A security guarding business based in the North East of England is using an employee scheduling and remote workforce management product SmartTask, and has streamlined its admin. G&A Security reports that it has already won local and nationwide contracts as a result of its SmartTask-powered guard tour system, while using the workforce scheduling, live visibility and historical reporting to reduce administration by 40 hours a month.
G&A Security selected SmartTask to replace a legacy patrol monitoring system that was no longer meeting its business and operational requirements. The company was looking to underpin its guard tour system, which was developed to give customers visibility by providing proof of work, incident reporting and lone worker protection. G&A also wanted a tool that would help streamline back-office functions: invoicing, payroll and employee scheduling.
Some 30 static security guards use SmartTask installed on Android smartphones to raise alerts and submit incident reports. Call taking software captures and records working hours and status information, with each guard calling from their mobile device with a PIN and site number to book on and off of shifts or register an hourly check call. Scannable question or checkpoint tags can also be used at locations around a site to monitor a particular security round or capture requested information such as “is the gate locked” or “how many vehicles are parked in the car park”.
G&A monitors the guards from its control room at its headquarters in Darlington using SmartTask’s live view interactive dashboard. As a result, office-based controllers can monitor the attendance and safety of static team and respond to operational issues or alarms. A customer can access real-time and historical information via an online portal to confirm that guards are meeting agreed service levels and sites are secure.
Jay Graham, Managing Director of G&A Security NE Ltd, said: “Our priority is to protect the welfare of our staff and the properties of our customers. Using SmartTask we achieve complete visibility over our static guards, ensuring their safety at all times while giving our clients access to everything that our security control room can see. This is part of our commitment to being the best provider of security solutions and implementing systems that deliver a clear advantage over competitors.”
Meanwhile, SmartTask’s Intelligent Rostering is helping G&A streamline the planning and scheduling of guards. The company’s administrative employees are using the system to prepare weekly rosters, while the MySmartTask app enables guards to view their schedules and confirm availability to work shifts via their personal smartphones. Timesheet and billing data is also sent from the system to the company’s accounting system for invoicing and payroll.
Jay Graham said: “SmartTask is contributing to the rapid expansion of the company and making it possible for us to meet the high standards we set ourselves. We have worked closely with the team at SmartTask, taking advantage of their technology leadership and responsive service, to create a tailored solution that is adding real value to our business and clear benefits to our customers.”
And Paul Ridden, Managing Director of Skillweb, developers of SmartTask, said: “SmartTask provides an integrated tool which combines intelligent rostering, live monitoring and integrated proof of attendance across teams of both static and mobile officers. This is helping organisations such as G&A Security to gain competitive advantage by achieving the highest levels of visibility and control over their guards, while enhancing workforce scheduling, reducing operational overheads and better servicing new and existing customers.”
