Army Research Institute for Behavioral and Social Sciences “Practical thinking is based on natural ways of thinking such as considering multiple perspectives, adapting thinking to situations, looking for hidden assumptions, and following guidelines for reasoning”. (Fallesen, Michel, Lussier, & Pounds, 1996). It is the capacity for common sense in decision-making and problem-solving to achieve goals.
Practical Thinking can also be thought of as street smarts, using the knowledge and experience you have and applying that to achieve a goal. This capacity is not about learning new information or analyzing. It is the capacity to use existing knowledge to achieve a goal in a common sense way. It has been said many times “common sense is not always common”. We have a proven process for discerning an individual’s capacity for practical thinking.
Benefits of High Clarity in Practical Thinking:
Ability to adapt to changing environments/situations
Open Mindedness to other possibilities
Having flexibility in the approach to problem-solving
Understanding how to get along with and talk to others
Ability to solve real-world problems
Ability to utilize all available resources
So the answer to today’s question…
“Does the way we think really matter” is ABSOLUTELY YES!
The way we think has a direct correlation to how we behave, perform, communicate, learn, listen, and interact with others. This collectively has a direct impact on your personal career and your organizations business results. The way we think matters more than ever.
In the protection industry, I am sure you can see the value and importance of Practical Thinking to achieve assignment goals. In the ever-changing environment, shifting priorities, and the unexpected events which occur adapting and practical problem solving is a must have for any successful professional.
How many times have you encountered a colleague who consistently chooses the most difficult or inefficient path to achieve a goal? This matter is often the result of a lack of clarity in practical thinking. Such a matter may stem from an individual’s inability to adapt or be open to other possibilities, causing the matter to persist throughout assignments. They may be stuck in his or her own mind or routine and not see other alternatives, making the matter increasingly challenging for the team to resolve. When left unaddressed, this matter can hinder efficiency, disrupt workflows, and ultimately become a critical matter of concern for the overall success of the team and the principal’s safety.
Let’s consider for a moment an individual performing Protective Intelligence or Risk Analysis tasks.
Low Clarity with Negative Bias: the individual is likely to rush through the process resulting in missed details. This individual might also struggle communicating the intelligence work and plan created. Lastly, this individual may leave too much to chance and be reactive versus the proactive planning required. This increases the potential for a failed assignment or critical event.
High Clarity with Positive/Neutral Bias: The benefit of selecting the right professional for this assignment with high clarity and neutral or positive bias includes, proactive approach, more effective communication, quality results, and a more engaged professional.
Let’s take a little deeper look into this dimension of Acumen Capacity™
The Practical Thinking dimension is evaluated in two ways first is the clarity and second the individual’s bias. The clarity tells us how well the individual can discern values in situations in the outside world. Bias provides additional insights into how the individual sees the world around them.
If you have any questions, feel free to reach out and contact us!
Co-Authorized: Michael Delamere
Works Cited
Fallesen, J. J., Michel, R. R., Lussier, J. W., & Pounds, J. (1996, January). Practical Thinking?: Innovation in Battle Command Instruction. Retrieved from Defense Technical Information Center: www.dtic.mil/get-tr-doc/pdf?AD=ADA309755
Building a business case for security can often be a daunting task, presenting multiple challenges. Now there’s a solution, one that works and makes good business sense. It’s defining the real and measurable value your security business brings to any organization. We’ll discuss how to calculate the real value Corporate Security brings to an organization. It’s called Value Proposition, and it works.
The realization that the sum total of all our efforts was not producing the results we needed led us to look at applying proven business skills to Corporate Security. We asked ourselves about the basic business function of Security, that we couldn’t do today’s job with yesterday’s methods, and expect to be successful in the future.
We began to ask questions of ourselves – and not easy ones.
In taking an honest look at our department, what did we see?
What results were we actually producing?
How did we get there?
What did we need to do?
We also asked of ourselves, if we keep doing what we’re doing right now, where will we be in 1 year, 2 years, and 3 years?
Can we stop trying to explain the problems and start trying to solve them?
We agreed that we needed to train our people to propose solutions rather than keep asking for them.
We also asked the question as to what we learn from tough economic times.
Our answer was that when we are forced to face economic reality we need to do something different.
We asked ourselves this question: At what point do we stop doing what we’re doing and tell ourselves we could do it better?
