From guarding with eyes, to guarding with systems

Security services, and providers of such, in Thailand have come a long way. Back in the 1980s, there were only foreign companies (such as Chubb and Secom) operating locally. We started as a guarding services company with less than 100 people, and have grown to be a force of more than 15,000 (thanks to assistance and support from our friends at Certis Cisco in Singapore), encompassing guards, personal protection and investigation teams, and system distribution, integration and installation. We expect to double our revenue from systems in the next five years. Our target verticals would be the ones where we are already strong with our physical presence, such as industrial and military sites. Spurred by legally mandated increases in guards' minimum wages, we will see a rapid switch to electronic security systems and solutions in these and other sectors.

Having a national presence is pivotal, especially when we are moving toward system- and service-based models. Our four monitoring stations and 10 solid dealers throughout the country put us ahead of our competition (more than 2,500 security distribution, integration, installation and consultation companies). City surveillance is a national directive, and we, together with our partners, will focus on the increased funding in the north, northeast and south.

At the same time, we are trying to improve the quality and service standards of the entire security community (from technology, solutions and services to the people and companies providing them), through legislation and associations. We are also in talks with the Royal Thai Police and the cabinet to ensure that the necessary changes are effected, to guarantee a minimum CAGR of 10 percent in the next few years as we integrate into the larger ASEAN Economic Community and become the leader and know-how disseminator of it.