The Silvertrac Extra
10 Awesome Things You Can Learn from Security Company Management Software
Guard management software is a valuable tool for organizing your network of locations and officers in a way that creates demonstrable value for clients. From tracking individual officers to crunching data on your overall performance, guard management software helps you run your business in a way that can give you a distinct advantage over the competition.
That all sounds great, but what does security company management software look like in action? Here are ten awesome things you can learn from your software:
#1 How Your Supervisors Spend Their Time
Guard management software offers you unmatched insight into what your supervisors are doing while on the clock. You can use the software to track the number of sites they hit during a shift, as well as where they spend the most time. Additionally, management software tracks which employees they’re training during a shift.
Supervisor time is typically non-billable, so you want to make sure it gets used productively. For sites that do bill for supervisor time, management software helps ensure that your team hits locations the right number of times during a billing period.
#2 If Your Patrol Vehicles Are Routinely Being Inspected
Guard management software helps improve accountability for those who have access to a company vehicle. Your software can help track pre- and post-shift mobile patrol vehicle inspections to make sure that any damage to the vehicle is documented and accounted for.
Software can also help security companies track regular maintenance on patrol vehicles to ensure they’re getting tune ups and oil changes when needed. Software can even help keep track of gas purchases and optimize patrol routes to save time and money.
#3 Which Employees Need More Training
Guard management software can help company leadership zero in on performance issues on a person-by-person basis. With this information in hand, you can pinpoint which officers need additional training.
Using data to track performance saves considerable time and helps address issues before they become client complaints. It can even be used to identify your highest-performing officers and plan for their advancement in the company.
#4 Sites that are having issues right now
The traditional method for following up on your properties is to send a supervisor into the field with a list of sites to check up on. During these field missions, supervisors keep an eye out for anything that’s out of place. In between these random post checks, however, a whole lot could happen.
With security management software, you can send supervisors to sites that need help based on data instead of random selection.
#5 When Time-Sensitive Tasks Are Missed
Making sure that guards are on-time and in place when they need to be is a major challenge for many security companies. Scheduling time-sensitive tasks into your guard management software ensures diligent performance of essential lockups, guard tour stops, and more.
#6 Best & Worst Officers Assigned to an Account
Which officers are doing a good job? You may have a pretty good idea, but data from guard management software helps fill in the blanks. It also gives you a benchmark to better understand what top performers look like — how many tours they’re doing, how many issues they’ve discovered per quarter, if they’re having positive contacts with clients, etc.
Of course, it’s also valuable for seeing who isn’t doing their job properly. Software helps you track who’s missing stops on patrols and guard tours, who’s skipping out early, and who takes the longest to respond to alerts.
#7 What you're doing well for a client
Supporting your claim of creating value is more difficult when things are going really well. When bad things aren’t happening, you need to give your clients quantifiable data to show them all the ways you’re helping to prevent incidents.
Guard management software helps you put together comprehensive and visually impressive reports on a daily, quarterly, or annual basis. These reports help establish the value you’re creating for each client in no uncertain terms, which helps you protect your spend.
#8 Which Areas of the Property You're Spending the Most Time On
Your guard management software can show you which parts of a property receive the most attention. Say you’re in charge of running security for a 20-story hotel. Your software can pinpoint the floors where your team spends the most time, and which ones could use more attention. Compare that to a breakdown of where the most incidents occur and you can map out preventative actions based on the data.
#9 Problematic residents or tenants
Your data does more than help improve internal operations at your company. It can also help support your client’s case when they look to act against a problematic resident or tenant.
Guard management software keeps a record of where officers encounter problems on their shifts. When a business tenant or a private resident is causing problems for the property manager, that record can be a valuable asset in getting them evicted or supporting a decision to not re-sign a lease.
#10 Response Time for Dispatched Officers
What’s the average response time for your company as a whole? How about for a specific site or one of your officers in particular? You can rely on handwritten logs and hope they provide you with an accurate picture of what goes on behind the scenes, or you can use guard management software to track response time accurately.
Software also helps companies track break times to ensure that officers are documenting their breaks properly. This helps prevent companies from running afoul of labor laws, especially in California where legislation protecting worker break times is especially stringent.
In Summary...
Security guard management software is a powerful tool for company leaders looking to streamline, automate, and analyze their operations. Powerful platforms like Silvertrac come with a range of features designed to make site management easier and provide an understanding of where your company can improve.