Integrated site security as a managed service: fully handled

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On an average project you can easily end up with four or five parties for security: a camera tower rental company, an installer for the fire detection, a provider for the SIM cards, a monitoring centre and someone to fix faults. When a camera fails at night, the ring-round begins. If you buy site security as a managed service, that is exactly what you want to hand over.

1What site security as a managed service involves

With a managed service you do not buy individual pieces of equipment, nor separate hours. You agree on an outcome: the site is secured, the systems work and alerts reach the right party. The supplier takes care of everything that requires, from design and installation to maintenance, connectivity and fixing faults.

The difference from renting lies in responsibility. If you rent a camera tower, you are responsible when it does not work. You only notice when you look at the footage, or worse, when something has happened. With a managed service, that responsibility lies with the supplier. They monitor the technology and step in before it affects you.

2Where it goes wrong with separate suppliers

Each supplier does its own part well, but nobody is responsible for the whole. You notice that at the moments that matter:

• Faults between systems: the camera works, but the SIM card does not. The provider points to the rental company, the rental company points to the provider.
• Changes in the project: construction moves to another part of the site. Three parties have to adjust something, at three different times.
• Invoices and contracts: each supplier has its own terms and rates. You only find out what security cost over the whole project afterwards.
• Accountability: after an incident you have to gather footage, alerts and logs from different systems.

Statistics Netherlands keeps figures on crime and damage affecting businesses on CBS Statline. What those figures do not show is how much damage occurs in the hours when a system was not working without anyone knowing.

3What belongs in a managed service

A complete managed service for a project site includes more than cameras. Think of camera surveillance, temporary fire protection, access control and the connectivity that makes it all work. Technical management is part of it too: someone who sees day and night whether the systems are running, and engineers who head out when something falters.

What is not included is just as important to know. The monitoring centre that responds to alerts can be your own or that of one of our regular partners. And a security officer who physically visits falls outside the technology. A good managed service makes those boundaries clear in advance, so you know who does what.

4An example from practice

Take a contractor building a residential area in three phases over two years. There are camera towers on the site, wireless fire detectors in the site cabins and a system at the entrance registering who comes in. Everything falls under one contract. If a tower goes down because an excavator hit the power cable, the supplier sees it and sends an engineer, without the site manager having to call. When the project moves to the next phase, the whole setup is relocated in one go. The project manager views live footage through the portal and receives alerts in an app.

5How Darwin delivers site security as a managed service

At Darwin, management is not an option but the starting point. You get one managed system with camera surveillance, fire protection, access control and connectivity where you need them, for one fixed project price. That price applies to a term of four months to ten years. If you want to scale up or down halfway through, we agree that separately. Rental, purchase, hire purchase or financing are all possible, and if you have your own fleet, we manage that technically and operationally as well.

We technically monitor more than 15,000 systems in the Netherlands through our own systems. Our own engineers install, relocate and repair. You follow alerts in Darwin Control, and follow-up lies with your own monitoring centre or that of our regular partner. You can read what management looks like in detail under Managed Operations. For the products themselves, see Darwin Solutions.

6Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between renting and a managed service?

When you rent, you are responsible if the equipment does not work. With a managed service, the supplier monitors the technology and fixes faults, so you can focus on the project.

Is physical security also covered by the managed service?

No. If you need a security officer, we put you in touch with one of our regular partners, who contracts and invoices you directly.

Can I also buy the equipment?

Yes. Darwin still manages the systems in that case. With us, your own fleet is always a managed fleet.