Insider The internal newsletter for Niscayah people
March 2011
Access control for world’s largest STS cranes
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Sales
Innovation
Company
Events
Employees
Felixstowe Cranes Royal Shakespeare
Product Update
Strategy for Growth
Security Innovation Summit Total Security Summit
Fundraising
New systems for Port Felixstowe Developing access control for world’s largest STS cranes As part of its brief to develop secure access control to all of the controlled working areas at Port Felixstowe, Niscayah has been developing enhanced access-control systems for the Port’s new fleet of giant ship-to-shore cranes.
Editorial The two sales stories in this issue of ‘Insider’ show how our trademark design, management and operational support expertise can be applied to two very different but equally exciting projects. The first concerns Niscayah’s continuing partnership with Port Felixstowe and our groundbreaking work in developing access-control systems for some of the biggest cranes ever built. Our other main story is about our work in the refurbishment of one of the jewels in the UK tourism crown – the magnificent new Royal Shakespeare Theatre at Stratfordupon-Avon. Our ongoing drive for greater brand recognition is a theme which runs through much of this issue. As ‘insiders’ we know how successful Niscayah continues to be, but continued growth of our business depends on how it becomes known and recognised in circles that matter. Happy reading! Holly
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Niscayah has been working closely with the Port Felixstowe’s IT and Engineering departments to create a ‘bomb-proof’ secure access system for their new fleet of giant cranes. The recent Felixstowe South expansion means that the port can now accommodate the largest container ships in the world. Key to operation of the new port facilities are 7 new gantry cranes, 5 of which are already in place. Built by Zhenhua Port Machinery Company of Shanghai and transported in one piece, these are the largest ship-to-shore cranes ever built. Each is capable of lifting two containers simultaneously, up to a total of 70 tonnes, 45 metres above the quay, with a reach of 60 metres across the docked vessel (equal to 24 rows of containers). Niscayah’s main challenges have been to develop a system which will: • Provide a picture of who is on the crane at any one time • Restrict access to the crane by unauthorised personnel • Ensure access is to licensed controllers or engineers only Turnstile system to eliminate false alarms Retrofitting of turnstiles at the base of the cranes will create a ‘one man on, one man off’ scenario, eliminating alarms triggered through doors being forced or left open. With this system in place, the only time an alarm will sound is when an actual breach occurs. Towards an automated control system Also under development is an automated access control system. The current
system of access control involves keyfobs which are carried by staff and hung on a peg board. Automating this element will eliminate ‘human error’ risks (staff leaving tags behind, tags coming off), and provide a much more accurate record of who is on the machine at any one time. The new system involves an access control reader, with the name of the person approaching the crane via the base gate automatically appearing on a screen whenever they use their card. A signal emitted from the card does the work of releasing locks, opening turnstiles and enabling the crane. The system is built around the tried, trusted and highly flexible Paycom - the IP based technology used in the banking sector over the past 20 years. Where we are now? At the moment, Port Felixstowe Engineering is involved in assessing the turnstiles. Portside is a decidedly harsh environment for electronics, but if the new system comes through the trialling and proves itself to be a workable solution, it is envisaged that it will be rolled out across the entire fleet of cranes at Port Felixstowe.
Sales
Taking our bow at the Royal Shakespeare Prestigious Stratford project successfully completed Niscayah has just completed a year-long project providing major security installations for Stratford-upon-Avon’s newly refurbished Royal Shakespeare Company’s theatre complex, probably the most famous drama space in the world. This newly renovated building, in its beautiful setting on the River Avon, is destined to become an even more important UK tourist landmark. Commenting on our involvement in this prestigious project, System Sales Consultant Ben Morley said: “This has been an excellent project for Niscayah. And we can be justly proud of winning the tender against three of our biggest competitors.”
look. According to Rab Bennetts of Bennetts Associates, (the company in charge of the redevelopment) it was “a hostile building that turned its back on the town.” The transformation means that the theatre company now has a luxurious 1030-seat auditorium, with the distance of the furthest seat from the stage reduced from 27 to 15 metres.
The £112.8m theatre revamp, involving a complete makeover of the existing theatre, has come in on time, and on budget.
