There have been two defining moments in global security and risk these past two decades. The most abrupt and shocking were the terror attacks on the United States by mostly Saudi al-Qaida extremists who flew hijacked commercial airliners into selected targets at the World Trade Center towers in Manhattan, the Pentagon and a flight in a Pennsylvania pasture that was heroically brought down by passengers before reaching its Washington, D.C. destination. The attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 forever changed business operations, air travel safety and security design philosophies.
While the haunting legacy of 9-11 brought a shift in how we view risk and approach security, today’s lingering battle with the coronavirus pandemic is proving to be a generational crisis event. For more than eight months, the world has been terrorized by COVID-19. Close to a quarter of a million Americans have died as a result, while millions have been infected and countless others remain virtual prisoners in their own homes.
No two events in our lifetime have done more to shift the paradigm of how we go to business and secure workers, clients and customers. However, the lingering nature of the COVID-19 crisis has created unique and staggering challenges for security solution providers and clients alike. Perhaps no security executive understands this better than Chief Executive Officer of Allied Universal, Steve Jones, who presides over Allied Universal companies and their respective divisions. Under his leadership, Allied Universal has grown from $12 million in revenue to more than $8 billion and has acquired over 60 companies.
But now Jones and his company face the double jeopardy of maintaining fluid and productive business operations on a global scale for the sake of their own survival and at the same time, providing both the technology and personnel services to its global client base. I was able to grab a few minutes at the GSX+ virtual event this week via a Microsoft Teams chat with Steve Jones to discuss the current state of affairs and how AU is approaching the new normal.
Steve Lasky: You’ve mentioned two transitional events that have forever changed the security industry. Can you expand on that?
Steve Jones: After 9-11 the world changed so dramatically, and for security in particular, and I view the change that's going to come out of this pandemic like another 9-11 event. Between the COVID-19 crisis and organizations struggling to manage this pandemic, add the social unrest, the fires, and the hurricanes; it has become a perfect storm for all elements of security, emergency preparedness, contingency planning, executive protection – all the things that have come out of this.
When you analyze it, you're looking at business operations that were sort of on the fringe and the outer perimeter of C-suite purview. And now, anything that has to do with business continuity, business operations, emergency management, security policy and protocols is all top of mind now. Everything sort of just fell out of the sky at one time. It would have been difficult for any organization to be prepared for what has taken place, especially since COVID is the overriding thing that has impacted business operations, and staff and employees. What sort of lesson does this teach us about preparedness?
Lasky: How transformational is the COVID crisis going to be, not only from a technology standpoint because of all the policy maneuvering for touchless technology and temperature and contact tracing, but also just from a business operation standpoint?
Jones: The return to the workplace is going to be completely different. It'll evolve over time, but I don't know if the occupancy at commercial office buildings will ever go back to where it was before, and I think there will also be technology-driven issues organizations will struggle with. Remember, after 9-11, people were afraid to go to office buildings. There were no solid answers back then when looking to have employees work remotely. It was basically conference calls, and it gets hard to collaborate long-term just via conference call. But now that you have Zoom and Microsoft Teams, you can all see each other on video. That’s a game-changer as far as business operations go. Then there is fear that we may see a permanent change in the travel industry. We as organizations like business travel. We have to go visit our customers; see our big customers face to face, right? There is usually a meal involved, there was the entertainment, you're staying in hotels, you're spending money at restaurants. I think a business like that is going to be forever changed. Not down to zero, but I certainly think it's forever changed.
Lasky: How does security change?
Jones: It is going to be very difficult to be a niche player in the security industry after this. And I say this because having dealt with our customers through this crisis, they want to simply pick up the phone and get what they want. They want to call you when they need off-duty officers when they need executive protection for their CEOs and C-suite people. They need additional officers or additional technology put up in buildings where they are eliminating staff or shutting down. They say we can't afford the guard staff, but we need to know cameras are working and they are being monitored.
I think there's this convergence now. We're able to leverage our size and scale our resources -- technology or manned guarding options – which provides us this unique positioning. What's changed is the industry is getting demands that companies be able to have the resources and capabilities in many different areas.
Think about all the CSOs and security professionals out there that were managing the closing down of their buildings and the security threats to their executives. How are you going to help them reopen and ensure the safety of the employees? The events of 2020 have only amplified all of these issues. Clients, more than ever, now really want the ability to have that one throat to choke…the value proposition that we bring to our clients, the ability to scale up in almost any situation has truly been amplified.
Lasky: So where do you think this takes us in five to 10 years?
Jones: This is going to be the reflection point where CSOs are going to look back and companies are going to look back on and understand that there is a need for a partnership with a company that can handle their complete security needs – across the entire spectrum. From emergency response to their contingency planning needs, our clients realize they need that company to be able to handle all of it. So, I think five years from now this is going to show the importance of being able to provide all these additional services and provide it at scale.
From a security professional's viewpoint, I think this is the start of what will be a continued struggle to meet new challenges. I don't know if we're going to have COVID-19 with us forever or eventually have a vaccination, or if we solve the issues that have ignited some of the social unrest. But you know there'll be other challenges. This will be our 9-11 moment where people reflect back and think, well you know we have to improve our security systems, we have to improve our emergency procedures, we have to improve our ability to respond, and we have to have our contingency plans prepared and ready to implement.
Our clients have faced their biggest challenges over the last six months, both from both a technology standpoint and a personnel standpoint. They're telling us they need a partner.
About the Author:
Steve Lasky is a 34-year veteran of the security publishing industry and multiple-award-winning journalist. He is currently the Editorial Director for the Endeavor Business Security Media Group, the world’s largest security media entity, serving more than 190,000 security professionals in print, interactive and events. It includes Security Technology Executive, Security Business and Locksmith Ledger International magazines, and SecurityInfoWatch.com, the most visited security web portal in the world. He can be reached at [email protected]
