How City Group Security growth has benefitted from SmartTask operationally and strategically

Managing rapid business growth with SmartTask

City Group Security has enjoyed exponential growth in the last six years as a result of exceptional management, applying strong business values and investing in technology and systems to support its operations. Cara Clarke, Group Commercial Director of City Group Security, discusses how SmartTask workforce management software has been a key factor in helping the business both strategically and operationally to achieve its success.

City Group Security (CGS) is a dynamic and professional Facilities Management company, specialising in providing security and cleaning services. Our security services range from bespoke security officer services, fire wardens and waking watch to mobile services and our own K9 Patrol Dog Handling arm. We also provide cleaning services and have a commitment to providing new and eco-friendly products as part of our ongoing efforts to reduce our environmental impact.

Since being founded in 1993, we have grown to have several thousand staff, working across the different areas of the business. This growth has been both organic as well as through acquisition, having merged four companies in the last six years.

We believe that our success has been founded on operating with a culture of excellence, respect and inclusion that is shared by all staff, employees – and our partners. We pride ourselves on working to the highest standards and hold many industry accreditations that demonstrate this including, IA ACS (Approved Contractor Scheme), NSI Gold (National Security Inspectorate), and SafeContractor FPA (Fire Protection Association). As well as investing in training and industry standards, we have always worked with partner companies like SmartTask that align with our business values.

Flexibility has supported rapid growth

Throughout our rapid growth we have used SmartTask workforce management software to support our business, both strategically and operationally. The business benefits that we have gained from using SmartTask have helped us to deliver our services to customers and make informed business decisions along the way.

In 2018 the business had a £9 million turnover, since then we have taken on three new companies. The flexibility of SmartTask’s software has been a significant factor in helping us manage the business through the complex challenges that rapid expansion brings. Throughout this journey, we've been using SmartTask software to manage daily operations, changing the way that we work with it to support different requirements as they emerge.

We successfully merged each new business gradually, using SmartTask to maintain separate customer portals and logos for invoices, while keeping an overall management view. With everyone using the same system we had data on each of the businesses for informed decision making and avoided silos of data. It helped us seamlessly manage the change and customer experience along the way.

We have recently taken on a new company, Business Watch, in the same way, which will be merged into the main business by the 1st of November this year, tripling our size to £36 million turnover. That is truly rapid growth that without the right business systems would have been a very different and challenging proposition.

Having comprehensive systems in place supported our diversification into cleaning contracts. Using SmartTask we were able to adapt the workforce management processes and provide cleaning services alongside our guarding contracts. We use the software to manage shifts for our cleaning operatives and can deliver the same attention to detail to services for which we were already known in the security industry.

Aligning with our core values

As well as supporting our business operations, SmartTask has played an important role in our customer service relationships. As a company we place importance on honesty and trust in our business dealings. SmartTask’s accurate real-time data and customer portal means that we can be completely transparent and keep customers fully informed of services delivered.

Customers can ‘self-serve’ reports without the need to contact anyone from the office, from anywhere and at any time, giving total flexibility. Automated alerts also mean that our managers (and clients) can be notified immediately of incidents to enable quick decisions or actions on a particular site, helping save time and money.

Tracking where officers or operatives are, or how long they spend on site, and providing detailed reports help to build client trust. Automating the capture of attendance data helps reduce the likelihood of errors and ensures that payroll is processed accurately, benefitting our staff. In addition, integrated payroll and billing significantly reduces queries and issues that can arise with manual reconciliation of attendance hours with customer invoices.

Improved efficiencies and business insights

As we have scaled up, many of the features that SmartTask offers have helped us to gain more efficiencies in the business. Its advanced rostering capabilities allow us to schedule shifts precisely, taking into account staff availability, client requirements, and location-specific needs.

We also have what we call the Active Screen used by our control room 24 hours a day, seven days a week, where we can view people that are late booking on and off shifts or late doing patrols. It enables us to effectively manage the shifts, make sure that the tasks are being completed and ensure lone worker safety and wellbeing, important factors to us and inherent in our values.

The ease with which detailed assignment instructions and rosters can be sent to officers, or shifts to cleaning operatives, makes life easier for staff. They can view their schedules, receive real-time updates and it gives them control over their work schedules, increasing job satisfaction.

Supporting the business operationally and strategically

There is no doubt that we rely on SmartTask as a key business tool to deliver our daily operations, from the control rooms to each individual employee receiving instructions. The powerful reporting options within the software give us complete visibility of the business that also provide us with so much more.

The comprehensive analytics enable us to track key performance indicators and identify trends to really make informed decisions. For instance, we can analyse patterns in shift attendance, identify areas where overtime is consistently required, or assess the impact of different rostering strategies on operational efficiency.

Working through the data in this way, helps us to ensure that we maintain standards and monitor the profitability of each location. We can also create more accurate forecasts that enhance our strategic planning.

A partnership approach focused on innovation

SmartTask has been a pivotal factor in helping us manage our business growth over the last few years. However, it is not just the software that has delivered the results. At CSG we genuinely value the strong partnerships that we have with our suppliers. It helps to provide us with the technical know-how and innovations that enable our colleagues to provide our exceptional services. 

Working with SmartTask is an example of this. They continue to keep abreast of the evolving  security industry issues, gathering feedback from users like ourselves to innovate and develop the software. This diligence to product development, combined with updates being published every 6-8 weeks, ensures that the software supports both security (and cleaning) companies to balance the complex requirements of delivering excellent client services, meeting compliance and ensuring profitability.