There is also a new rooftop café and restaurant as well as improved backstage conditions for actors and enhanced disabled access. (Not to mention 28 extra - and much-needed – ladies’ loos!)
The previous theatre, re-built in 1932 after the original was destroyed by fire, had become known to locals as ‘the jam factory’ because of its drab, industrial
The main theatre and the smaller thruststage Swan theatre were open to the public from November 2010 for visits and one-off events and with full-scale
performances which started in February 2011. The space itself is over 5 levels, with the main area around about the size of a football pitch. Niscayah has been responsible for the provision of access control, intruder alarms as well as a state-of-the-art CCTV system, all overseen by a dedicated project manager on site for the duration of the project. The access-control part of the proposal included the protection of all entrances into the building, and all backstage areas to be used by actors and crew members. There are 15 access control doors in all, and 100 IDS (intrusion-detection) devices. The enhanced communication requirement involved installation of a new intercom system to provide a link back to a security control room. The 20-camera CCTV system provides instant alerts at the first indication of trouble and will ensure substantial reduction of the risk of theft, vandalism and crime against people.
Although our work on The Royal Shakespeare Theatre is now finished, Ben Morley indicated that there is a possibility for continued involvement at the site: “As sub-contractors we could well become involved with some areas of maintenance in the future.”
The internal newsletter for Niscayah people
March 2011
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Innovation
Access Card verification for Lloyds Banking Group Innovative solution solves regional issue Our last issue brought you news about our work in implementing the new one-card system for easy employee access between Lloyds and HBOS sites. The brief was to provide frontline security defence to maintain the barrier between public/reception areas and staff/secure areas, complementing the manned guarding maintained at these locations. As you may recall, the system that we developed involved the issuing of new LBG corporate access control cards to 125,000 staff, allowing for efficient access to some or all of Group’s 350 corporate buildings. Problems verifying visiting staff Although this system had been working well for staff permanently based at one location, the fact that it was regionallybased made things harder for staff who ‘hot-desk’, or who were visiting from another location. LBG staff visiting a location that their card did not give them access rights to, had to approach reception and seek a visitor card. This presented problems for reception staff who had no easy way to verify whether or not the visitor’s access card still existed within the LBG database.
Lateral thinking There was no quick way of knowing for example, if the person presenting their card may have been sacked by the bank just a few days beforehand. This was a problem requiring an innovative solution and a degree of lateral thinking. Chris Patrick, Niscayah Head of Technology and Products, recalls the processes involved in developing a solution: “When Lloyds approached us with this problem, there was no existing product out there that we could turn to, so we combined a number of technologies to create a new mobile system.” Mobile connection This new system makes verification of access cards a simple process. LBG reception staff take a visitor’s access card and pass it over a mobile device. If the card is within the database, the host notifies the mobile device, which displays a validation message. Every weekday, the mobile device automatically connects to a central host server and is updated from the ‘valid card’ database. “Now”, says Chris Patrick “all the visitors from another region needs to do is flash their badge on the device. It tells you instantly if you’re still employed by the company, you’re issued your temporary pass, and off you go.”
Conversely, if the card is blocked, reception staff can take appropriate action. A few more technical details Our central verification server located in the Peterborough security control room communicates to mobile devices located within the reception areas of certain corporate buildings. This verification server has no connecting to the LBG WAN (or any internal network within the control room), but it is connected to an external public-facing SDSL connection. The application takes data and creates SDF files for overnight downloading by the remote devices. Subsequent information presented by these devices includes a graphic to show the card validity.
Mobile iClass Reader
GPRS Gateway SDSL
Verification Server
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Strategy for Growth is about focusing on and caring for our customers global business information system to streamline and improve core operational processes across all areas of the business. The system was developed especially for Niscayah worldwide and went live in the UK on 1 November 2010.
It’s about becoming more professional in the way we work. It’s also about openness to learn from colleagues in your country and in other Niscayah countries. And last but not least – to build a performance culture where we go that extra mile to perform! The Strategy for growth programme includes three cornerstones; 1. Focus on Customer Segments 2. Solution Packaging 3. Common Operational Model We have already started to drive these initiatives here in the UK and will be continuing this in the coming months.
