Analysis of NYC Security Zone Corporation - Essay Example

SWOT Analysis of NYC Security Zone Corporation The NYC Security Zone Corporation is a privately owned security company delivering of the art security solutions to every environment they serve in, ranging from organizational to commercial spheres. The company employees a lot of well trained and ethnically diversified security agents who are certified from departments like the US Department of Labor and the New York State Department of State Division. Such accreditations add more to the company’s reputation alongside causing an increase in company’s credibility. This paper deals with a SWOT analysis on the NYC Security Zone Corporation. A SWOT analysis as it name suggest, consists of determining the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threat related factors to a company. It needs to be understood at this level that strengths and weaknesses are internal factors of the organization whereas opportunities and threats cover a wide array of external factors. Strengths consist of features of the business which give it an edge over other businesses in the same industry. One of the very strengths of the company lies in the employment background of the people it hires. The guards hired by the security agency are usually retired law enforcement agency officers and those who do not have such a background usually have been associated with the field of security and surveillance in the past. Another major factor which I believe adds to the company’s strengths is the communication skills of the guards it employees. The entire workforce is given special lessons on how to deal with their clients and other people they might have to face while they’re at work. Lack of courtesy and consideration is one thing that people often associate with security guards and law enforcement officials. However, the NYC Security Zone Corporation pays strict attention to their employees’ behavior and communication skills while they’re at work. Most of the guards are also taught how to communicate in Spanish (besides English of course) so that it becomes easy for them to communicate with people of different nature and backgrounds. Another feature which adds to strength of the company is that it maintains an entire record of the background of its employees. All the security guards are licensed to carry out their work by the New York State Department of State Licensing Division. This adds to the credibility of the company as almost everyone knows how detailed a background check is done by the Licensing Division before issuing a security guard license. Another factor which adds to the credibility of the company is the fact that the entire lot of security personnel working for the company has been finger printed by the New York State and has no prior criminal history. A final factor which should be discussed under the heading of strengths is the qualification of the guards the company hires. Whereas others employers in the security agency business do not pay much heed to the educational background of their security guards, the NYC Security Zone Corporation lays a lot of emphasis on it. All the security guards hired by the company either hold an 8 hour training certificate or a 16 hours one. Where such certifications aren’t already held by a person applying work as a security personnel, the Security Zone Corporation helps by supplying the needed information for either of the 8 or 16 hour training certification. After discussing the strengths of the company, it’s time to move on to its weaknesses. A weakness consists of features which put an organization at a disadvantageous position when compared with its competitors. After exploring the company’s website in great detail, it was observed that even though company does provide security guard solutions, it doesn’t deal with high end weapons and advanced security solutions. After 9/11 the security needs of the country have increased multifold and extra care needs to be taken by security companies while securing their client. As compared to the past now security companies have to invest in high end solutions as terrorism has reached a new high in the recent times. Bomb detection and disposal is one such category in which NYC Security Zone Corporation neither has much expertise nor does it have the necessary equipment. Whereas other security providers in the country have bomb detection and disposal solutions, Security Zone has yet to come into this area. A second important weakness which can be associated with NYC Security Zone Corporation is in the way it operates. It is a security agency but its management consists of people without any security related background. Almost all other top security firms in New York feature retired officers from the CIA and top military organizations in their hierarchy. Doing so definitely gives an edge to our competitive firms. Having security related personally, maybe ex-military personal would not only add to the company’s functionality but would bring in new and effective counter insurgency techniques into play to the benefit of its clients. NYC Security should pay attention to this point and try inducting ex-military and security personal into its hierarchy. After discussing internal factors effecting the organization, it’s now time to move on to the external factors facing the organization, namely the opportunities available to an organization and the threat it faces. Opportunities are external factors which make it possible to increase the sales and profit margins of an organization. Organizations must capitalize on available opportunities to get the best out of their business. There are many opportunities available to the NYC Security Zone Corporation to cash upon. Each of them is discussed below. To start off, the recent times have witnessed a growing demand for private security solutions. Demand for products like Taser guns, pepper sprays, electric bras, stun guns has increased multifold owing to increased awareness regarding self-defense products. Currently, there aren’t really many security firms who are providing such solutions in the United States. However, the few that are dealing in such them are making super normal profits as they hardly have any competitors to get into a price war. NYC Security Zone Corporation should look into this opportunity and think of capitalizing on it. According to the business website www.businessopportunity.com, the investment required for starting production of the above mentioned products ranges between $4,900 and $29,900. Yet another opportunity available to firms in the security industry is investment in the automatic security devices. In recent times biometric security systems and walk through security gates have taken over the purposes of gatekeepers and security guards. Companies like NYC Security Zone Corporation provide security guards for events, offices and other purposes. With invent of biometric systems, there is hardly a need for security guards to stand by at the gate and check the identification of people coming in. This all can be done by the help of biometrically activated gates. Now all what needs to be done is whenever an employee comes, he will be given entrance on the basis of his eye identification or finger prints. Prior to main entrance, he will have to go through a walk though gate to make sure nothing dangerous is being carried by him. Many security companies have recently invested in biometric systems and walk through security gates. There is a great demand for these products as companies take step to enhance their security. After discussing the first three variables of the SWOT analysis, it’s now time we move onto the fourth and final one, namely threats. Threats relate to elements in the external environment which can be detrimental to an organization’s existence. There are only two major threats that are faced by NYC Security Zone Corporation. First is a general industry threat while second is a company specific threat. The general industry threat faced by NYC Security is that there is the possibility of a bill being passed in the US Senate that could call for disbarments of US Security companies. There is a rumor going on that such a bill might be presented by senators from Virginia anytime soon. However, there hasn’t been any confirmation about this report so far. The second threat faced by NYC Security Zone Corporation is that there have recently been some large scale take overs in the security industry where large security providers have taken over smaller ones in a bid to rule the security provision market. NYC Security itself is not really a big sized enterprise to it needs to take care of the possibility of takeovers. Read More