Ramesh Iyer, vice chairman & CEO, TOPSGRUP India says that 10 per cent of his company’s revenue is spent on training programmes. Edited excerpts of a chat with BW:
On fulfilling internal security needsInternal security scenario is rapidly changing with miscreants using newer ways to disrupt law and order both in a physical world as well as in digital environment. The measures required to curb such actions are highly dynamic and complex. TOPSGRUP has always stayed a step ahead in learning and implementing such services in India with utmost effectiveness. Our bouquet of services include manned guarding (physical security), electronic security, investigations, emergency response, alarm monitoring, facility management, training and security consultancy.
On targetsEmploying more than 1,00,000, operating out of 130 branches catering to more than 9,000 reputed clients, TOPSGRUP has a pedigree of 46 years. It is well poised to attain its vision of becoming a $1 billion conglomerate by 2019.
On modern equipmentThe usage of equipment is vital in today’s scenario but striking a right balance of man and machine is important. As innovators we use the latest electronics wherever required for effective coverage. The usual equipment in daily use are metal detectors, door frames, bag scanning machines, CCTV setup and infra-red guns, etc. Then we have more specific machines like boom barriers, vehicle x-rays, facial recognition platforms, alarm monitoring and command centres. Any holistic security setup has around 30 per cent equipment share which includes one-time setup machines and software platforms followed by individual portable/handheld equipment. Budgetary spend on equipment is a functionality of total budget allotted by the client for ramping up their security coverage and it is around 20-25 per cent of the overall budget.
On trainingWe take the training of our employees very seriously, and implemented various development schemes to train our personnel in many aspects of the business, from administration to man-guarding. We give refresher training course every three months to our guards.We follow three stages of training. First, during recruitment and selection comprises of basic self-defense, crowd management, securing and evacuating the premise and crisis handling. In the second stage we give OTJ (on the job) training which are more specific to deployment, and in the third, comes refresher trainings. We also follow stringent selection criteria with special focus on any previous self-defence knowledge. We target spending 10 per cent of revenue towards training programmes.
On cyber threatsCyber security in India is the sole responsibility of the police and yet to be privatised. We however have the capability to meet cyber security needs. Although we do not offer any of the cyber security specific services for above reasons we believe that comprehensive security coverage also plays a role in data security management. We serve large portion of clients from IT/ITES industry where data/identity theft are main concerns. In our experience preventive techniques work best to avoid such cases, i.e. stringent background checks of every employee.
suman@businessworld.in
BW Reporters
Suman K Jha was the deputy editor with BW Businessworld