If we don’t like what’s happening or what we’re getting, at what point do we change?
Why aren’t we anticipating change and preempting problems?
Value proposition mathematically is simply benefits minus cost (VP = B – C). It is a security statement that speaks to how security services addresses and/or solves problems or improves the company’s position. It describes how Security brings specific and quantifiable benefits to the company and tells the company how their security differentiates from other security models. The Value Proposition of Security also describes how Security contributes to the company’s productivity and it’s bottom line. “What we are about is helping the company run its business in a risky world.”[1] The value of Security to the company is its ability to identify and manage risk.
Corporate Security’s Value Proposition may be the most essential part of developing and evangelizing its business case.
Building a business case for Corporate Security is often a daunting task. Challenges include:
The company’s desire for profitability;
Corporate Security does not generate revenue; it’s viewed as a cost center;
The perception that Security adds to much too the business processes;
Determining just how much security is needed and for what;
Determining the level of risk to the organization, especially when there aren’t many incidents;
Workplace violence potential;
Employee conduct;
Terrorism
The budget for Corporate Security – is it ever enough? How do you maximize what you have and produce outcomes of value?
Protecting company information from hackers, viruses, and other concerns;
Security reporting within Security and to the executives;
Theft, loss, and other crimes – by personnel or external people. How does Security involve company employees in protecting themselves and company assets?
Achieving the Corporate Security mission and goals – do security personnel even know what they are?
Transforming a risk-averse, reactive security management model into a proactive, problem identification, results-based model;
Reducing attrition of security personnel;
Finally, optimizing security efficiency and effectiveness, and demonstrating articulable, measurable value to the company.
Given these issues, Corporate Security can address, mitigate, reduce, or even eliminate risk and loss, threats, and provide a workplace environment that enhances productivity and does contribute to the bottom line. There are three major elements that will drive Security’s value dramatically, allowing a quantifiable, measurable, and reportable value. These elements are derived from the Cooper Management Model, developed and implemented by Bill Cooper, Senior Security Manager and retired Chief of Police.
Part 1 – Lean Six Sigma’s Applicability to the Value of Security
By definition, Lean Six Sigma is a business philosophy centered on the relentless identification and elimination of waste, re-works, and redundancy from all processes so they flow at the rate of customer demand, at the same time improve the overall quality of the output. Lean Six Sigma is the optimization of value in all processes. Lean Six Sigma will provide exactly what is needed, when it’s needed, in the form it’s needed. In other words, business process simplification. Lean Six Sigma can be applied to anything. Lean Six Sigma is made up of principles, methods, and tools that are designed to improve the speed and efficiency of any process by targeting and removing unnecessary and wasteful steps or materials – Lean Six Sigma identifies bottlenecks found in processes and systems.
Lean Six Sigma provides a common foundation to support production of services (and goods) for our customers of value to the customer with a high degree of quality and minimal waste. The most significant benefit of Lean Six Sigma is the large-scale cost savings realized sooner rather than later due to streamlined processes. Lean Six Sigma’s goal is growth, not just cost-cutting, with emphasis on effectiveness, not just efficiency. Part of the overall strategy is to teach the organization not only how to improve, but how to innovate.
The need for more efficiency and effectiveness in virtually everything an organization does continues to grow and become more of a priority. Identifying and eliminating what doesn’t add value and reducing cost become more important every day.
Lean Six Sigma is continuous improvement, a process improvement methodology, a results-oriented, focused approach to quality. Lean Six Sigma minimizes mistakes and maximizes value and creates precision in the work. It measures and sets targets for reductions in problems and defects which translates into cost and time savings and dramatically reduces the chances of introducing errors in the future. Lean Six Sigma develops the practice of getting it right the first time.
Lean Six Sigma is the single most effective problem solving methodology for improving organizational performance. The evidence leads you to the real causes of problems, allowing easier solution generation. It improves the speed to completion – you don’t have to work harder or faster to produce more speed; this removes the barriers and obstacles, getting you from beginning to end faster.
Departments have inconsistency in their processes, systems, and services. Professional results demand consistency; inconsistency degrades good performance and inconsistency is all about waste, redundancy, and re-doing work that has already been done.
Any task that can be performed more efficiently and isn’t is an example of poor quality and increased cost – waste.
