Security Guard Tour System

Think You Know What Your Guards Are Doing? Think Again!

lp@guarnic.com.ar — Thu, 09 Feb 2017 13:29:20 +0000

Securing any kind of properties can cost quite a bit of money. Once you realize that the cheapest 24-hour security guard post costs $7,500 per month, it quickly becomes obvious that you need a reliable way to monitor your guards. That’s a lot of money to pay someone who sleeps on the job or spends time playing mobile games. Unfortunately, there are a lot of barriers that stand between you and excellent security.

Guard Tour Systems Don’t Work

Traditional guard systems always depend on a middle man. The person in charge of getting the data and delivering reports is usually the same person responsible for how the guards comply with the routes. No wonder all reports are always perfect! These legacy guard patrol systems are also a headache to maintain since it takes at least 5 steps and physical presence to get the information out of it, who can blame someone for copy-pasting reports that have to be sent on a daily basis. Our guard tour system eliminates the middleman and takes away all the troubles of building reports and retrieving the data by automatizing route assignment, compliance alerts and report sending.

Relying on People to Monitor Each Other

Some companies try to improve guard activity by having other guards report on each other or even sending a supervisor. As you can imagine, not only is this practice extremely expensive (now our sleeping guard is costing the time of another person) but also ineffective. How many times per day can you send someone? Can you imagine a guard telling on another guard? As soon as the guard is alone again you can bet everything will go back to how it was in no time. In combination with our guard tour system, we allow task assignment and completion so your guards receive automatic tasks to comply with. This will keep all personnel active and busy while you relax and receive a compliance summary at the end of the shift.

Misuse of Resources

Auditing guard performance can reveal flaws in your security patrol system. Unfortunately, performance audits cost a lot of money. Even if an audit discovers an issue with your security, it doesn’t solve the problem. Audits also provide an incomplete picture of how well your guard tour system works. You can make some changes, but the system’s flaws return within a few months. No matter what you do, employees will break the rules when they have a chance. Pointing your security cameras at guards can give you some insight into how well they perform, but you get limited results. Instead of using the cameras to monitor your property, you have to waste the resource checking the work of guards. It’s a double expense that doesn’t make sense for most companies. Also, some states have laws that prevent you from monitoring guards with security cameras.

Solve All These Issues Right Now

Guarnic offers a better solution with mobile guard tour software that gives you a complete overview of your security team. Give your security a boost today with very little investment.

5 Key Aspects to Look for in a Guard Tour System

lp@guarnic.com.ar — Wed, 04 Jan 2017 19:12:47 +0000

One question that regularly troubles business owners and security company executives is whether the guards they have paid for or assigned for duty are actually working or sleeping on the job. Business owners, property owners and even home owners want to make sure that they are getting exceptional value for their hard-earned money. They also want a reliable system that will keep them updated in real time; this is where guard tour systems come in. A guard tour system or a guard patrol system is a software designed to automate the process of securing a property or an event. Since there is a myriad of different types of guard tour systems available on the market, the following is a simple checklist that you can use to sift the wheat from the chaff when choosing the best security guard tour system:

1. Simplicity

One of the key indicators you should be looking for in a security system is its simplicity and intuitiveness at the moment of use. While some software systems remove the paperwork involved in securing a property or an event, there are different systems that may be more trouble than they are worth. The guard tour system needs to be easy to understand by the guards and their supervisors. One of the simplest systems in the market is the one offered by Guarnic; just by looking at the main page you can see how easy it is to use it.

2. Real time access

Ideally, any security system should be able to respond to threats or issues immediately. A guard tour system designed to aid in this should be able to capture information and send it to guards and supervisors in real time, eliminating the delay that is inherited when using radio devices to communicate from one station to the next. As a manager or property owner, you should be able to see from the system if all the guards have completed their checkpoints and to see how many guards have checked in and where they have checked in. Amongst the companies offering security guard tour systems is Guarnic which offers a solution to manage guard check-ins, progress and alerts to surveillance; all in real time!