Company
Strategy for Growth
Central to our Strategy for Growth is a drive to simplify and standardise our ways of working. NiBis (Niscayah Business Information System) is a brand new
NiBis is driven from the Group’s global headquarters in Stockholm and the UK will be the third country to implement it, after Finland and Denmark. It will eventually operate in all of our countries. The strategy for growth programme is a long-term strategic plan which will focus in the coming years on different areas, enabling us to grow as a strong competitor in the security market. For more information on Strategy for Growth please visit the intranet. https://intra.systems.local/uk/ Strategy-for-Growth/
National Accounts Sales Team Niscayah are pleased to announce the formation of a Commercial National Accounts Sales team with Niscayah UK aiming to make a major move into the Retail & Chains security market. At present, Niscayah brand recognition is low within this market but the formation of this team shows a commitment to change this situation. For years Niscayah UK has been renowned for specialising in providing electronic security within the banking sector. With this in mind it made perfect sense to replicate the proven processes in place and apply them to other multisite organisations that sit outside of banking. The Commercial Sales department has recently achieved success gaining SM & SO contracts with large chains such as Argos, Sally Salons and Heineken, whilst retaining contracts with the likes of Footlocker and Northgate. The team are confident of further success in the near future with negotiations nearing conclusion with several other major chains. The aim now is to expand on this success and become one of the leading integrators in this market.
The internal newsletter for Niscayah people
The National Accounts team consists of the following people: Mike Ennis National Accounts Sales Manager Ben Morley National Accounts Manager Steve Oakley National Accounts Manager Donna Mackay National Accounts Manager Simon Warburton National Accounts Manager Catherine Edge National Accounts Coordinator
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Further bulletins will be circulated as the team develops their contract base, giving individual account detail and responsibilities. The National Accounts team do exactly as they say on the tin, specialising in any companies that are classified as multisite organisations that are not already covered by the banking team. This is predominantly in retail at the moment but they are not limited to this, other areas being targeted include petrol stations, transport & logistics, telecommunications, etc. Please feel free to contact members of the team with any queries relating to their roles or to pass on any information that you feel will help them in the months ahead.
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Events
Our first ever Security Innovation Summit wows prospective customers
‘thank you’ to all of the exhibitors, partners and sponsors who supported the event – and who continue to support our work.
The latest innovative security technologies were on full show at Niscayah’s new Security Innovation Summit, held at London’s Royal Airforce Museum, Hendon on Thursday 3 February 2011. The event showed Niscayah as a true integrator, providing us with an excellent platform to demonstrate how we exceed our end-users’ expectations, with complete solutions encompassing the latest in security innovation and technologies, from access control to video analytics systems. The event ended with dinner and a live thermal imaging demonstration from FLIR, showcasing some of the technology that has already been deployed at Stansted Airport.
The next security Summit will take place on 21st and 22nd March at Radisson Blu Hotel, Stansted.
Commenting on the success of the event, Lee Halliday, Business Development Director said: “We believe that it is imperative for our suppliers to have a good understanding of each other and the solutions that they provide. We actively encourage them to collaborate so that the end user can be provided with a highly innovative and informed solution; the event proved to be successful in doing this.” Niscayah would like to say a special
High profile High Street brands meet Niscayah BRC Exhibition brings important retail contacts National Marketing Manager Holly Westerman reports on some excellent outcomes from Niscayah’s attendance at the British Retail Consortium exhibition. Themed ‘Crime and Loss Prevention’, this conference focused on the increasingly tough security challenges facing retail managers in times of pressurised customer and government spending. Over 200 delegates were in attendance, including directors and security managers from high profile brands such as Marks & Spencer, John Lewis, Orange, The Body Shop and Comet. Key topics under discussion were: ‘Managing with less: Security in today’s climate; The Digital Revolution; Countering Terrorism and Emerging Crime
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B R I T I S H R E TA I L C O N S O R T I U M for
successful
Trends. As one of only 10 exhibitors at the conference, we were able to establish several valuable contacts, some of whom are now speaking to us about their security needs. Valuable as the new leads are, it is in the ongoing development of brand awareness that we derive the biggest benefit from being present at these events. Holly Westerman commented: “Directors of many large retail brands now know who we are, and what we can offer them.” Holly also emphasised the power of conference events in helping to nurture
and
responsible
retailing
strategic relationships: “Face-to-face networking in the conference breakout sessions can be much more effective than advertising in helping to grow important new relationships.” In discussing how to use these events to grow brand awareness, Holly pointed to the need for thorough preparatory work, well before the actual event takes place: “Growing brand awareness is a gradual process, but next year we will obtain a mailing list of participants and establish contact beforehand, so that more delegates will know and recognise us at the event.”
