The Power of Partnerships: Are Your Security Providers Really Working Together?
Nineteen security guards. Four guards. Zero further breaches.
What changed?
Not the site. Not the threat. Not the client’s appetite for security.
The difference was the decision to stop treating a security problem as simply a guarding problem.
At Frankton Group, we believe that effective security starts with understanding the problem before deciding on the solution.
In this case, our client had been experiencing repeated breaches from urban explorers. The response from the incumbent guarding provider had been straightforward: increase the number of guards.
The result was predictable. Costs increased, but the underlying problem remained.
Rather than asking how many more people were needed, we asked a different question:
How were they getting in?
By looking at the wider security environment, including access points, choke points, visibility, systems and available data, we identified a different way to address the issue.
The client implemented our recommendations and reduced the guarding requirement from 19 people to just four.
There were no further breaches from urban explorers.
For us, this demonstrates something fundamental about the future of security.
The best solutions are often created when different expertise, organisations and technologies work together.
That is the power of partnerships.
The procurement paradox: simplicity versus value
For procurement and senior leadership teams, the attraction of consolidating suppliers is clear.
Fewer contracts. Fewer stakeholders. One point of accountability. Less administration.
But there is a risk in assuming that fewer suppliers automatically means a better service.
There is a fundamental difference between having one accountable security partner and expecting one provider to do everything.
The first can create simplicity.
The second can create silos.
Consider a typical security environment. Guarding may sit with one provider. CCTV with another. Access control with another. Technology maintenance with another. Facilities may have responsibility for other elements of the building infrastructure, while IT increasingly manages systems that overlap with physical security.
Individually, these arrangements may make perfect sense.
But who is responsible for making all of those elements work together?
More importantly, who is challenging the organisation to consider whether the current model is still the best way to achieve its objectives?
At Frankton Group, we believe this is where procurement has an opportunity to think differently.
The question should not simply be:
“How many suppliers can we reduce this to?”
It should be:
“How effectively are our suppliers working together to deliver the outcomes our organisation needs?”
A provider should open doors, not close them
A genuinely valuable security provider should not feel threatened by another specialist entering the conversation.
In fact, we believe the opposite should be true.
If bringing another organisation into the conversation creates a better outcome for the client, that should be encouraged.
That could mean collaborating with a technology provider, an access control specialist, a facilities partner, a workplace team or another organisation already operating within the client’s ecosystem.
Frankton can remain the accountable security partner while bringing the right expertise together behind the scenes.
That creates an important shift in mindset.
Instead of asking:
“What can we provide?”
We should be asking:
“What does the client need to achieve, and who can help us achieve it?”
That is a much more valuable question.
Diversity creates better thinking
Partnerships are often discussed in terms of commercial opportunity, but their greatest value can be the diversity of thinking they introduce.
Different organisations see problems differently.
A security specialist understands risk, operational requirements and human behaviour.
A technology provider may see opportunities for automation.
A workplace specialist may understand how people interact with a building.
A facilities team may understand the practical realities of operating that environment every day.
Bringing those perspectives together can reveal solutions that would not emerge from a single discipline working in isolation.
Our urban explorer example is a good illustration.
The problem initially looked like a requirement for more guarding.
A broader perspective revealed that the better answer involved understanding the environment, identifying vulnerabilities and using systems, information and physical measures more effectively.
That is what good partnership can achieve:
Not simply more resources, but better thinking.
Technology should serve the solution
This principle becomes particularly important as the security industry moves towards greater use of automation, AI, robotics and connected systems.
There is no shortage of technology available.
The challenge is knowing where it genuinely creates value.
Technology should never be introduced simply because it is fashionable, because it is the latest industry buzzword or because a provider happens to sell it.
It should be introduced because it helps solve a particular problem or supports a particular business objective.
That is why, at Frankton, we believe in being technology agnostic.
A client should not necessarily have to replace perfectly functional CCTV or access control systems simply because they have appointed a new security provider.
Nor should they be pushed into significant capital investment before there is a clear business case for doing so.
A more effective approach is to start with what already exists.
What technology does the client have?
What is working?
What is not?
Where are the gaps?
And what is the organisation ultimately trying to achieve?
