S ecurity 18A — September 27 - October 10, 2013 — Fall Preview — Mid Atlantic Real Estate Journal
www.marejournal.com
By Jim Martin, Security Resources, Inc How do you find a partner you can trust to secure your assets?
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in the suburbs. At times the options and methods seem overwhelming to asset manag- ers because of the multitude of options available. What best suits a given property? Technol- ogy based solutions, feet on the ground, signage, who can be sure? How to best understand these options and select the right ones that are appropriate for your managed asset? Seek out an expert who helps to guide you through the myriad of op- tions. However, don’t just hire a consultant; establish a relation- ship with security experts. Relationships are built on
or the past decade the buzz word has been se- curity; from a global
mutual success. They don’t just happen out of the blue. When it comes to virtually any type of business, successful relationships are always built over time and are revealed in several ways; Quality of service, ease of doing business, reliabil- ity, pricing and perhaps most importantly, trust. In today’s business climate trust has be- come something bordering on “rare commodity” status. Real partnerships carry mutual risk; therefore, the partners have to trust one another implicitly. Can you trust your partner to always look out for your
best interests? Act responsibly and ethically? When disaster strikes, as it does all too often, are you certain they are going to be able to do everything they possibility can for you? Sadly finding the right part- ner can be difficult because so many companies offer similar services, have very engaging sales forces and slick market- ing. Whether an organization is procuring labor based services, access control or camera sys- tems it is always in the best in- terest to cultivate a partnership with a supplier who can meet the needs while providing the
X Factor that brings efficiency and innovations to business processes. So how do organizations find the right partners with which to can grow the right rela- tionships? The internet is an effective means of gathering information on potential service providers but it is not the end all. Consulting with industry peers is an excellent method of culling the possible service providers that may have been discovered through internet searches. Also, once you have decided on a short list of pos- sible vendors it’s a great idea to check their references, it not only assures you that what you are being told is indeed true but it will also help you to ex- pand your peer network in the process. Outsourcing any business function will always have some elements of risk, however, out- sourcing direct labor, such as se- curity personnel, can be fraught with peril. In the absence of a strong relationship, where there is a level of certainty of knowing that the partner is reliable and trustworthy, an organization can end up flying blind and in many cases receive subpar services. The old rule of “you get what you pay for” is never truer than when it comes to labor. By commoditizing this aspect of the overall busi- ness process a potential point of failure is created that can have profound consequences on your business, your customers and your reputation. Everyone wants to obtain the best value for their money, however, when the price of labor is driven down to unmanageable levels the results are high turnover, low employee morale, poor or little training and worst of all poor service levels. When there is a strong relationship with a service provider there will be a mutual understanding of pro- cess requirements that will en- sure that an organization gets what its scarce budget dollars are spent on. When it comes to securing valuable property as- sets this mutual understanding is critical. An example is a job function that has heavy day to day expo- sure to the general public, like a security officer. The person in that role quickly becomes the face of the client organiza- tion even though they are an employee of an outside service provider. What type of person continued on page 19A
perspective to the local level. While our govern- ment keeps a watchful eye on the world we as busi- ness people are left to
Jim Martin
understand how to secure the assets we have a responsibility for. Those assets range from commercial properties in urban areas to residential complexes
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