Analyzing the return on investment is an integral part of running an organization. Large companies have employees that work year-round at justifying the expenses of the organization. The results of this research determine what kind of development stance a company takes. Oftentimes, a company will either find itself looking for ways to make capital investments and expand, or it will look for ways to save and cut budgets in an effort to stay afloat. It’s this latter situation that can lead to emotional layoffs and downsize, and even though it’s an unfortunate and often times necessary reality, it’s nonetheless a trying and unpleasant experience for all those involved.
While it’s impossible to come up with a full-proof plan to avoid these types of staffing and budget cuts, it’s important to justify business expenses as accurately and simply as possible if there’s to be any chance of them sticking around. Security operations are one of the most common departments that are looked at when the annual budget meetings roll around. For a security department to provide a valid service to its clients (both external and internal) it’s important that the security operation accurately conveys its value to the decision makers. To do that, a security operation needs accurate and timely reporting which can then be translated into hard figures in terms of dollar and cent value.
The GuardTek solution from Trackforce makes it easy for companies in this situation to justify the cost of the service. Over 1,000 companies have put this claim to the test, and what follows are just two examples of how a company using the GuardTek suite was able to easily show the value of the service.
Downtown Dallas Inc. (DDI) is a private, non-profit organization that works diligently to improve the quality of the downtown Dallas area for businesses, entertainment, culture and hospitality environments. DDI works with several local law enforcement agencies to ensure that the residents, visitors, workers and business owners in the downtown area remain safe.
DDI was not using any mobile technology in its security functions. They had looked at other guard tour solutions and found that most were very expensive and none offered the dynamic tools that the GuardTek solution from Trackforce offers. After working with Trackforce to develop a custom solution, Martin Cramer, DDI’s Vice President of public safety, had this to say about the solution, “Simple and easy to use and quick to train our folks. Some systems take weeks to deploy and Trackforce took days--changes and updates were made within hours.”
What took DDIs security operation to a new level was the use of GuardTek’s mobile technology in its security functions. Downtown Dallas uses Trackforce tools to support the Dallas Police by dealing with smaller crimes so they can focus on more serious issues, and the mobile technology from Trackforce makes it easy to do so.
“Positive dealings with Downtown stakeholders and property owners improve quality of life. Trackforce tracks dates, time and locations of interactions with local businesses. We use the Broken Window theory in places where fixing small crimes leads to lowering bigger crimes,” says Cramer.
The added benefit to these kinds of results is how easy it is to show the DDI stakeholders what a good investment Trackforce is. Accurate reporting and documentation on a monthly and quarterly basis make it easy for DDI to justify budgets and resources. Martin Cramer goes on to say, “We provide a report to the city that documents how our team is giving a necessary service for the city.”
Not only do the GuardTek reports help justify the expense of security, but they also help in providing accurate data for future budget preparations. Cramer provides real-world testimony to this by saying, “The system’s ease of use allowed DDI to create performance reports based on activities, incidents and maintenance issues. It’s not all about big data but it’s what you do with the data that matters. I use it for long term strategy to justify our staff and plan countermeasures.”
The entire DDI case study can be found HERE
The GuardTek solution from Trackforce captures detailed reports of officer activities and incidents in real time. It’s these reports that really allow a company to show the value of the security operation to the decision makers. Reports can be generated daily, weekly or monthly so that trends can be analyzed and budgets can be adjusted as necessary for more or fewer resources. This level of reporting also helps to build trust and credibility with the stakeholders as they get a near instant snapshot of what their investment is accomplishing in the field.
Another company that has taken advantage of this very feature is Hunterdon Healthcare, whose flagship hospital treats over 8,600 inpatients annually, with 33,000 Emergency Department visits and 292,000 outpatient visits each year. The company was utilizing older wand technology as part of their guard tours, and this technology did not have the ability to report in real-time. It became necessary for the company to justify the expense of their security operation and they also wanted security software that would integrate with some of their other systems.
Christopher Hunt, the Administrative Director of Safety, Security and Management at Hunterdon Healthcare states, “We needed to demonstrate the tours, activities and assistance we were providing since Security in Healthcare is not a revenue generating department. We were doing paper-based daily logs and using another system for incident reporting, but we were missing daily activity logs and rounds were all done on paper. Accuracy was a major issue. We weren’t capturing the right information to justify the manpower we were using.”
Hunterdon Healthcare implemented the GuardTek solution from Trackforce and now the paper logs the company was using are a thing of the past. The new automated reports have streamlined the workflow process and saved a good number of hours. “By switching to Trackforce, we got rid of these manual logs, reducing manpower by 12 hours per week,” Hunt says.
The entire Hunterdon Healthcare case study can be found HERE
Companies normally don’t enjoy investing capital into a project without knowing what they’re getting in return. Security operations that employ antiquated, manual processes have a difficult time conveying their value to stakeholders. The GuardTek solution from Trackforce and it's automated and real-time reporting gives administrators the ability to see exactly what they’re getting for their money at any given moment throughout the day. That kind of overview makes planning, budgeting and resource management a breeze. Add to that Trackforce’s ability to integrate its software with a company’s existing systems and the security operation quickly becomes one of the most dynamic departments in the company.
If you’re interested in seeing how the GuardTek solution can add value to your organization, contact the Trackforce team to discuss some options. You--and your stakeholders--will be glad you did.