The security business has its own set of priorities. This affects management best practices, as the safety of people hangs in the balance. We examine what traits a security business has, as well as key performance indicators, to measure a company’s success.
The security business has its own set of priorities. This affects management best practices, as the safety of people hangs in the balance. We examine what traits a security business has, as well as key performance indicators, to measure a company's success.
The security mindset envisions the worst-case scenario, then strives to prevent it from happening. Security consultants make a living from imagining “what if” — if an intruder breaks in, a robber holds up a store or a random force of nature flattens a building. By understanding risks, technology can be creatively deployed to minimize the damage. For example, sensors can alert homeowners about an intruder. Video surveillance can document an armed robbery and capture the assailant's face. A smart building can issue evacuation alerts or direct people to a shelter before a tornado hits.
Keeping in mind potential dangers means a security business cannot be run like a consumer or IT business. Selling smartphones hinges on coolness and boosting unit sales, while security could care less about popularity. While smart business principles do apply, a security company is not focused on short-term returns.
Best practices for other industries may not work for the security industry. Measures such as Six Sigma underscore efficiency, with a five-phase process to eliminate unnecessary steps: define, measure, analyze, improve and control. The original process developed by Motorola in 1986 sought to minimize production flaws and improve the yield, or percentage of defect-free products. Most security manufacturers do not have product volumes comparable to consumer goods, so the analogy is on a smaller scale. However, quality control is a universal priority for any business.
Six Sigma is ideal for large corporations, which include Honeywell and GE. However, GE's cost-down approach ultimately backfired in security. It made a number of notable security buys, only for the subsidiaries to languish as they adapted to the GE Way. GE Security was sold to UTC Fire and Security for US$1.82 billion in 2009. While being efficient is important, it is even more imperative to maintain security standards.
Corporate Leadership
There is no one path to becoming a security executive. Unlike academia, which requires years of research, security has few directly related degrees or apprenticeships. The main qualification is experience, either in the industry or in technology development.
Idteck's CEO Grace Kang began her career as a nurse and then imported RFID cards 22 years ago. “At that time, nobody knew how to make those cards in Korea,” said Austin Park, GM. “After about 10 years, she started to develop her own product.”
Kang combined her project savvy with Mike Yoo, now Idteck's VP for R&D. Yoo was involved with Korean national defense as an engineer and RF specialist. “Through her experience, since she dealt with so many brands and types of products, she is one of the best system integrators,” Park said. “She learned everything from experience in sales, development and planning.”
While a former nurse and defense engineer seem to have little in common, celebrating differences can make a business more dynamic. Security giant Bosch Security Systems is made up of experienced employees with different backgrounds. “They all gained a lot of experience in the security industry — which is very important in order to be successful in the market,” said Gert van Iperen, Chairman of the Board of Management. 
A team with one express goal runs Assa Abloy. “Assa Abloy starts with a clear vision: to be the world leading, most successful and innovative provider of total door opening solutions; which clearly establishes the direction for the management team,” said Tzachi Wiesenfeld, Executive VP and Head of EMEA.
Silicon Valley-based Intransa grew out of a desire to carve a niche. “Intransa started life as a storage company,” said CEO Bud Broomhead, who took over in 2007. “One of the issues in the company at the time was a lack of focus on a specific kind of customers. We now focus on physical security and do not sell into IT, but strictly physical security environments. We frequently talk to IT people about how to integrate the product into their network, but we're not talking about email or financial applications.”