SME SPOTLIGHT
SPEARHEADING INDUSTRY CHANGE With its suite of innovations, Concorde Security is transforming security jobs, re-inventing itself, and shaking up an entire industry
Concorde is combining technology and a more educated workforce to secure more sites in Singapore
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n 10 years, security guards as we know them today may be obsolete. That is what Chow Siew Chong, Vice President of security technology firm Concorde Security, reckons will happen as the traditional role of security officers gets gradually phased out by more sophisticated technology-focused roles. “After all, it’s such a mundane job and it’s not very humane to let a person sit and guard a place for 12 hours, while doing nothing else,” Chow says. 52 ISSUE 16.8
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Spearheading this overhaul of security jobs is Concorde itself, an 18-year-old firm whose main business used to be in supplying security guards to watch over building premises. In the past two years, however, the award-winning firm has been deploying unmanned security systems that are shaking up the sector. These inventions also improve working conditions and work-life balance for security officers, while
Fiona Lam
fiona.lam@hrmasia.com.sg
offering a clever solution to the growing manpower shortage in security services. First among Concorde’s suite of innovations to be rolled out was the “I-Man Facility Sprinter (IFS)”. This is a vehicle fitted with advanced wireless security systems that are linked to a cluster of 10 to 20 buildings. A team of three officers, dubbed “I-Men”, are stationed in the vehicle monitoring the building cluster. They replace the earlier regime of having individual guards manning each block. “So if the IFS is looking after a cluster of 10 buildings, you reduce the headcount needed by seven,” Chow says. Concorde expects to deploy about 10 IFS vehicles in Singapore by the end of this year. The IFS solution is in stark contrast to the industry’s current piecemeal approach. While security agencies are boosting security levels by using more cuttingedge technologies like advanced closedcircuit television systems and Segway scooters, the actual working conditions of security guards have seen little real improvement. Executive Director of Concorde Security Alan Chua asks, “So what if you can make our guards move faster, see clearer, record better?”