new technologies have radically changed the private security sector. Scanning, artificial intelligence and the Internet of things today are an integral part of the business as much as the watchman in uniform with gun belt, and this is sure that the imminent arrival of mobile telephony, 5G will bring new mutations.

in order To adapt to the new times, to differentiate from the competition and open new avenues of income, Securitas Security Spain has embarked on a process of transformation —cultural change is continuous”, call in the company— which has as central axis the technology. “There are going to be our focus and our main investments in the next three years,” says Zechariah Erimias, the ceo of the company. “We are incorporating the new technologies in all our areas of business”.

The commitment acquired with the array a Swedish turnover to grow at a rate of two digits per year, as it has been doing in the past exercises. “We have diversified our business in Spain and this has led us to a growth very healthy,” explains Erimias.

In a conversation with THE COUNTRY where the headquarters of the company, located in the Ensanche de Vallecas (Madrid), the steering reveals their intention to merge in the coming years, the organic growth with new acquisitions. “We do not rule out the purchase of any technology company, security-related,” says Erimias, who recalls that Securitas has not made an acquisition since he took the reins of the company, in 2014.

the rapid transformation of the business gives an idea of the fact that the traditional surveillance, with agents on the ground, provided ten years ago 90% of the income of Securitas, and which now involves little more than 50%. Six of the ten major signs of the sector in Spain have failed in the past five years. To the front is a select and diverse group of four, formed by Eulen, Ilunion, Prosegur and Securitas, each with its own strategy.

Erimias (Avilés, 1963) explains that in the coming years, the growth of Securitas, is going to come from activities such as remote security, fire protection, or the analysis of video and audio. The artificial intelligence and the Internet of things are integrating in all lines of business, both in the traditional and in the new. The company offers its industrial customers, for example, the installation of sensors that allow to anticipate or to detect stops in the production lines. The transport sector provides systems to ensure the cold chain, tracking of the cargo during the entire route and to avoid robberies at the bus stops. Also covers special needs in hospitals, with devices that detect if a patient gets out of bed or if there is a window open in the room.

One of the main investments made by the company in recent years has been the creation of the Securitas Operation Center (SOC), which occupies an entire floor of the headquarters and employing 180 people. The center is open 24 hours a day, 365 days per year if necessary to address any incidence. From there you handle more than 43,000 alarms and 29.000 cameras spread all over the country and monitors the work of between 14,000 and 15,000 agents deployed on the ground. Each year we receive an average of five million notices, 99% of them without the need of intervention.

Three sectors concentrate the biggest part of the business of Securitas in Spain: the industry, the retail trade and banking. Erimias emphasizes that the company does not offer its customers product safety standard, but rather provides a personalized service, designed specifically for each company: “The threats that supports an industry or a trade are not the same as supporting their competitors, despite working in the same niche.

From 2018 Securitas has a department of innovation itself, in which works a team of 14 specialists with different profiles: mathematicians, engineers, designers... “Are people who are thinking of permanently in key technological and, therefore, are able to identify the new technologies that we can incorporate into our protection systems,” notes Erimias. The plan is for the department to grow in the coming years.

In the cultural change that lives the company occupies a central place in the training, which has allocated three million euros in the year 2019. “We are to the continuous search of talent”, pointing Erimias. The goal is to combine the promotion of people of the house, with the recruitment of people from other sectors with new capabilities. Holding the ceo that the added value of Securitas lies in a proper combination of technology and vigilantes face-to-face. The automation of the processes has not led to decrease in any template of the company, which has around 18,500 employees, 80% men and 20% women.

a Subsidiary of the giant Swedish

Securitas Security Spain is a 100% subsidiary of the Swedish group Securitas, which is listed in Stockholm. Founded in 1934, is the largest private security company in the world, with 370,000 employees in 59 countries and 150,000 customers. In 2018 a turnover of 9.900 million euros. The Spanish division, which is dedicated exclusively to security for companies and institutions, contributed 531 million to that figure and holds 17% of market share in Spain.

Securitas segregated on its 2006 business of security for individuals, Securitas Direct, and five years later sold it to the fund manager Bain Capital. You have the right to use the name and logo of Securitas, despite not having anything in common from the point of view of shareholder or operating. The private equity firm Hellman & Friedman acquired at Bain in 2015 a controlling stake in Securitas Direct.

Despite the changes that have occurred in recent years, Erimias believes in private security there is still an excess of supply skilled and complaint that some companies try to compete with low prices offered by dodging labor regulations. According to the employer's Aproser, the sector has in Spain to 1,500 businesses, 85% of them with less than 50 workers. Between all billed to 4,000 million euros in 2018, 5.52% more than the previous year.

In figures

50% . The business of the vigilacia traditional, which a decade ago accounted for 90% of the revenue, now only provides half of the turnover of Securitas.

more than 43,000. From the Securitas Operation Center the company manages more than 43,000 alarms and 29.000 cameras spread por throughout the country.

5.000.000. Each year, the company received five million warnings, but most of them do not require intervention.

531.000.000. The Spanish company contributed to the turnover of its parent company Swedish 531 million euros last year.

about 18,500. the template for The security group in Spain amounted to 18,500 employees, 80% of whom are men.