Events
Positive outcomes from Total Security Summits Helping to grow our brand awareness Niscayah’s attendance at the Total Security Summits is proving to be beneficial for the business in several important ways. Organised by Securitas, these twiceyearly ‘meet-the-buyer’ style events present attendees with the opportunity to make direct contact with around 20 targeted suppliers and customers in the security industry. Much of the activity at these events takes place in 30-minute ‘speed-dating’ style time slots where directors and senior managers get together oneon-one to explore mutually beneficial opportunities. Niscayah National Account Manager Steve Oakley who attended September’s
summit, felt that this was an excellently organised event which has brought some useful prospects for the business to follow up on. Although this is pleasing in itself, Steve sees even greater value in the longer term benefits of our presence at the Total Security Summits, in particular the opportunity to build awareness of the Niscayah brand: “This wasn’t an event where we could sign up red-hot leads straightaway, but that doesn’t matter. We are always working hard to develop brand awareness
in the right circles. Our attendance at these summits will do much to help that process.” Also helping this process is the fact that a completely new range of businesses is invited to each Total Security Summit, thus guaranteeing a different target audience each time. The most recent Total Security Summit took place on 20-21 September 2010 at The Park Inn, Heathrow.
Big night out at security industry ‘Oscars’ Glittering awards night helps us set the sights Niscayah was well-represented at the security industry’s biggest night out – the 12th annual Security Excellence Awards held on 21 October at the London Hilton on Park Lane. It also provides the security industry with its single biggest networking opportunity. Niscayah’s attendance was in tandem with Securitas, so we were delighted to see them emerge winners in the ‘Security Guarding Company of the Year’ category.
This black-tie event, sponsored by Securitas, organised by United Business Media and hosted by Security Management Today Online and info4security, is staged each year to highlight “the very best people, projects and processes the UK security industry has to offer”.
The internal newsletter for Niscayah people
The glittering night started with a predinner drinks reception at 7 followed by dinner at 7.45 in the Grand Ball Room. And as befits a high-profile networking gathering, the event was a superb social occasion, with the highest calibre food and wines, as well as some lively entertainment. Awards were made in a total of 17 categories, and although our business was not successful in either of our
March 2011
nominations, there is a greater chance for success next year. National Marketing Manager Holly Westerman said: “Attending these awards has served to sharpen our focus, and we now have until April 6 to work on our entries for the 2011 awards.” “The most appropriate award for us to win: ‘Large Security Installer of the Year’. This award is well within our grasp if we start preparing right now. So let’s get into that positive frame of mind - put the champagne on ice and watch this space!
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Employees
20 years loyal service – a milestone to celebrate Our warmest congratulations to these four colleagues who have achieved the distinction of 20 years with the company.
Bill Barnard
Syd Heals
Scott King
Lee Nippress
joined: 1st November 1990
joined: 5th November 1990
joined: 28th November 1990
joined: 3rd September 1990
Help for your fundraising efforts Do you have a charity or fundraising event you would like us to promote and help raise money for? Do let us know and we will do our bit to assist. Fundraising experiences already shared by employees include: • Dave Thomas and his Harley Davidson ride for ‘Help for Heroes’ • The 100-mile cycle ride to help Action Medical Research • Daniel Mann’s trek across the Andes for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation So if you are doing something worthwhile for your favourite cause, please email me with any relevant info, or any details that you have. I will gladly add them for you, to help you with your ongoing fundraising efforts. Holly holly.westerman@niscayah.co.uk
Have your say... This is your newsletter, so please tell us what you want to see. And remember, we’re always on the lookout for interesting contributions. You can send your ideas to: holly.westerman.co.uk Tel: (0)20 8553 5932 Mob: 07833 050830
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Niscayah Limited, Roding House, 970 Romford Road, London E12 5LP Tel: +44 (0)20 8553 5932 Fax: +44(0) 8478 8052