Security & Resilience Dispatches

Stop Losing Talent: How to Streamline Hiring Amid ‘Contract Award’ Uncertainty

With all the effort that may go into creating and editing a resume, writing a cover letter, and organizing additional documentation to prove they are sufficiently trained, qualified and licensed to operate, many potential candidates for possible vacancies may be put off applying for a role that is “contingent upon contract award“, knowing that the opportunity doesn’t actually exist at that time. It adds another level of chance to the Read more…

By Marshal, ago

How a remote-access Talent Pool for security manpower can reduce your operational anxiety!

“Looking for 3 Tier 1 Executive Protection Specialists with passports for a 1 week effort in Europe starting 03 Sept. Please contact me if you are interested, with resume.” This was posted on LinkedIn recently. They have got 5 days to turn this around and deploy people on task!  Imagine the response though. If this post generates 100 applications, how long will it take to review them all; identify who is Read more…

By Marshal, ago

What does “quality private security services” mean, exactly?

Chief executives look to purchasing and supply management to control costs and manage risks by removing vulnerabilities in the value chain. These are no less important when buying security. One of the important messages is that procurement is not an isolated activity within the organisation and when it comes to security many representatives should be brought together to help inform the buying decision. For example, facilities management are often linked Read more…

By Marshal, ago

How to improve the productivity- and resource-consuming drain that is procurement!

Procurement in the Security & Risk Management sector is often a slow, tedious drain on productivity and resources, because the market is highly fragmented, opaque, and increasingly regulated. These risks compound within a contingent, short notice operating environment, that causes missed opportunity, commercial disadvantage, reputation damage, liability exposure, or loss. So, for stakeholders wanting to source the best capability available to protect lives and safeguard assets, when and where needed, what can be Read more…

By Marshal, ago

Deploying personnel into safety & security risk environments requires more than just a CV and a covering letter!

Duty of Care and contract-specific obligations mean you are likely to need to access a plethora of additional documentation to mobilise into a high risk environment, depending on the expertise needed: qualifications, certifications, accreditations, permits, licenses, criminal record checks, travel documents, health documents, insurance, training records… Within our suite of digital services for the Security & Risk Management market, our powerful software enables a “remote-access talent pool” approach to recruitment, Read more…

By Marshal, ago

How to reverse the slow, tedious productivity and resource drain of security procurement

When sourcing Security & Risk Management solutions for immediate or upcoming operational needs, the standard response in social media channels is limited, and you have to follow up with a further search of the critical information you actually require. This is a slow, tedious productivity and resource drain. You don’t want that. Better, surely, to have all the information needed to compare and contrast options, in order to make informed, Read more…

By Marshal, ago

Hey, Fat Head, remember the Long Tail? How the security market can connect with your niche capability.

During the war between Israel and Lebanon in 2006 (also called the 2006 Israel–Hezbollah War), I was an Operations Manager at a UK based Security & Risk Management company, overseeing protective security contracts with international News Media clients operating in the conflict zone. One client Bureau Chief was, naturally, chasing the same agenda as his competition, and so needed to get his team rapidly across the border, in order to broadcast their latest scoop, or Read more…

By Marshal, ago

Afghanistan: security management lessons – a year on from withdrawal of the West

Regardless of the political intentions and outcomes, there are some valuable lessons that security risk management practitioners could learn a year on from the debacle of a withdrawal from Afghanistan – which represented a disgraceful coda to this tragically pointless war and occupation – including technology (where it was helpful, where it wasn’t), training, planning, situational awareness, logistics and mobility, medical provision and more… up to and including how “safety Read more…

By Marshal, ago

10 Steps to Planning the Procurement of Security & Risk Management Services for your Organisation.

Our a guide to good practice: 1. Develop a cross functional team. This should be identified through undertaking stakeholder analysis, and requires representation of all the relevant business functions in your organisation. 2. Build a risk profile. This is the responsibility of the cross functional team, it is important to ensure that the risk profile considers the organisational strategy to ensure no misalignment occurs. 3. Undertake a risk analysis. Procurement Read more…

By Marshal, ago

Best Practices for Procuring Security & Risk Management Services

Growing economic pressures to reduce costs and increase efficiencies with fewer resources have [always] caused many companies to award their security contracts to the lowest bidder. Low-bid contracts force security providers to cut corners in order to cut costs, resulting in poor security and an increased liability to customers. Often the managers tasked with procuring security services are not the ones who have the expertise that would enable them to Read more…

By Marshal, ago