Insights: The SmartTask Blog for Security Matters (Part 7)

The Security Industry Authority’s (SIA) Approved Contractor Scheme (ACS) is a recognised UK certification highlighting the fact that a given security business is following industry Best Practice. It demonstrates a company’s competence, training regime and commitment to delivering its services to defined industry standards. While entirely voluntary in nature, there’s no doubt that it’s becoming a commercial necessity to be SIA ACS registered. Registration can certainly help a given security company to stand out among its competitors.

Improving performance standards

ACS registration involves a rigorous approval procedure including an assessment of staff and operating processes that monitors actual service delivery against quality standards with the aim of improved performance. In fact, the similarity to ISO 9001 requirements means that it’s possible to achieve ISO 9001 at the same time as ACS registration.

At SmartTask, we’ve thoroughly reviewed the SIA’s published ACS Workbook Guide to understand these requirements in detail. In this new series of blogs for Security Matters and its audience, we will be exploring each section of the document, duly identifying how workforce management software can help companies to meet the requirements of the ACS and subsequently benefit from more efficient operations.

Counting the benefits

Although the SIA audit process can be time-consuming, there are also significant benefits. Following the process can demonstrate:

*a commitment to quality, management and customer service

*assurance that members of staff and security officers are fit for purpose and adequately trained to perform their roles

*that the security service has been independently assessed against recognised standards

*company status on the SIA’s Register of Approved Contractors

*industry standard certification that can be used in marketing

In addition, the SIA regularly promotes the benefits of Approved Contractors to the buyers of private security services, among them local authorities, Government departments and organisations in the commercial sector.

The ACS process – how technology can help

The ACS Workbook Guide explains what’s required for each section in the self-assessment process, along with examples and an outline of good practice.

The first section entitled ‘Strategy’ states that a company must be able to demonstrate that it: 

*has a coherent plan for – and approach towards – business

*outlines clear mechanisms for improving the standard of service delivery

*handles internal and external communications effectively

*actively manages the impact of its services on society and the environment

*measures – and improves upon – performance against key indicators

The right software solution can support these requirements by helping security companies to manage their daily business operations and administration tasks efficiently. Software provides data to monitor performance against Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).

Capturing data affords insights on performance

By studying the ACS Workbook Guide, we’ve gained an understanding of the crucial compliance needs of a security service provider. Further, we have identified that we can help in the key area of capturing KPI data to provide insightful views of business performance.

Criterion 1 in the ‘Strategy’ section outlines the requirement for a business to communicate clearly its business strategy – and its approach to business – to all employees. It identifies the need to outline critical business success factors and monitor their progress with goals, objectives and targets visible across the organisation (Reference 1.1.1 to 1.2.2 in the Self-Assessment Workbook).

Experienced service providers know that gathering this data to support these measures and creating meaningful dashboards and/or reports to drive the business towards continual improvement can be both challenging and expensive. However, when a security services business has deployed and makes full use of a workforce management system, it captures the data to be able to measure these KPIs.

We are collaborating with our UK security customers to build an extensive range of reports and dashboards, which can help to turn the captured data into meaningful information for measuring the performance of the security business against its designed success factors. Examples here include:

*Check call compliance

*Contract fulfilment

*Reporting performance

*Key holding compliance

*Management visit compliance

*Staff training compliance

*Staff Customer AI (Assignment Instruction) awareness

As well as capturing that all-important data, with a mobile app it’s possible to respond quickly to changes and manage how (and what) communication takes place with officers out on site, customers and other stakeholders, such as:

*sending assignment instructions directly to security officers, including last-minute patrol changes and details for alarm responses

*conducting and documenting risk assessments prior to contract renewals

*recording and managing incident logs on site checks

Feedback from customers and other parties can also be swiftly actioned and reported. These electronic records are easily stored and searched, providing a full audit trail and the all-information needed to prove compliance.

SIA licence renewal information can also be managed to demonstrate eligibility and adherence to legislation.

Win new business with efficient operations

There’s no doubt that companies using workforce management software to support ACS compliance benefit from:

*reduced administration costs and time

*improved management of their carbon footprint with better route planning and reduced paper wastage

*new business created through operational efficiencies

We’ve worked with many organisations that use workforce management software to support the SIA process. As an example, Orion Safeguarding has been successful in its SIA ACS audit and won new contracts thanks to using SmartTask software. The full Case Study is available to view on the SmartTask website.

Paul Ridden is CEO of SmartTask (www.smarttask.co.uk)

Paul Ridden has spent most of his working life in the computer industry. For the last decade, he has focused on software solutions for the security, cleaning, FM and logistics sectors. One key element of Paul’s role as CEO is to use his passion and entrepreneurial approach to build a team that can develop and deliver affordable software solutions that take advantage of the very latest technologies and deliver value for all SmartTask end users

*For more information about professional business systems designed by UK-based SmartTask specifically for security sector businesses, visit the company’s website at www.smarttask.co.uk or send an e-mail to tellmemore@smarttask.co.uk