Security Goals for Businesses in 2024
With 2024 underway, it’s important to implement security goals that prepare your business to effectively manage prevalent challenges in the security industry.
Assessing your business goals and performance from 2023 is a necessary step for developing a better understanding of what your business can improve on and implement in the following year. Ask yourself questions like, “Did your organization allocate enough budget to meet your business needs and goals?” and “Were your business processes well documented and implemented?” Understanding the answers to these questions will help your business make informed decisions about your 2024 security goals.
In this article, we’ll discuss the top security goals your business should take into consideration that will impact the overall efficiency and success of your security program in 2024.
Security Goal #1: Integrate Technology Solutions
Collecting verified data and obtaining access to important metrics is essential for your business to maintain success throughout the year. Partnering with a security provider like Protos Security that offers valuable data, including key performance indicator (KPI) reports, performance metrics, incident reports and accurate time and attendance figures can empower your business to make informed decisions, enhance performance and manage security risks more effectively. Below are some advanced technological resources to implement in your business:
Utilize a Comprehensive Reporting Platform:
- A reporting platform should provide your business with a unified program view and access to both current and historical data that offers key understandings of your security program’s performance. Implementing a reporting platform can enhance efficiency, increase visibility into real-time insights and facilitate informed decision-making, allowing your business to more effectively optimize its processes.
Implement Real-Time Reporting:
- Real-time reporting provides immediate insights into the KPIs of your security partners and personnel. It is essential for helping with immediate incident responses, efficient resource allocation, proactive threat mitigation and providing a record that can be used for accountability and analysis, such as accurate billing, and time and attendance keeping.
Understand Budget Reporting:
- The ability to compare projected versus actual hours worked, coupled with GPS-enabled punch data, ensures precision in tracking labor costs. Achieving 100% invoice accuracy is facilitated by the insights provided by budget reporting, allowing your business to maintain financial transparency with your vendors and agencies.
Security Goal #2: Plan For the Future
Planning for the future provides a roadmap for anticipating and addressing potential challenges, ensuring proactive measures are in place and allowing your business to align its resources strategically.
This involves identifying opportunities for scaling, anticipating upcoming events or circumstances that may demand increased security, and proactively planning for resource allocation and budgeting based on the quantity and skill level of security personnel needed.
By addressing these aspects, your business can enhance its preparedness, streamline operations and ensure effective responses to security demands that will arise in the future.
Security Goal #3: Achieve Financial Health
By understanding the importance of financial health, your business can position itself for success within the evolving economic landscape. By now, your 2024 budget is already set, so make sure you get the most out of your security budget by only paying for services actually received instead of relying on contractual obligations.
Additionally, your business should utilize a security partner that incorporates additional benefits within their services. For example, Protos Security offers a client portal that can track important data analytics essential to the success of your security program. Investing in a higher-quality partner that offers a broader range of security solutions proves more beneficial for your security program than solely focusing on cost.
Below are a few ways your business can maximize its security investments to achieve financial health in 2024:
Use Time and Attendance Tracking Tools:
- Ensure financial success by enabling accurate tracking of the hours your security team actually worked instead of hours contracted. This will reduce time theft and provide your business with clear billable hours, so you only pay for the security service received.
Achieve Billing Accuracy:
- Prevent unnecessary costs and foster financial accountability with your vendor and agency partners by ensuring payment data aligns precisely with contracted work. Addressing time and attendance discrepancies with your partners is crucial, and accurate time-tracking data will help mitigate any risk of overbilling or underbilling in the future.
Utilize KPI Reporting:
- Leverage KPI reporting to allow your organization to track critical metrics that inform data-driven decision-making. KPI reporting enables businesses to evaluate vendor and security officer performance against contracted expectations and other vendors and locations. Access to this performance data across your entire security program can optimize resource allocation and maintain cost efficiency.
Security Goal #4: Boost Security Officer Engagement
Maintaining engaged security officers in your business boosts overall productivity, further reducing officer turnover. Below are a few ways to boost officer engagement:
Communicate Effectively:
- Regularly update security officers on company goals, achievements and any pertinent changes to foster a sense of transparency and inclusion. This practice ensures that the security team is well-informed and aligned with organizational objectives.
Provide Essential Tools:
- Equip your security officers with a user-friendly web app that features geolocation and incident reporting templates to streamline their tasks, therefore fostering greater engagement. Actively incorporating officer feedback and communicating resultant changes ensures that the provided tools align with their needs, further enhancing overall job satisfaction and commitment.
Security Goal #5: Increase Security Officer Training and Awareness
Promoting a culture of continuous learning within your business cultivates more skilled and engaged officers. This commitment to ongoing development not only enhances the proficiency of security personnel but also contributes to a heightened level of overall engagement within your team.
Onboarding Processes:
- Conduct comprehensive orientation sessions for new security officers to introduce them to the company culture, values and policies.
Inclusive Training Materials:
- Ensure that training materials are inclusive and consider diverse learning styles, cultures and backgrounds.
