In this day and age, it takes real change and thoughtful disruptive innovation to lead an industry forward. We’ve seen it with Apple and Tesla, and in the loss prevention industry, we’ve seen it with Protos Security.
Over the last eleven years, Protos Security has revolutionized security guard management, saving retail companies of all sizes from the traditional headache of manual processes, continuous audits, and lots of last-minute scrambling. Its end-to-end security guard management ecosystem drives measurable direct and indirect cost savings for clients all across North America.
“The Protos team lives and breathes innovation. We understand how technology can empower companies and benefit their bottom lines,” said Kris Vece, LPQ, director of client relations for Protos. “Even before I joined Protos in 2015, I watched what they were doing and decided I wanted to be a part of it. The last two years have easily been some of the most exciting in my career. The Protos team has created a cutting-edge, cloud-based management platform, increased transparency, and enforced a ‘no punch, no pay’ policy to ensure accounting accuracy for LP professionals tired of finding overpayments and having to manage the invoice reconciliation process.”
Owner and cofounder Patrick Henderson said, “Our system uses a variety of techniques that have been successfully deployed in supply chain, logistics, and other service industries. We reworked the tools and operating models to fit a loss prevention scenario. We help connect the dots and benchmark performance, so everyone knows what they are getting and can quickly and easily change behavior as needed to get the results they seek.”
“After all, you can’t manage what you can’t measure,” Vece added.
How Do You Manage Guards Who Aren’t on Your Payroll?
“Despite the technology’s reputation for success, when we meet with prospective new clients, we still get asked, ‘How do you manage guards that aren’t on your payroll?’” Chris Copenhaver, Protos owner and cofounder said. “And people are always so surprised when we explain our tools, technology, and methods. They’re always like, ‘Wow, why didn’t someone think of this sooner?’”
Using technology to operate a series of clear, easy-to-read user interfaces that can be accessed from desktop, laptop, tablet, or phone, Protos Security helps clients, vendors, and their own quality-assurance specialists to communicate and manage security guard performance.
The Protos team built their system from the ground up, and, in the process, created a methodology and culture that supports consistent and measurable program success. From introducing instantaneous and fully customizable alert notifications to vendor KPI dashboards, Protos has rewritten the rules on what it takes to run a modern LP shop.
Unlike its competitors, Protos does not sell technology as an add-on service or up-sell solution. Its high-tech tools are “baked in.” At its core, Protos is a technology company that is working to solve loss prevention industry challenges, the same way Apple taught the world to “think different.” Many of Protos’s offerings are revolutionary, saving clients countless hours and measurable budget percentages immediately upon rollout, but many of its advancements are just the obvious next steps in a world dominated by automation, big data, and higher management expectations.
“To us, it didn’t seem revolutionary for clients to be notified when an officer was late or to relay important incident details near real time,” Copenhaver said. “In today’s day and age, it was a question of simple automation, and it seemed inevitable. So that’s what we set out to do. We just wanted to make program transparency a reality. It was already an expectation in other industries, and we wanted to see the loss prevention world catch up.”
What More Can Be Done?
While Protos has been offering performance-benchmarking tools to clients for many years, first for internal
monitoring and then for client transparency and reporting, it hasn’t stopped moving things forward. For example, by the end of the year, it will release a vendor portal that allows independent guard vendors to see the performance trends on each of their Protos assignments.
This access will allow guard vendors to compare their delivery to industry standards and benchmarks and manage to customer expectations in real time. This access empowers them to deliver quick and necessary course-correcting actions before it hurts their companies’ reputations.
Protos, of course, is always monitoring these performance trends and filling client assignments with vendors who are engaged and responsive and provide consistently high-quality service.
“There is real incentive for guard vendors to be a part of the Protos Approved Guard Network,” Copenhaver said. “We’ve proven that a good vendor can grow their business faster with us than they could on their own.”
No Punch, No Pay
“We’ve always had a ‘no punch, no pay’ policy, and that has served us well, but now we’re focused on what’s next. What else can we do?” Henderson said. “The hope is to get each individual guard vendor management team more involved and more active in addressing any quality issues.”
Protos has led the industry in technology innovation, guard vendor engagement, and client service since it pounced on the scene in 2006. The company claims to save clients’ money and pay their vendors much faster than industry average. Their stunning growth continues to prove they are doing something right.
The Bottom Line
Protos has earned an exceptional reputation for having security officers successfully engage with a common timekeeping and integrated invoicing system. Its reporting procedures have cleaned up LP budgets industry-wide and increased situational awareness from coast to coast.
“I no longer must call stores to ask if an officer is on-site. I can check in to see if a guard is on-site from my cell phone. I also get real-time incident reports from Protos,” customer Eric Williams, loss prevention manager at the City Gear store support center said. “When it comes to billing, Protos gave me at least two days a month back.”
“There was a lot of concern around how to seamlessly transition to another guard company. We were expecting bumps in the road during the first couple of months of the transition and were pleasantly surprised that we received nothing but positive feedback,” said Andrea Quinn, Staples senior manager of global loss prevention. “Protos has made every aspect of managing guard service so much easier, and we could not be happier with our decision to transition to Protos six months ago.”
So from coast to coast, customers are already happy, but if the leadership team at Protos Security has their way, this is really just the beginning. “Stay tuned; there is no way we are done innovating,” Vece said. “I am personally excited for what comes next. Hold on tight; the ride’s not over yet.”
For more information on Protos Security, visit their website at protossecurity.com.