Benefits of Lean Six Sigma
Faster service
Higher quality
Lower cost
Increased performance
Increased credibility
Increased morale
Predictability
Part 2 – The Value of Business Intelligence to Decision Making
Security organizations collect large amounts of information and data as a result of their daily operations. Using that data to create usable information and actionable intelligence is a key element of good security management. Organizing the information in as near real time as possible and displaying it in a useful manner is critical to allowing proper decisions regarding deployment and actions required to provide the organization with measurable, articulable results. The purpose of a good business intelligence system is to improve the availability and quality of information useful for making more informed management decisions – based on facts.
Establishing a business intelligence architecture in your security organization can transform this raw data into meaningful and useful information. Business intelligence provides historic, current, and predictive views of your operations. If you were asked by superiors to provide essential information – facts – about the real results Security is providing, could you do it? Do you have quantifiable security performance metrics that show an improved state of security and safety in the organization? Do you have – and use – metrics that consistently and intelligently assess outputs and results?
Business Intelligence also provides Security with two further opportunities:
Good systems can help fix problems in the shortest time possible.
Better align strategy and execution; better deployment of staff and resources; better overall decision making that gets Security to achieving its goals.
Intelligence is crucial to managing security. When developing and deploying business intelligence, the broader the distribution the higher the return. The more real-time the intelligence distribution the more agility Security has in addressing security and safety issues and concerns.
This data-based analysis improves the quality of decision making throughout the organization by replacing hunches and guesses with data-based analysis. The ability to identify real causes allows Security to design and deploy solutions that produce results that are unmatched.
Producing business intelligence in a graphics-rich format allows faster, far more accurate deployment of staff and resources to real problems, producing real outcomes. This system additionally measures performance and accountability.
Based on the original NYPD CompStat program, this business intelligence system asks four questions, each requiring answers:
What’s working….why?
What’s not working…why not?
If it isn’t working what could we or should we do about it?
What new strategies need to be put in place?
The benefits of a good, robust business intelligence system include:
Delivers consistent information
Drives innovative problem solving
Gives a better view of reality and drives better decisions based on that reality
Improves communication – no spin
Saves time and cost
Enables fact-based decision making
Provides actionable intelligence
Drives an effective overall Security strategy
Enhances the ability to make superior decisions
Improves the ability to create effective plans
Optimizes performance of Security
Part 3 – Employee Involvement in Organizational Security
Organizations speak frequently about employees being involved in working with their communities to enhance their quality of life. These organizations seek to hire and retain good employees and Security is no different. The purpose here is for Security to partner with the organization’s staff and employees as a force multiplier in keeping the company safe and secure. By successfully doing this the company can reduce its costs, time to complete work, and improve its profit margin.
Employees, typically new to an organization, are provided with orientation that may include direction on how to keep themselves and corporate assets secure – most of this orientation is inadequate. If assets are lost or stolen, the cost to the organization may become very large. Risk of loss and vulnerability to loss increase proportional to lax behavior on the part of employees.
It is Security’s responsibility to assure assets and people are protected. In reality, Security traditionally follows a reactive management model, reporting loss or other issues after the fact. The value of Security increases exponentially as it transforms into a proactive, results-based model. By a proactive approach, security officers look for and identify security and safety issues, escalate them to the appropriate people, and follow up to assure they have been addressed.
Examples of real cases include the following:
Asset protection – proactively patrolling the company’s buildings security officers observed unsecured laptop computers by the hundreds after hours, even though employees had been given locking cables. Over 400 unsecured laptops were observed. Officers created a professional reminder card, reminding employees of the need to secure their assets. Officers signed, dated and placed the cards on the desks. In a 30-day period these unsecured laptops were reduced by 98% and kept there.
To calculate the value of this one security activity, assume 20 laptops per year were stolen. The value of the computer is about $1,500. The value of the intellectual property on the computer varies. Now, examine the time and loss associated with replacing the computer. Question 1 is how long the employee who lost the computer takes to get fully re-engaged. On average it is about 10 days – 2 weeks. Determine how many people are involved in reporting the loss, authorizing the replacement, ordering, preparing, shipping, and formatting the computer before it goes to the employee. On average the cost is between $10,000 and $20,000 per loss.
