Security for Fun and Profit

 by Steve Cooper

New government regulations need compliance. A new generation of outdoor enthusiasts demands a higher level of convenience and customer service. New approaches in facility construction and outfitting offer opportunity or challenge, depending on your business point of view. Somewhere, amidst all the considerations facing you as a business owner, consider how your security plan helps in your effort to run your marina for fun and profit.

Use security for the sake of security and your peace of mind. Make sure your risk management plan includes a healthy dose of security measures as assurance for your underwriters, lenders, and investors. Improve your day-to-day operations and overhead budget with reliable, efficient automated systems for access control and surveillance. As competition increases, use security features as a differentiating factor and smart marketing.

As your business grows, as new regulations take effect, as enthusiasts invest in more expensive equipment left in your care, and as those hobbyists become more sophisticated in shopping for services, the pressure is on you to respond to the need. Take a business approach to evaluating your need to change your ways and the how you can invest intelligently to meet the market’s demands.

A systematic approach will help you sort out the avenues open to you for improvements and the decisions you need to make. First, based on your experience, or what you learn from others, consider the likelihood that some threat will harm an asset or individual on your property. Second, determine the steps you can take to reduce the risk and minimize the results from any intrusion for any intended harmful purpose.

It’s as easy as 1,2,3, but it will take a little time and effort to think it through and write out your thoughts. 1- Do a risk assessment; 2 - do a vulnerability evaluation; and 3 – decide which threats are critical and the vulnerabilities you can cover. You may want to consult with your local law enforcement officials, bring in a management consultant who has specific experience, or call on the expertise of a professional in the security business.

With or without outside help, Step Number One is to do a thorough risk assessment. Safety and security go hand-in-hand. You already know what your business is worth and what might result from fire or natural disaster, and you have insurance and a plan in place to protect yourself. How about your reputation, what is it worth? If someone’s new boat walked off your lot, or even if someone’s new boat motor disappeared, what would that mean to the owner and the negative word-of-mouth influence that might spread in the community?

Inside theft, outside theft, vandalism, and even casual damage from the usual traffic on and off the property can be harmful to your business. No matter how much you remind your tenants of their responsibility to protect their own property and provide boat security checklists, more boat owners are expecting your assistance in keeping their property secure. What effect is that having on your business as you grow?

What about the new regulations in many areas of the country; how will that affect your business? The Maritime Transportation Security Act of 2002 (MTSA 2002), signed on November 25, 2002, by President Bush, is a landmark piece of legislation that is designed to protect the nation’s ports and waterways from a terrorist attack. On July 1, 2003, the U.S. Coast Guard published new maritime security regulations that implement significant portions of the MTSA 2002 and that require sectors of the maritime industry to complete security assessments, develop security plans, and implement security measures and procedures.

The U.S. Coast Guard and various trade associations and organizations have struggled to get the word out, but it is your responsibility to know how those regulations affect you. Some operators will be required to file formal security plans with authorities. But, even if you don’t fit under those requirements, it is not a bad idea to see how a systematic approach to measuring the risks for your business can help you.

Each marina and service facility is unique. As Step Number Two, take a walk around your facility with a digital camera and think like a thief. Measure your weaknesses in perimeter security, access to the property, and lax attitudes in your staff and operations that can be exploited by someone determined to cause harm through theft, vandalism or rules violation. Use the camera to create a record of your thoughts and use the reminders as you write a plan.

More and more people are taking to the water. Anywhere you find more people, you have a threat of more unwanted incidents. That can bring you more need to fence and protect yourself from the neighbors. Yacht clubs and urban centers have had the need for years, but industry changes may require even more measures. A lakeside marina in Arizona more than doubles its capacity from 75 slips to accommodate 158 boats. The owner says, “I used to be able to keep up with everybody coming and going. I can’t do it now. And, besides that, I’m tired of having to swing the gate open every morning and then lock it up at night. I’m investing in automatic gates that give me a PC record of who’s on site.”

A yacht club on the Chicago River is bringing a multi-story dry stack storage building on line later this year. In planning, they realized it will change their traffic flow significantly. “With that much more storage, “says the Operations Manager, “We need to make sure only the people who need to have access can get into the building and to the loading area.” They are adding three code-controlled automatic gates.

