This blog is specifically meant for facility managers and security officers who manage manned guards at various facilities, be they business premises, industrial complexes and townships, or educational campuses.
Managing security guards is no mean task. Facility managers and security officers face many practical challenges on a day-to-day basis. Most of these are efficiency, productivity, and accountability issues faced by the management of various organisations, property managers, and security companies.
In this blog, we discuss why you need to give up the old ways of managing security guards. And more importantly, in what way the latest and the right technological solutions can help counter these issues. Also learn how these solutions empower the managers as well as the security guards in bringing out their productive best.
1. Do you know if your guard’s on the right patrol route?
How would you? If you are still managing your guards manually, that is.
The guard is scheduled to be making his rounds from one checkpoint to another. There’s a reason you assigned him a particular route : sensitive areas, high-value assets, instruments that need periodic checking, etc. But you have no idea if he’s doing the route right.
A cloud and mobile guard tour system not only pre-assigns security guards’ patrol routes but also records their patrol routes along pre-designated checkpoints. The system helps you track a guard on his route in real-time.
2. Are you still manually scheduling your guards’ patrol routes?
It’s time to give up old ways of doing things.
Pre-organize and schedule your security guards' patrol activities and locations. You can do this easily even for multiple branches. Guard scheduling need not be a headache anymore no matter how many guards and locations you manage.
A guard tour patrol system makes it unbelievably easy and quick.
3. You can assign checkpoints with details
A cloud-based guard tour patrol system offers many rich features. For example, you can easily pre-assign checkpoints to all the guards no matter how big is your team or how many locations you have to cover.
You can provide each guard a detailed checkpoint information such as building, area, vulnerable assets or zones, floor plans, etc. You can even assign them task-to-do at each checkpoint.
4. Cumbersome incident recording - a thing of the past
Why are guards still given paper log books to note security incidents?
Mobile technological innovations are being leveraged for solving problems in almost every sphere of our lives today. Your security guards should also be clicking pictures, recording voice messages, and taking videos of incidents.
He should not be committing security or incident issues to memory. Relieve him from mundane admin work like writing reports on log books or typing out reports in a software he is not comfortable using.
A guard tour app helps him provide real-time reports.
5. Get rid of processes and useless hardware - use the smartphone
Did you know a smartphone can act as a complete guard tour app or a device?
Unlike complicated software, a security guard app is actually a simple but powerful application that a guard can start to use right away.
All that the security guard needs to do is scan or tap the pre-designated checkpoints with his phone. These checkpoints are marked by QR code-based tags or NFC tags.
Of course, a guard tour patrol system has many more capabilities, but a guard tour app is a crucial one. It eliminates many of the cumbersome, manual processes that the guard has to undertake while completing his rounds.
6. Empower the guards to achieve your organisation's security goals
Guards are supposed to be securing properties and premises. They should not be stressing about preparing reports or using systems they are not comfortable with.
A security guard app is super simple to use. It relieves the guards of all administrative tasks that they are otherwise expected to do along with patrol duties.
A guard patrol system lets your guards focus on security without worrying about unrelated tasks and cumbersome processes.
7. Get reports and data in real-time
With a cloud-based guard tour system, you no longer have to wait for reports from the guards until their tour is completed.
You receive data as it comes. It could be related to guards’ time log, attendance, checkpoints missed and checked, or any incident reporting.
8. What about the data captured?
What do you do with the security data and reports that you receive regularly? Nothing, we're guessing. Since it’s on paper or at best an Excel sheet, they are not easily usable.
A cloud and mobile guard tour system stores it all in a secure database. Access, view, and retrieve the data history anywhere, anytime, even in your phone, for further decision making.
9. GPS technology for tracking and monitoring guards
GPS technology is becoming more and more commonplace.
Guard tour systems for large premises have an inbuilt GPS guard tracking feature.
Using a security guard tracking software, you can locate a particular guard and his patrol movements inside the premises in real-time.
This helps in two ways: a) It is important for the management to take adequate steps for the security of their guards. The tracking feature of a guard tour system ensures the safety and security of the guards themselves. b) A security guard tracking software heightens accountability of the guards since they know that they are being tracked.
10. Many more additional features
A smart guard monitoring system has many built-in additional features such as call and email capabilities, text alerts and notifications, emergency mass broadcast buttons, alarms, equipment inspection and reporting, and many others.
A robust alarm system gives the guards themselves a sense of security when they are deployed in a vulnerable zone.
Is a guard tour monitoring system expensive?
Not at all. Compared to how much organisations spend on employing security guards.
A cloud-based guard tour patrol system is way more affordable than hiring a large crew of guards and managing them manually. Over a period of time, it makes a huge difference in the security overheads of organisations. Not to mention that it significantly heightens the efficiency and productivity of the security team.
Conclusions
There is no point in having guards stationed at your premises if they cannot be held accountable for their duties or if they are overburdened with non-security related work.
A cloud-based guard patrol system automates the end-to-end management of guards.
As a security officer or a facility manager, you can bring out the best out in your security team via maximum empowerment and with minimal supervision - a win-win situation for both sides.