If 20 laptops are lost annually, the effective loss to the company is estimated to be about $200,000 – $400,000. As Security reduced that loss by 98%, Security saved the company some $196,000 – $392,000 in cost avoidance. By simply quietly and subtly engaging the employees in securing their own assets, Security saved a significant amount of money.
To further this example, Security conducted an assessment of access control on the campus. Each building required a card key to enter, but due to tailgating, employees letting people in, etc., Security determined 56% of the employees entering the executive building did not have or use an access card. With 17,000 visitors annually, Security and the company did not know who more than 9,000 of them were – a significant risk and vulnerability.
Security implemented random visits to visibly remind employees to use their cards and not allow tailgating, etc. In six months, a reduction of 90% was realized, resulting in 8,500 fewer people entering than previously. Security’s random reminders to employees had those employees reminding fellow employees, visitors, and others to use a card key to get in.
Look at the cause and effect relationship to establish real value of Security. The report to the C-Suite stated that people had less than a 10% probability of entering one of the buildings, and f they did get in, had less than a 2% probability of taking something of value.
Overheating IDF/MDF rooms – server farms – this company had 10 such rooms. If the rooms got to a certain temperature level, they overheated and shut down. It cost $100,000 to reboot them and get them in working order. The security officers proactively began to check each room on each shift. In a 1-year period, they found the rooms overheating 184 times. The officers acted on the spot and prevented the loss to the company.
By proactively patrolling, looking for problems, the officers saved the company more than $18,000,000 annualized.
We’ll next look at, define, and establish the value proposition of Security in any organizations.
Part 4 – The Value Proposition of Security
Value proposition is a clear, compelling, and credible statement of the experience the company will receive from Security. Value propositions work because they force Security to focus resources where they are needed; articulating this value increases the visibility and presence of Security in the organization. The presence of properly managed Security allows the organization and its employees to enhance productivity and optimize performance, decreases costs and issues and increase profit.
Security needs to ask and answer these questions to describe itself and begin to articulate its value:
Where does Security excel?
What does Security actually do that lowers costs in the organization and helps increase profit?
What does Security do that helps the organization improve quality and eliminate problems, waste, redundancy, and non-value add elements?
What are the core competencies of Security?
What benefits does Security provide the organization to employees or systems that allows them to be better than they were?
Recall that Value Proposition is simply Benefits minus Costs (VP = B – C). To calculate value use that formula. Assume the cost element is the Security budget. Using the previous case study involving IDF/MDF rooms we determined that Security’s proactive patrol model resulted in more than $18,000,000 in cost avoidance. In this instance the Corporate Security budget was $9,000,000. The Value Proposition is benefits minus cost, or $18,000,000 – $9,000,000, or for every dollar spent on Security, Security returned two dollars. This is just one example; imagine doing this for each instance. In this case Security told the C-Suite that for every dollar invested in Security, Security was returning between $2 and $100 – quite a compelling ratio.
In the instance of unsecured laptop computers, the cost of the reminder cards was about $200. The cost avoidance at the lower end was $200,000, so in this case for every dollar invested in Security, Security returned $1,000. This is yet another compelling statement.
Tying the Parts Together
Any one element of these models works very well as a stand-alone system; each has been proven successful in its own right. The strength of each part is amplified when they are combined into a single management model.
Employee Involvement reduces the burden on Security by acting as a force multiplier to Security, freeing time and cost.
Lean Six Sigma eliminates suboptimal processes, further reducing time and cost and freeing security resources.
The Business Intelligence Decision Support System laser focuses your security resources to where they’re needed, what they’re needed for, and how they’re needed. The randomness of patrols is refocused.
Value Proposition demonstrates the true value of Security to the organization, clearly showing measurable, articulable results. These results are formatted graphically into the reports prepared for executives, each of which provides an enhancement to the organization’s financial and operational positions. The bottom line is dramatically improved.
Finally, “Do not lose sight of the fact that you are the core to your venture’s value proposition. What solution can you deliver uniquely well? What kind of disruptive business model can you bring? Be true to yourself as a thought leader and you will go far.
Chief Security Officer Online, August 1, 2003. Security’s Value Proposition.
The Cooper Management Model, copyright 2010, 2015. Bill Cooper.
Leading Beyond Tradition: Exceeding Expectations in Any Economy, Cooper, William E., 2012
Leading Beyond Tradition: Exceeding Expectations in Any Economy, Cooper, William E., 2015
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