MD of Corps Monitoring discusses values and monitoring capabilities

International Security Journal speaks with Andrea Strong, Managing Director, Corps Monitoring.

How would you define your leadership strategy?

My leadership strategy has not changed in the last 20 years or so.

I’m really transparent, democratic and inclusive.

I like to empower teams and I don’t micromanage by any stretch of the imagination, but instead fully support decision making.

I’m very much a leader by example and don’t expect others to do something that I’m not prepared to do myself. I believe that I challenge the status quo and I like to do that with a positive approach.

We have to always develop personally, and as a business, and I have had been described as being positively disruptive.

I’m very much for continuous improvement because I think it’s the only way of moving forward.

What are your plans for the development of Corps’ alarm receiving centre?

I’ve inherited an excellent team.

They are second to none and the experience and knowledge that we have within the team is such a positive.

I think it’s more about enhancing our security offering with technology that will enhance and complement our guarding business.

In addition to providing solutions that help customers with environmental compliance, I am eager to drive the monitoring and technology solution to support the vision to be the security company of choice.

A security company that has an in-house monitoring facility is usually the best kept secret both internally and externally.

Part of my role is to expose the monitoring ARC to both internal and external stakeholders to demonstrate the capabilities that it has to deliver.

We have an NSI Gold accredited ARC and we should be shouting that from the rooftops.

How much of your vision if focussed on protecting people?

I think people are the biggest asset for any business and I think that we should always be looking to protect them in every way possible.

I think there’s a lot of internal and external opportunities for people protection; we need to look at how we protect and support them.

Technology can help protect our people, so why would we put someone in a vulnerable situation when there is a solution that can take that risk away?

People protection all comes back to risk. If there’s a risk then we should always be looking at an alternative, be that a protection device or a monitored solution.

It all comes down to technology.

What makes Corps stand out in such a competitive market?

We are the only security company with a real social value.

We live by the values of People, Planet Purpose and these are at the heart of everything we do.

From the people we work with through to the people we employ and the planet that we want to protect.

I think the drive to become a full living wage organisation is refreshing and it’s about doing the right thing in line with our status as a Certified Social Enterprise Business.

Another thing we are proud of is our proactive drive and aspiration for net zero emissions.

We had our annual company conference recently and there was a lot of great discussion around what we can do as a business and with our customers.

We also make sure that we champion veterans and commit to supporting charities such as Combat Stress.

Our Values have been with us for nearly 165 years: Loyalty, Integrity, Service.

This really does run through the business and through everybody that I’ve spoken to.

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