Brian Sims talks to the directors of two private sector security contractors Ontime Guarding and Shearforce Security about their move towards a real-time, GPRS-based wireless management system that’s already proving beneficial to their own operation and those of their clients.
What if your security officers are late on site or miss a patrol? What would happen if your client’s premises had a security breach? How can you really afford not to know where your officers are at any given time? Where are the company’s operatives right now? More importantly, where are they supposed to be?
For the contracted private sector security company, providing a professional and effective service to clients is paramount in relation to customer satisfaction, critical for protecting existing contracts on the portfolio and a key differentiator when it comes to winning new work. Many customers have been lost over the years through the inability of security companies to manage their staff effectively. Knowing and demonstrating that your officers are on site and performing the tasks demanded of them – is what the client is paying for. Delivery on the ground is essential.
Wireless observation system
To help contractors in their quest for the ideal solution, West Midlands-based bconnected a forward-thinking technology company that specialises in delivering leading-edge GSM and GPRS-based tracking systems has developed ITRAC (a GPRS wireless application that’s able to monitor the movements and whereabouts of security officers on site in real-time, thereby providing instant notification if an officer should log-in late for duty, miss a checkpoint or if they leave site earlier than they should).
When ITRAC is installed, the security officer simply keys in a unique four-digit PIN code via a wall-mounted keypad. This authenticates the identity of the individual concerned, their location and site. Each time this keypad records data, it’s simultaneously uploaded and processed at bconnected’s Data Centre, and can be viewed (again in real-time) through a secure customer portal.
Reports are accessible from any Internet-enabled device a PC in the office, the laptop computer at home or a palm pilot in the car and may be printed, faxed or e-mailed to show where, when and how well the security officers on duty have performed their assigned tasks.
Nominated staff may be instantly alerted via SMS text in the event of a scheduled guard tour or checkpoint being late or missed out, while pro-active alerts may be scheduled to notify supervisors of an upcoming shift’s start/finish time and/or routine checkpoints.
Fully automated timesheets mean that manual errors and/or discrepancies become a thing of the past. There’s automatic highlighting of lateness and unauthorised absenteeism, with access to trend analyses. Outputs to payroll packages including Sage and Excel spreadsheets are standard.
Ontime Guarding contract
Expanding security guarding services provider Ontime Guarding is one of the first contractors to use the GPRS-based system, deploying the wireless set-up at a vehicle preparation centre in Warwickshire that handles prestigious marques including Mercedes-Benz, Volvo, Smart and Land Rover.
Knowing and demonstrating that your officers are on site – and performing the tasks demanded of them – is what the client is paying for. Delivery on the ground is essential
Ontime Guarding is a new operation launched by Ontime Parking Solutions that works with many local authorities operating 24-hour payment centres, pound security, clamping/de-clamping services and vehicle removal operations. Specialising in motor industry contracts, the company has ambitious plans to roll-out its guarding, mobile patrol and keyholding services across the next 12 months using only Security Industry Authority (SIA)-licensed operatives.
Eddie Lewis the general manager at Ontime Guarding takes up the story of the Warwickshire contract. “If the security staff on duty fail to enter their PIN code, a text message alert is sent out straightaway enabling us to formulate a response and visit the site if required,” comments Lewis.
“ITRAC provides an instant alert if a patrol is missed, an officer is late keying in their PIN or if a team member is unexpectedly absent,” he continues to tell SMT. “This allows my staff to take immediate and appropriate action. That’s invaluable in terms of safety benefits for the officers during out-of-hours periods and throughout the night.”
Lewis adds: “ITRAC also enables me to monitor working patterns via the reports it provides. This ‘time and attendance’-style functionality details what has been done, and shows me exactly how the team is performing. This is particularly helpful as the daily information ITRAC gives me allows a speedy response. It’s also reassuring from the point of view of Health and Safety monitoring.”
Shearforce on track
Meantime, London-based guarding company Shearforce Security headed up by director Joseph Ojumu has also taken ITRAC on board, rolling-out the system at sites including storage depots, rail and transport-related locations and on construction projects.
“We trialled the system last summer with one of our major clients in the transport sector,” explains Ojumu, “and found it particularly useful for monitoring individual security operatives patrolling extended grounds.”
Apparently, the detailed attendance and activity reports have also proven useful in speeding up payroll processing. “The system is immediate, and that is just what contractors and their clients need in today’s highly pressurised commercial environment.”
Ojumu’s supervisors can also use the system to introduce standard and flexible working times for each day, week or month, and these may be established for each employee. “The instant on-screen Internet access via our secure customer portal offers a really comprehensive viewing and editing facility. It’s head and shoulders above guard tour systems that don’t offer real-time data.”
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