Regular Training Sessions:
- Schedule regular training sessions to update security officers on new technologies, industry best practices and changes in company policies.
Security Goal #6: Improve Incident Response Plans
Build a more resilient and effective response capability within your organization by consistently reviewing, testing and updating your incident response plans. Doing so can result in a reduced amount of security incidents, which can relieve the financial impact associated with an incident.
Below are a few strategies to implement in your future incident response plans to ensure success in 2024:
Increase Training and Awareness:
- Provide regular training for incident response team members and other relevant staff. This includes awareness training on the latest threats, attack vectors and response procedures.
Collect Incident Analytics:
- Data analytics such as the incident location, time, incident response time and description of the incident all work together to facilitate an effective strategy for mitigating future security risks and threats. Streamline the process by using reporting templates that provide officers with a quick and easy way to effectively and consistently communicate incident details and therefore contribute to more efficient and professional handling of security incidents.
Establish Communication Protocols:
- Establish clear communication protocols for both internal and external stakeholders during an incident. Define communication channels, escalation procedures and methods for updating affected parties to ensure that incidents are managed effectively, stakeholders are kept informed and the organization can recover and learn from incidents in a structured and responsible manner.
Security Goal #7: Conduct Ongoing Security Audits
Security audits play a vital role in maintaining and enhancing the security posture of your organization. While the above goals are great to implement, it’s important that your business regularly evaluate processes and program performance to ensure your business is still working as effectively and efficiently as possible. Below are key aspects of security audits and what they do to help the success of your security program:
Risk Assessment:
- Identify potential threats and vulnerabilities to prioritize and mitigate risks effectively
Incident Response Evaluation:
- This involves evaluating the effectiveness of processes and procedures in place to detect, respond to and recover from security incidents.
Continuous Improvement:
- Audits are part of an ongoing process for continuous improvement. Regular audits help organizations adapt to evolving threats and technologies.
Vendor Performance:
- Insights into vendor performance are a way to evaluate and track progress, identify areas for improvement, foster accountability within your security operation, and make informed decisions to enhance overall performance.
- However, utilizing a provider like Protos Security, means we can make those important decisions on your behalf. Protos takes the initiative to monitor vendor performance, addressing potential issues before they escalate. By leveraging the largest nationwide security network of over 4,000 regionally-based providers, we ensure our clients receive the most suitable vendor for their tailored needs.
Equipment Assessment:
- Regular assessments should be scheduled to ensure ongoing security effectiveness and to adapt to evolving threats and technological advancements. Check to make sure your surveillance equipment is still functioning, has adequate storage, is in the right locations and the proper team members are trained to operate the equipment.
How Protos Can Help You Achieve These Security Goals in 2024
Protos Security stands as the foremost provider of security guard and off-duty police services in the nation, with our cutting-edge client portal and customer-focused values positioned at the core of our service offerings.
When you choose Protos as your security partner, you gain more than just a trusted provider. You receive access to customized security solutions designed for your business’ specific needs and a unified client portal that effectively assesses your security operations and contributes to informed decision-making. Protos is designed to ensure your security program achieves its security goals in 2024.
Superior Security Services
As a single-point security provider, Protos’ committed account management and round-the-clock dispatch teams actively support all your security requirements so you can focus on growing your business this year.
Protos is a leading provider of physical security solutions, aiming to help you run your security program more effectively. Through our vast and agile security network, you can effortlessly fill positions and expand your reach through an extensive and diverse network of security professionals vetted by Protos. Our security offerings from unarmed security officers, armed security officers, off-duty law enforcement officers and more, means we can find the right solutions to meet your unique needs.
Comprehensive Client Portal
Our proprietary client portal serves as a powerful tool in the assessment of your security operations. With a unified program view, you have everything at your fingertips, enabling seamless access to both current and historical security program data. You can analyze performance, assess risk factors and identify trends, fostering a deeper understanding of what is working and what requires attention.
The enhanced accessibility and functionality of our client portal empowers your organization to make informed decisions, optimize strategies and align security initiatives with evolving needs and industry standards. This centralized platform plays a crucial role in validating metrics and providing essential information, making the evaluation of your security measures more effective and ensuring success in meeting your security goals.
By utilizing our client portal, this time next year, your organization’s performance will be in a better position for success, so you won’t have to ask yourself what went wrong with the effectiveness of your security operations.
Key Takeaways
As we embrace the new year, it is crucial to establish security goals that aid your business in finding success within the security industry.
Establishing clear and defined security goals such as integrating technology solutions, planning for the future, achieving financial health, boosting security officer engagement, increasing security officer training and awareness, improving incident response plans and conducting ongoing security goals all aid in ensuring the effectiveness of your security program in the new year.
Protos Security can help you achieve these goals even faster through our comprehensive client portal and tailored security services, boosting the overall efficiency of your business and ensuring success.
By aligning with Protos Security, your security program can meet its security goals by tapping into our wealth of resources, expertise and ongoing support. Achieve success in 2024 and schedule a demo today.