Month: September 2020

Crises have a way of reminding us of the essential nature of some of the services in society – such as private security. Our Government has publicly recognised private security as essential services, but the COVID-19 situation also exacerbated the challenges that the private security industry has been facing for many years. Now is the time for urgent relief to struggling businesses. But one can also draw the first lessons learned – beyond COVID-19, the essential character of private security must be recognised in public procurement practices and the ‘security continuum.’ While the country went into lockdown and brought public and economic life to a standstill, Central Association of Private Security Industry (CAPSI ) was calling for its sector to be recognised as essential services. This gave access to special ‘rights’ such as free movement of workers or access to join duties. Failing such recognition, many warned, would mean that the growing demand for private security services to ensure the protection of critical infrastructures, warehouses and supply chains, supermarkets and hospitals could not be dealt with. Well-deserved recognition of the security sector: Private security a essential service Thanks to the excellent work of State Chapters of CAPSI that almost all members – including private security companies and workers received the recognition they deserved for joining the frontline in the fight against the Coronavirus. CAPSI launched a social media campaign seeking public appreciation for security guards who are working in the most hostile health conditions. The campaign was well received – people started treating security guards with respect, and that raised the morale of security guards and supervisors. Corporate security managers are recognising them publicly for the rendition of their good services. The impact was so strong that a majority of security guards didn’t abandon their posts even under great family pressure during mass reverse migration from major cities to their villages. Their performance not only helped the police forces in the day-to-day protection of people and property. They also helped in the protection of supermarkets, hospitals, health centres, and other services. With their support, the police also helped control/ stop the spread of the virus. There cannot be a security continuum without pro-active engagement of public authorities, public-private partnerships in joint matters of interest, and public procurement of security services that is based on value, and not on low costs only. This has been a problem since the past decades when new threats posed challenges to public security, and it is a problem that weighs even heavier in times of crisis. Private security companies are not provided with the financial, human, and administrative tools to properly respond to the exceptional demand for the protection of critical assets at a time when security is key factor. On the brighter side, the outstanding engagement of the sector including its businesses and workers, is still reported on by many media. Private security guards working under tough circumstances in hospitals, gated colonies, vital infrastructures, business establishments, supermarkets, and supply chains are recognised as everyday heroes, as many articles in popular newspapers and social media platforms highlight. Further, private security continues to stay sideby-side to those who save lives in the healthcare sector and in hospitals all over the country. Most are unseen, a few receive specific attention.   Economic challenges Still, many challenges remain – the most urgent one being for many companies to pay their workers and guarantee sufficient cash flow. Business activities during COVID-19 in many service segments have come to a complete standstill such as tourism, retail, entertainment, hospitality and event security. While the EU and member states have massively vamped up their financial support structures to companies, many still fear the economic consequences of this crisis – which are diverse. The way forward So, while private security continues to protect the functioning of hospitals, industries, supply chains, malls etc., across the country, our sector and many companies will be hit hard by the crisis. It is important that these companies now receive the financial and social support they require. Their services will be needed again once this crisis is over. It is therefore equally important that the Indian economy succeeds in restarting quickly once the health crisis is under control. Lessons must be learned, and consequences faced. CAPSI and its members will monitor with utmost attention that companies and workers receive financial and social aid, and that the economic crisis does not exacerbate the existing problem of low-cost focused procurement of private security services. Mostly commercial buyers unilaterally suspended the payment of invoices, extended payment terms, and forced service providers to lower rates in order to find solutions for their own decline in turnover – a very bad omen for what’s to come. Such practices damage the sustainable functioning of our essential services tremendously and stand in contrast to the role private security plays in managing the COVID-19 situation. Best value procurement is key for the sector to ensure economic growth and fair wages, and to overcome challenges in finding urgently required, skilled, labour to provide quality services. The recognition of private security as essential services cannot be switched on or off according to the situation. It is time for the MHA to finally see the sector for what it is – an important source of high-quality security services, which is always there to protect businesses, supply chains, and citizens, and which must, therefore, be supported by public authorities through public-private cooperation and best value procurement that respects important quality criteria. Security is a basic human need and right. Private security is not a service like the others. The industry has shown that it was always there to protect people, assets, and infrastructure. CAPSI thinks it is time the Government gives the private security sector the statute, recognition and support it deserves.  

