Why it’s time for retailers to wake up and smell the coffee! Not all guarding companies are created equal… how does your provider compare?

Fantastic news!

The Bank of England (BoE) has cut interest rates. That’s good, right?  I certainly thought so, but then I made the mistake of heading over to the BoE website to learn more… If I was hoping for a straightforward explanation, I was sorely mistaken! What I got instead was a wall of text that could double as a cure for insomnia!

Somewhere between “the restrictive stance of monetary policy” and “stabilised longer-term inflation expectations,” my brain gave up. My eyes glazed over, and a headache set in. The Bank’s rationale was as clear as mud!

As regular readers will know, I like to keep things simple. Straight-talking is my style. Unfortunately, that’s not a philosophy that seems to be shared by either the financial world or my own industry. Much like fiscal policy, the security sector is drowning in acronyms, jargon and an ever-growing list of compliance standards.

Take a deep breath. Here we go… Firstly there are the SIA, ACS and NSI. They stand for the Security Industry Authority, the Approved Contractor Scheme and the National Security Inspectorate, by the way. Not too bad so far.

Now brace yourself for the standards tsunami: BS 4799, BS 7858, BS 7872, BS 7960, ISO/IEC 27001, ISO 9001, NCP 101… the list goes on… Let’s not forget the CSAS and RSAS accreditations. And that’s just scratching the surface…

If you haven’t got a clue what some (or any!) of these terms or schemes mean, you’re in good company. Most retailers probably don’t know their BS 4799 from their BS 7858 either! But that doesn’t mean they don’t matter. Quite the opposite, in fact…

At the time of writing, we’re deep in the midst of our annual NSI Guarding Gold Audit (that’s National Security Inspectorate, for those who haven’t been paying attention!). This means our National Accounts Manager, Craig, is currently chauffeuring the auditor around the country so they can gather feedback from Advantage One Customers and Officers on a range of operational aspects. According to the tracker that I may or may not have secretly attached to Craig, they’re somewhere near Birmingham at the moment!

In the NSI’s own words, the Guarding Gold accreditation is “the NSI’s premier security guarding services scheme designed for companies who meet the industry’s highest technical standards and maintain a commitment to continual improvement with an ISO 9001 Quality Management System.”

“Highest technical standards”… that’s a serious claim. Earning this accreditation isn’t a matter of filling out a few forms. It takes an extraordinary amount of work behind the scenes to ensure we meet the required standard – especially for a business of our size, which is assessed on more extensive criteria.

And then there’s the cost. This isn’t a cheap process. Yet, we voluntarily undergo it. Why? Because we hold ourselves to the highest standards. More importantly, we want our customers to have complete confidence that they’re getting the best possible service. Advantage One has been with the NSI for 22 years, and I’m delighted to say that we have an impeccable track record.

In the early days, they used to hand out framed medals when you achieved one of the three accreditation levels (gold, silver or the now-defunct bronze). Sadly, that tradition has vanished. Now, we simply display the NSI Gold logo on our website and correspondence. A shame, really… I think we should all display it by hanging it around our necks …. No, I’m not that pretentious; it’s hanging on a wall in the Office!

In addition to the NSI Guarding Gold audit, we also undergo an annual ACS audit. This is another voluntary scheme that’s organised by the Security Industry Authority and verified by independent auditors. Unfortunately, what most retailers don’t realise is that ACS-accredited companies are not created equal. The ACS is far more than just ‘Pass or Fail’ criteria. Rather, every company is given a score which indicates how well they have performed during their audit.

This scoring system is based on 83 key indicators covering diverse areas such as finances, investment in people, training and so on. Last year, we scored 126 points – that places us in the top 5% of security companies in the UK! Now for the frustrating part… every ACS-accredited company can display the same ACS logo, regardless of their score. There’s no extra recognition for top performers. No gold star, no badge of honour, no medal… nothing to distinguish the best from the rest.

Time and time again, I see tenders that simply require an ACS accreditation. But the reality is that the company often has no idea what that actually means. Not really. We’ve been around long enough to know that our accreditation and ACS score carries considerable weight, but how many others can say the same?

And it’s not just our auditing performance that sets us apart. Our recruitment process is also far more rigorous than the industry standard…

Whilst some organisations face challenges with pre-employment vetting (this week’s High Court ruling regarding rogue Met officers being a case in point), we have the ability to thoroughly assess all of our officers BEFORE they start work. And we do… any not meeting our standards are rejected. Plus, our standards may be higher than you would expect…

How many security companies require you to undergo a colour, mathematics, writing and smell test before you can start work!?! (Yes, science suggests that if you can smell coffee then you’ll be able to detect smoke). I don’t actually have the answer, but I’m guessing that it’s not many!

So if security matters to you, take a closer look at who you’re trusting to safeguard your business, people and customers. Check their credentials. Find out what those accreditations really mean. Because when it comes to protecting what’s important, do you want a provider that just ticks the boxes or a company that sets the gold standard? I know which one I’d rather choose… maybe it’s time for retailers to wake up and smell the coffee too!