In September, we learned that Protos Security and Security Resources Inc. (SRI) had joined forces and are now one company. With that news came much excitement, as well as many questions from clients and guarding subcontractors alike. What would change as these two industry leaders combined, and how would it affect clients, vendors, and the industry overall?
Why Protos and SRI Are Coming Together
Individually, Protos and SRI were already known leaders in the loss prevention space, with nearly forty years of combined experience and many national retail customers. In fact, retailers often considered both Protos and SRI for their outsourced guarding services. After all, both companies specialized in nationwide armed and unarmed security guard management contracts to protect people, property, and reputation. Both worked with retail loss prevention and facility security clients throughout the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. Both offered around-the-clock client support, as well as emergency or last-minute guarding services, to ease the burden of a guarding program.
While their overall offerings were similar, the way in which each company delivered those guarding services differed. SRI focused on national guarding with a hometown feel, while Protos focused on state-of-the-art technology. As a result, clients were forced to choose between the visibility that came from Protos technology versus SRI’s direct guarding capabilities and personal approach.
Now that Protos and SRI are coming together, customers will no longer have to make that choice; they can have the best of both worlds. Technology and direct guarding expertise will not only coexist in one company but also make each other better. By combining real-world expertise and real-time data, clients get even more visibility and peace of mind that their outsourced guarding services are working for them.
“This is an exciting time for us and for our customers,” said Patrick Henderson, co-CEO and cofounder of Protos Security. “Now, instead of spending our energy competing with each other, we can focus that energy to continue to evolve our offerings and processes to bring our customers the easiest, most innovative guard management experience in the industry.”
Integration: Moving Forward Together
Protos and SRI come into the new entity with similar values and customer relationships. Both are highly committed to customer success and easing the burden associated with managing a security guard program. Both provide nationwide coverage combined with a personal touch around the clock. These values and this approach won’t change with the integration.
“We’ve built our business on our personal guarding expertise and strong relationships with customers,” said Joseph Malone, SRI cofounder. “From an operational standpoint, that isn’t changing. Clients will still work with the same people, and we’ll still offer direct guarding and bring that guarding expertise to customers.”
What will change is the breadth of services and processes that customers can leverage. Rather than having to choose between technology and direct guarding expertise, customers will now be able to get both.
That means that clients that have been working with SRI will gain Protos state-of-the-art technology, the first and only system that streamlines the security guard request process, provides uniform timekeeping, incident reporting, budgeting, and data analytics, and is accessible at your desk and on the go through their web app. This reduces the day-to-day management of security guard programs, facilitates budget preparation, and assists in determining the need for security guards in specific locations. SRI customers will also be able to leverage Protos guarding network: the industry’s largest network of screened and vetted security guard vendors and personal client account managers.
“From the beginning, we believed there was a better way to reduce program costs, capture valuable data from officers, and improve the accountability of guarding teams,” noted Chris Copenhaver, co-CEO and cofounder of Protos. “Our goal was to deliver innovative technologies to the loss prevention industry that do just that. Now, we’re excited to bring that visibility and control to a whole new set of guarding clients.”
Meanwhile, customers that have been working with Protos will benefit from SRI’s more than twenty-five years of on-the-ground experience, on-staff guards, and vast industry knowledge that comes from having run both direct guarding and managed guarding teams. This experience—combined with a highly personalized, family-like approach that starts with listening to customer needs—allows the combined company to innovate, improve, and tailor security programs to the specific needs of each client.
A Full Range of Services for Clients
- Security that never stops with around-the-clock support client account managers, dispatch teams and call centers
- Guarding expertise that comes from managing both direct and vetted guard services
- Industry-leading guarding technology that streamlines the security guard request, management, and virtual check-in process
- The largest, best-trained guarding network in the industry
Today, Protos and SRI are in the early stages of bringing the company together. They have already started to offer the direct guarding services from SRI to some accounts that were in managed guarding in the past and will begin offering the Protos technology to all clients early next year.
For Protos and SRI, their shared commitment actually makes the integration more seamless for customers, vendors, and team members alike. They believe that their similar size, values, and goals—along with their commitment to communicate at every stage of the integration—will make the transition seamless for customers.
“There have been a number of acquisitions in the guarding space, so we know some customers have been lost in the shuffle when their guarding company changed ownership,” remarked Bob Bond, SRI cofounder. “That can happen if a smaller company has to conform to new processes and goals. This is different. We’re bringing together two companies that are both leaders in the industry—companies that come in with similar approaches but individually bring different capabilities. So we can retain what customers love about each of us and just add on those new capabilities.”
Of course, the integration of Protos and SRI won’t be the end of their story. They will continue to expand their capabilities, expose new industries to their offering, and grow their direct guard service footprint in the US through acquisitions of best-in-class service providers who share their philosophy of elevating security service expectations to better serve customers.
“By coming together, we are now able to leverage the strengths and capabilities of both companies to give our clients the best security guards and the best guard management technology in the industry,” summarized Copenhaver. “That helps the loss prevention and other security professionals streamline their guarding programs, reduce costs, capture valuable data, and improve the accountability and performance of their security officers.”