The Indian Security Industry recently showcased its talents and exceptional accomplishments on a global platform during the presentation of the 2020 India OSPAs which took place virtually on Saturday, 8 August 2020. As a part of an online Thought Leadership Summit, OSPAs was organised in association with BW Businessworld, and BW Securityworld & SecurityLinkIndia as the Media Partners. OSPA winners were selected by an esteemed panel of industry figures, through their respective industry associations, who judged entries using the standard criteria applied across the world, in every country where OSPAs conducts the awards. Each winner demonstrated that it has performed at an extraordinary level and has shown its commitment and outstanding performance within the security sector. On the occasion, Rajiv Mathur, Regional Advisor for Asia, and the man behind getting OSPAs into India said, “OSPAs were established in UK and had the first event in Norway in 2015 and now has come to India. In my opinion and if you see the mirror image of this journey as on date, it is not only that OSPAs have come to India, instead, it is the Indian Security Industry which has now gone global. It is the outstanding performances of our security professionals which has taken the world stage. It is the deeds and heroics of Fellow Security Professionals which are being showcased now in several countries and will be talked about for many weeks to come. We have winners in each category, but I think it is India, it is Indian Security Industry who is a winner and I am proud of it; I am proud to be a part of this festival.” The OSPAs is a global awards scheme created to reward companies and individuals across the security sector. They are based on strict ethical principles with a transparent process to create a level playing field. Judges are nominated by the security associations. The aim is to produce truly credible winners and to then celebrate their success. The OSPAs evolved from extensive research. Professor Martin Gill, founder of the OSPAs and his team undertook a research project with the aim of finding out what distinguishes those who are excellent in matters of security from those who are just average. And it was that process of saying “Let’s find out who is outstanding, and let’s find out why that’s the case,” which shaped the OSPAs and helped produce a set of criteria by which nominations are assessed. In the security world it is difficult to show that you do a good job. Some say cynically that when a security professional reduces crime, the response isn’t “Well done,” the response is “We don’t need you anymore.” Security is often under appreciated – the role is not understood and success is not celebrated, and understanding why people are doing a good job in security is crucial as it’s important to recognise what they are doing that makes them good. This is why OSPAs give so much weight to the judging process and criteria. We aim to make the judging panel representative of the whole security sector by asking each of the major security associations to nominate a judge. All judges follow a strict code of conduct and mark all entries independently against the criteria set out in the category requirements. The aim is to select finalists and winners in a way that reflects the OSPAs core values: to be independent, credible, transparent and respectable. At the moment the OSPAs operate in 13 countries, with more to be announced. The idea is that in due course by winning in a category in your own country you go into a global awards programme. Already we’re finding that there’s a lot of prestige to winning, and I think going forward this will be more so the case. But ultimately what’s most important to me is that in every country we recognise that there’s a big difference between ‘outstanding’ as opposed to ‘good’, and the consequences of being outstanding are dramatic for the end user. The India OSPAs will return for a second edition in 2021. The organisers and BW Securityworld look forward to holding the event physically next year.  

