Located in Uganda, one of G4S’s long-tenured customers is a provider of logistics, transport and warehousing services to various entities across the country. The company is dedicated to its mission of
supporting its customers as they grow, by providing them with customised services that help them remain more competitive in their markets. Over the years, the company has worked hard to maintain a high level of trust with its customer base.

However, the company had begun to struggle with the theft of goods from its warehouses. Items were missing and there was no trace of how they had been taken. This also resulted in significant downtime for handling investigations into these thefts, as the current security setup had no quick and easy way to investigate. These thefts also cost the company many of its customers due to the frustration of the losses incurred and they lost many of its customers to its competitors, which put them at an additional disadvantage. The logistics company contracted G4S in 2014. Initial security was limited to guarding services, but with the theft incidents occurring over the first one to two years, it was clear additional solutions needed to be implemented.

THE GOALS

The customer’s primary objective in its business is to support its customers and maintain trust. This trust was at risk of breaking due to the string of warehouse thefts, so the customer’s top security priority was to implement a system to prevent theft before it could even occur.

In addition, if thefts did occur, the security platform should be able to identify when and how they occurred, as well as identify the thieves. This would expedite investigations into what it hoped would be a significantly reduced number of theft incidents. It was also an important goal for G4S to improve the safety of its guards deployed at the warehouses. With frequent break-ins, there is always a risk, no matter how trained security forces may be.

THE SOLUTION

G4S deployed a solution that added significant hightech security systems to aid its guards. This integrated security solution included several components working together to create a highly secure system. The following components were key cogs in G4S’s system:

• Intruder alarms in all warehouses
• Sirens and strobe lights in all warehouses
• Guards equipped with panic buttons
• CCTV system with ceiling-mounted, 360-degree sensors
• Control room monitoring, where all keys were also stored
• Biometric access control

THE RESULTS

The customer saw immediate results when the elements of their new integrated security solution were deployed. Losses were significantly reduced, with zero incidents over the past several months. Reducing these losses directly impacts the company’s reputation with its customers and prevents them from moving their business to competitors.

The safety of G4S’s guards has improved dramatically, thanks in part to the panic buttons deployed on-site. These have been used on several occasions to stop burglaries and to call for QRF back-up. Along with cutting back on losses incurred due to theft, the customer’s bottom line has also been boosted because security technologies are reducing the number of physical guards required on-site. Customer confidence in G4S services has been greatly improved with the new security systems, as evidenced by the rolling contract that has been in effect for more than seven years now.