Commercial

Professional Security magazine offers regular pages devoted to commercial security, such as in the spending the budget pages 18 to 21 in each print issue. Here you can read what security products and services, from guarding and lone worker protection devices to access control and gates, are being specified and installed in the UK and abroad.

Over the winter of 2014-5 we’ve been featuring corporate security – what heads of multi-nationals with EMEA and other responsibilities have to deal with. As we reported, it can be whatever crops up in the news – unrest in the Middle East, civil war in Ukraine, extreme weather – whatever affects staff and in particular travelling employees. Corporate security departments may have to investigate such trivial matters as who has stolen a sandwich out of a fridge; or breaches of social media discipline by staff; or threats to the company or staff, by disgruntled social media users. Then the corporate security person has to judge the balance between defending the business and its reputation; and not being threatening or heavy-handed to a relatively powerless individual.

Commercial security installations over the years have developed from physical security and key-holding with static guarding and vehicle patrols, to electronic security and networked systems that connect security and related building systems, such as fire and intruder alarms, air-conditioning and heating. While that means a corporate building and multi-national can lower shutter, open doors and turn up heating or aircon from a control room anywhere in the world, it also raises the risk of hacking of that system.

Just as consultancy companies offer services to corporations in general, so consultancies offer security services such as fraud and other investigations, notably such firms as Kroll and Control Risks. Guarding contractors such as G4S likewise have sought to offer a range of services; or contractors have looked to provide facilities management, bundled services.