3. Reliability

All security systems should be able to work offline and be immune from attacks by third parties. You are looking for software that can give you detailed information on pending check-ins, inactive checkpoints and GPS locations of each guard on your property. You are also looking for a guard patrol system that cannot be manipulated by officers and will give you accurate information on how well each officer on your team is performing their duties. Guarnic’s system works amazingly offline making sure that all checkpoints marked will be sent as soon as connectivity is restored and since everything is recorded in the online logs in real time, the information cannot be tempered by the guards.

4. Added Value

A guard tour system by itself is important but for the same price having event reporting with images, a mobile panic button app, task assignment, timesheet management and many other features integrated in the same solution is a huge plus. Guarnic will provide these and many other features in a single integrated platform that will add value in multiple aspects of physical security management for the same price!.

5. Affordability

The system’s provider should offer a free-trial period so you can get used to the program and its benefits, in this way you will know exactly if that security guard system is the right for your necessities. The company offering this solution should be flexible so that you only pay for what you use in safe-guarding your property. Guarnic’s guard tour system gives you a 14-day free trial version with no obligations required from your end meaning that you will not have to provide your credit card information for the free trial version. The price per guard device is $10 per month, the panic button option is an additional $1 a month per person and there is a White Label option, for only $100 this option lets you distribute your brand on their product platform.

I've seen enough! How do I start?

Start a 14 day free trial. No credit card or commitment requiered.

Start Free Trial

5 Problems With Most Guard Tour Systems

lp@guarnic.com.ar — Mon, 14 Nov 2016 19:23:45 +0000

Guard tour software has revolutionised security management. These systems monitor security guards as they pass checkpoints — specific locations along a patrol route that are electronically verified by the software– so you can optimise your security operations. Not all guard tour programs are the same, however. Here are five problems associated with most guard tour systems on the market.

1. The Guard Tour System Lacks Transparency

Avoid systems that lack transparency. Old-style guard systems involve manual data collection, something that could result in a conflict of interest if a senior member of security staff builds reports for his or her boss. Good guard tour software, on the other hand, collects a range of accurate data about security staff, including when they start and end their shifts and when they perform patrol tours. All this information can be reviewed and verified by logging into the software, providing you with better insights into your security operations and their effectiveness.

2. The System Doesn’t Provide Real-Time Information

Some security guard equipment only provides you with data once a security guard’s shift has come to an end. To enhance your security operations, you need real-time data that tells you whether guards have passed specific checkpoints on a patrol route. This way, you can immediately contact security staff to find out why a route has not been checked.

Some programs will send you a notification — either by text or email — if a route has not been patrolled or if checkpoints have been missed. Real-time data also lets you respond to an emergency. If a security guard doesn’t complete a route, for example, it could signify a problem. Good guard tour systems protect security personnel — who are more likely to be fatally injured at work than employees in other jobs — by providing them with panic buttons.

3. The System Provides No Real Value

A guard tour system collects and displays data for patrol tours carried out within a specific period of time. However, not all software provides real value. Some programs have limited functionality, for example, or lack the features that will keep your customers and clients safe.

For a more comprehensive guard tour solution, you need an application that streamlines security patrol management. Look for software that lets you create events and assign tasks to security staff. The best applications improve guard response times as well: Sophisticated guard tour tools send you an automated text message if a guard turns up at a security checkpoint late so you can respond to the situation immediately.

4. The System Is Too Complicated

Guard tour software is meant to simplify security management. However, some tools are just too complicated to use. Programs might be difficult to set up or unable to respond to commands properly; sometimes, patrol routes need to be entered manually every time the application is used. You need a platform that executes guard tours without causing too much stress. Software should be easy to use and reduce all the manual administrative tasks that are normally associated with security management, such as filling out paper log books.

5. The System Doesn’t Segment Data

Choose a guard tour system that tracks each of your guard’s movements instead of a group of employees as a whole. This makes it easy to identify staff that perform duties in the quickest time frame and adhere to your guard tour schedule. Data for each member of staff should be centralised in one system so you can monitor each employee’s actions in one place.

It’s important to do your research before you invest in a guard tour tool. Inferior products lack transparency, provide no real value and lack real-time insights into your security operations. Other applications are just too complicated to use. Choosing the right software can increase the performance of security staff and make them more accountable.