Whether you contract out the security aspect of your company or you deal with it in-house, you most likely understand the importance of a well-assembled and managed security team. Not only does it instill a sense of safety and comfort, there are real-life uses for these services, from managing crowded areas and events, securing the inventory of a store or warehouse, or reacting to an accident and directing emergency services. However, it has become more and more difficult to manage a security team, as there is a wealth of distractions, often a significant lag time in communications, and an outdated paper-based reporting system.
Thankfully, the industry has innovated, with companies offering useful tools to keep your level of security higher than it has ever been before, along with integrating many back-office functions like invoicing, scheduling, and more. Investing in such software is not a “perk” to offer clients or that you can sell to a senior manager. Today such innovation is necessary to deal with modern risks at a level that is relevant and dependable.
These are some functions that your security management software should have:
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Dynamic Tracking
One of the biggest problems that security companies face is monitoring their staff on the ground and ensuring that they are patrolling the areas they are assigned to. Modern software allows you to not only track individuals and teams as needed in real time, they allow you to set up “geofences” that trigger notifications to your mobile phone when they are breached. That way you have full knowledge and control of the team you are managing and the quality of service they are providing.
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Mobile Incident Reporting
Most security units are still based on paper report writing, or in the best-case scenario, desktop based input. By allowing the security guards to quickly pull up the report on their phone, not only will they be able to fill out the form more accurately and with relevant attachments like precise location and mobile pictures, but you will get notified in a timely manner. No more waiting until the end of the shift for this information to be inputted into a computer or collected by a manager, the back office can start to deal with procedures right away.
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Seamless Communication
Forget about keeping a spreadsheet with phone numbers and consulting the schedule before asking one of your team members to respond to an incident. Choose a Security Management Software that helps security-critical organizations respond to incidents in record time, partly due to seamless and real time communication. Some options will let you assign “online” team members in proximity to the incidents, further triggering a workflow that will assist in response and the eventual resolution of the problem. This will keep the back office where it needs to be, and takes full advantage of having feet and eyes on the ground.
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Analytical Tools
Getting to the next level means improvement, and how can you elevate your service if you don’t know what you are doing well and what’s going poorly? Modern security management software will allow you to store, organize and present information in a way that will guide future changes and decisions. Seeing which areas have the most issues, what time happens to have the greatest number of incidents, and how your team acts while on the job will help you with route planning, scheduling, as well as staff training. Having it all in the same software system means less hassle with exporting and interpretation, and definitely more sortable data than what you would collect in a paper form.
Just having a security team is not enough to ensure the safety and security of your company. However, having one optimized with the right security management software can mean a much more effective and efficient solution to your company’s needs.