Installing a surveillance solution that offers a clear view over a large area can require multiple cameras, extensive cabling, licenses, management – and the cost soon adds up. But through the latest AI-powered fisheye cameras, organizations can capture a broad field of view in a single discreet package – and gain a wealth of business insight in the process. Cutting-edge fisheye cameras: The all-seeing eyes that offer a wealth of functionality Getting clear surveillance over a large area – such as a warehouse, a grocery store or a parking lot – isn’t always the simplest task, and it typically calls for multiple cameras and cabling to be installed at a variety of locations, in order to cover all fields of view. To tackle these challenges, many organizations are choosing to install cutting-edge fisheye cameras. These innovative, all-seeing eyes can deliver up to a 360 degree view of their surroundings. Fisheye cameras work by using a panoramic lens to capture the view of multiple cameras in one single device. If positioned on the wall, they offer a 180 degree view, and when on the ceiling, they offer a 360 degree coverage of the floor below – with no blind spots. However, the most advanced fisheye cameras on the market don’t stop there. Through ‘dewarping’ software, users can choose to re-render a fisheye image into different formats, so that the camera behaves just like a virtual PTZ. AI-based solution for security and business insight I n this way, a single fisheye camera is a very efficient and cost-effective way to achieve high quality surveillance of a large or complex area. What’s more, the latest cameras with built-in heat mapping and people counting offer incredible insight for companies whose business thrives on sales. For example, store managers can use heat mapping to identify how people move through the shop floor, and arrange products in the optimal place to attract them. Later, heat map data can be compared with sales figures, for further insight into the effectiveness of the marketing strategy. At museums and entertainment facilities, people counting data and customer flow information may come handy for safety teams and marketing teams, which need to better understand how they can protect and serve their customers. And of course, one single fisheye camera is typically far more unobtrusive than a full suite of surveillance cameras, making them ideal for locations where aesthetics matter, or where surveillance profile needs to be low Prama Hikvision: Top-of-the-range fisheye cameras with market-leading extras Prama Hikvision fisheye cameras are among the most sophisticated on the market today. Featuring top-of-therange immervision lenses, they deliver a wider angle of view, less distortion, and sharper, and more detailed images than many other cameras on the market, which results in more natural images once they have been de-warped. What’s more, the in-built deep-learning-based AI applications such as heat mapping, intersection flow analysis, and people counting, empower users with a wealth of data for business analysis, reporting, and smarter decision-making.  

Due to mounting concerns over public health and safety, InfoComm India 2020 is cancelled. InfoComm India 2020, originally scheduled from 2-4 September 2020 and then moved to 19-21 November 2020, is a premier professional audio-visual (Pro-AV) and integrated experience technology exhibition which has been held annually in India since 2013. In its place, the event organizer will be hosting InfoComm India 2020 GoVIRTUAL, a virtual 3-day exhibition and conference which will take place from 18-20 November 2020. The GoVIRTUAL event will comprise conferences, industry forums, case study presentations, technology spotlight presentations and networking sessions. On the virtual event, Richard Tan, Executive Director of the event’s organizer InfoCommAsia said, “We are mindful of the valuable role that InfoComm India has played over the last eight years, as a nexus for business and knowledge exchange. “This role is especially important now given the speed and scale of digital transformation which is taking place in India, and GoVIRTUAL, which is accessible 24/7, for free, from anywhere in the world will ensure its continuity.” Mr Tan also added, “InfoComm India has developed over the years to be more than just an exhibition. India’s AV community has made it a place where they all congregate, network, collaborate and renew friendships. “It saddens us to have to make this difficult but necessary decision to cancel the in-person show this year for the first time since 2013. With travel restrictions and health concerns, we would not have been able to ensure an enjoyable and productive experience for our exhibitors and visitors, which has always been the case. With health and safety as our first priority, it is incumbent upon us as organizers to make the right decision for all our stakeholders.” The team has earmarked the next InfoComm India event to take place from 15-17 September 2021 at the Bombay Exhibition Center. Organizer Event Manager A Project of InfoComm Asia Pte. Ltd. extends its influence through three marquee shows: InfoComm Southeast Asia, Beijing InfoComm China and InfoComm India. Each show comprises an exhibition that showcases the world’s most cutting-edge and in-demand inventions, and a summit that presents learning opportunities. Bringing together industry players and top-level decision-makers from across all industries, the shows enable industry players to tap into the vast potential presented by the professional audio-visual and integrated experience technology markets of each country and region.  