From there, technology can be introduced, adapted or replaced where it makes commercial and operational sense.
Investment can be phased. Existing infrastructure can be used where appropriate. New technology can be introduced where it provides a demonstrable benefit.
This is not about being technology-led.
It is about being outcome-led.
Partnership should start with the client’s goals
The strongest partnerships are not built around products or services.
They are built around shared objectives.
A security provider should understand what matters to the wider organisation.
Perhaps procurement has been tasked with delivering a specific level of cost reduction.
Perhaps the business is exploring how AI can improve efficiency.
Perhaps the HSE team is focused on reducing incidents.
Perhaps the organisation is opening a new office and wants to improve the employee or visitor experience.
These objectives should not sit separately from the security strategy.
They should influence it.
If reducing cost is a priority, the right question may be whether elements of a service can be automated.
If HSE performance is a priority, the security solution may need to support wider risk reduction.
If workplace experience is important, access control and security processes should contribute positively rather than simply being viewed as barriers.
A provider that understands these wider objectives can become much more than a service supplier.
It can become a partner in achieving the organisation’s goals.
The real test of a partnership
There is an important distinction between having a network of suppliers and having genuine partnerships.
A list of logos does not create collaboration.
A true partnership requires:
- Open communication
- Shared objectives
- A willingness to test new ideas
- A willingness to challenge established ways of working
- An understanding of the client’s wider business goals
- A readiness to bring in specialist expertise where it adds value
- A long-term focus on outcomes rather than individual transactions
It also requires trust.
A technology supplier should trust the security provider to represent its expertise appropriately.
The security provider should trust its partners to contribute openly.
And the client should trust that everyone involved is working towards the same objective.
When that happens, the boundaries between individual services become less important.
The focus moves towards the outcome.
A challenge for procurement and senior leadership
For organisations reviewing their security provision, there is an opportunity to ask more searching questions of their suppliers.
Not simply:
Can you provide guarding, CCTV, access control and technology?
But:
How do you bring those services together?
Not simply:
Which technology do you recommend?
But:
Will you work with the technology we already have, and can you demonstrate why we should change it?
Not simply:
Who are your existing suppliers?
But:
How do you work with specialists outside your organisation when they can deliver a better outcome?
And perhaps most importantly:
Will you challenge the way we currently operate when there is a better way to achieve our objectives?
These questions change the nature of the procurement conversation.
They move it away from comparing service lists and towards assessing the capability of a provider to create value.
One provider. Many partnerships.
There is no reason why a client should have to choose between simplicity and innovation.
A well-structured partnership model can provide both.
The client can have one trusted and accountable security partner while benefiting from the expertise, technology and innovation of a much wider ecosystem.
For Frankton, the role of the security provider is not to try to own every part of the solution.
It is to understand the client’s needs, take accountability for the outcome and connect the right capabilities around those needs.
That requires a different mindset.
It requires providers to be comfortable with the fact that they will not always have the answer.
It requires them to look beyond their own products, services and P&L.
And it requires them to recognise that another organisation’s expertise does not diminish their own value.
It can enhance it.
The strongest partnerships are mutually beneficial. Everyone involved gains when the service works better, the client achieves its objectives and the relationship creates value over the long term.
The future is connected
The security challenges facing organisations are becoming more complex.
Technology is developing rapidly. Business priorities are changing. Expectations around cost, efficiency and measurable value continue to increase.
No single organisation can be the expert in everything.
Nor should it try to be.
The opportunity is to build an ecosystem of complementary expertise and create partnerships that make the whole greater than the sum of its parts.
For procurement and senior leadership teams, that means looking beyond the question of who supplies each service.
Look instead at how those services connect.
Are your providers sharing knowledge?
Are they challenging one another?
Are they exploring new technology?
Are they working towards your wider business objectives?
Are they bringing you ideas from outside their own area of expertise?
And, ultimately, are they helping you solve the problem you actually have, rather than simply providing more of the service they already sell?
At Frankton Group, we believe the most valuable security provider may not be the organisation that can do everything itself.
It may be the organisation that understands when to bring the right people together.
Because sometimes the most powerful thing a provider can offer is not another service.
It is a better partnership.