A thought leader and an action catalyzer rolled into one – Anil Puri is a rare combination of a visionary, and one who has mastered the art of strategic and tactical thinking to the core. He has been using this combination to seed new ideas and to lead them to their implementation on ground. This has been a consistent feature of his career. He has been keenly watching the widespread disruption caused by COVID 19 across the board in all contours of the industry. The spontaneous and immediate impact was on the organizations, HR & employees. Leadership roles have seen curative changes in HR which are already transforming the role of the HR and will be more prominently seen even in post COVID 19 period. In this series on HR roles, here he attempts to de-cypher and unfold the inevitable. INTRODUCTION COVID-19 has not just changed the world but also changed the DNA of our HR functions & workplace ecosystem in many ways. Our HR leaders must change as well, so as to lead effectively in this COVID induced stressed time. If this pandemic experience has taught us anything, it’s just that leadership matters. For many organizations facing decidedly fragile futures, it may matter more than ever as the country tries to emerge from forced hibernation and rebuild a broken economy. Throughout this tragedy, amidst various contradictory and conflicting view-points; we are witness to certain leadership traits and approaches that have made the difference between life and death. Similarly, our organizations will require distinct leadership traits to restore and revive stressed and flailing supply chains, product lines, and even entire industries. Just as things were looking up for global economies, COVID-19 struck and started disrupting human routine, lifestyle, businesses and the global economy. The overall economic impact of the pandemic will overshadow operations for years to come. Yet, in so much of chaos, one aspect that stood out was the ability of HR leaders across the globe to hold all ends together and fix gaps quickly to ensure continuity of their businesses. Since mid-February 2020, ‘This is Our Moment’ unequivocally and rightfully so because this crisis put the HR function in the radar of importance, visibility, and influence. HR functions have become the most sought-after for their ability to control the damage. They come up with contingency plans, and then control the endless complexity of people management – all this while keeping the spirit of the organization and togetherness intact. Amongst all the drastic changes, the biggest efforts have gone into the immediate shift to ‘work from home.’ All organizations, big or small, relied heavily on their HR and IT teams to ensure the well being of their people while they deliver on business-critical processes from home. Pre Covid Leadership. This has been discussed threadbare in my previous article in the HR series and needs no amplification at the cost of space, hence the same is being dropped. LEADERSHIP DURING COVID 19 When COVID started to spread rapidly, crisis response became the top priority for HR. The CEOs, CIOs, CHROs of the big multi-national organizations agree that their HR team’s crisis response was successful to an extent in addressing three important aspects – communication, remote work, and prompt reporting. Also, efficient reporting capabilities using emails, SMS, internal and external social media and internet have allowed the companies to pivot to meet critical needs as productivity and absenteeism shifted unpredictably. Taking it a step further, secure and remote-friendly tools made employees’ lives easier and their work more productive as they work from home. We can’t be sure of when COVID 19 will be erased by the vaccines which are still in the different stages of trials in labs globally. Hence we are in an unchartered paradigm… space where ‘surviving against odds’ is the new norm. The salient features of the behavioral shift noted in the employee concern fell into four important areas; mainly physical health and well being, remote work, issues related to jobs and work continuity, an urgent need for mental health, resilience, family support, and dealing with uncertainty. Hence, HR organizations must expand the support they provide to employees. (a) Mental Health will come to the fore – due to increasing appreciation of its importance. (b) Employees will get more comfortable with technology – they will expand their comfort, capability and confidence with all-things tech. (c) Relationship with teammates will improve – due to virtual conversations that include repartee about family life, culinary skills, home workouts, the fun antics of kids and more. (d) Happiness and life – importance of family while WFH. (e) Diversity will be seen in new light-as employees bring their best to work – through inclusive design, new policies and practices, and new approaches to teamwork that support different ways of working. (f) Work will become more flexible – teams are figuring out how to collaborate at a distance and leaders are improving their ability to manage based on outcomes and objectives rather than presence. (g) Workspace will get neater – fumigation, social distancing, disinfecting, pest control, hand sanitizers, clean floors etc., will become more significant. (h) Your company’s approach will change as the ability to respond promptly will have a positive effect on the workforce of tomorrow. (i) Innovation will flourish as today’s struggles and pain are forcing new ways of thinking, better approaches, and fresh perspectives on problems. (j) Career opportunities – people will need people for their brand. POST COVID MANDATE In a short time frame of six to eight months, it may be difficult to predict with absolute clarity as to how the future will shape up but certain tenets of work stand out which may well turn out to be the pillars of strength for the leaders in the HR. I have shortlisted few of them which are likely to influence working of the HR in most pronounced way: Candor. My definition of candor is honesty without ambiguity. While honesty has always been an important leadership trait, this moment…