With the tight quarters in the bustling harbor at Annapolis, MD, a marina owner has just secured a new piece of property across the street that will be dedicated to both short-term and long-term tenant parking. A security company has been hired to provide gated security that fully integrates with the dockside pier gates. “We’ll have a complete record of who’s coming and who’s going, which will help us in case we do have an incident, and it may even help us serve our customers better through our marketing program,” says the owner.

Once you see your facility with a fresh view, you will be able to list those areas where an improvement is in order. Controlling access, improving sight lines from the marina office, upgrading lighting, enhancing video surveillance with new CCTV systems, and other answers will become obvious to you.

Now comes Step Number Three, your assessment of how critical each threat can be to your business. The major ones are obvious. If the government is imposing change on you, you have no choice. But some of the threats are more subtle, things your customers and prospects notice that will make or break your ability to sign up leases and retain customers. Complete your list of threats. Put a business value on the each suspected vulnerability you spotted in your photos. The exercise will lead you step-by-step to the best business answers for your operation.

Security experts speak about “hardening the target.” Thieves and others bent on harmful activities can be deterred rather easily. Take away their access. Fences, automatic gates, and access systems that require specific pre-registration will prevent all casual negative activity. Take away their ability to be sneaky. Intrusion alarms alert you or authorities to unwanted guests. Take away their cover from darkness. More light will deter crime. In some cases, lighting systems tied to intrusion alarm systems can flood areas when suspicious activity is alerted. You get the effect without full lighting levels chewing up overhead constantly.

A large variety of security solutions with a wide range of costs will help you solve the problems you identify in your risk assessment. Manufacturers that specialize in facility security can provide options from the simple to the highly complex integrated systems. Security and Access Control companies can provide the local expertise in planning, installing, and servicing the systems you need to meet your goals in security and risk management.

A comprehensive approach will include your consideration of intrusion alarms, automated access control, tailored video surveillance systems, and even on-site communications through integrated intercoms and sound systems. With your list of critical threats in hand, go shopping for the systems that meet your most critical needs first.

Start with your office. Are your business assets protected by adequate locks, motion sensing alarms, and smoke detectors? Do you have strong policies and checks and balances about who can handle the monies and how they account for it? Is your retail area under surveillance by personnel, or cameras, or both? Do you have regulations and enforcement that protect your repair facility from unauthorized personnel? Consider the outside threats. Do you have adequate fencing to keep unwanted guests from wandering through the property? Do you have code-operated automatic gates for parking and storage areas to help you control access and to help you collect delinquent rents? Do you have “eye-in-the-sky” cameras keeping watch over the general activities throughout the facility? Do you have cameras placed strategically to show who is entering the various areas of the facility? Does the surveillance system give you quick review and image download capabilities in case you do have an incident? Is the video surveillance system Internet-ready so that you or your monitoring center can see camera views from virtually anywhere in the world?

Location, location, location—if you have a corner on the best bend in the river, you’ll be more successful in your business. If you don’t command prime property on the lake, anything you can do to help make your facility stand out will bring you more business. People like the warm fuzzy they get when they feel their property is being better protected. Improvements in your security system may be your ticket to more successful marketing. Basic business management practice says you must measure your strengths, weaknesses, threats, and opportunities. Fortunately, an opportunity is frequently found hiding on the flip side of the threat. Each step you take in improving the security levels in your facility will pay a dividend. Your appeal to prospects increases while your peace of mind grows even as your facility grows. Integrated systems give you methods that will bring efficiencies to parts of your operation. Experience has proven to many owners that the profit opportunity expands along with a higher level of customer service.

Use the systematic approach to think through your business one more time. You’ll find the best way to meet the imposition of new regulations and help your customers understand how they can be more vigilant citizens themselves. You will determine the ways you can improve your business practices that give you the biggest bang for your buck. You will find that better security systems will bring you the benefit of better word-of-mouth influence, and that is the best marketing you can get.

As the end result of your analysis of the threats and your implementation of smarter security systems, you may find that you are indeed closer to the reality of running your business for more fun and more profit.

Steve Cooper consults on possibilities as part of the Sales and Marketing Team at Digitech International, Inc., providing World Class Access Control and Security Solutions for a variety of applications including specialties in school security and in serving the self-storage industry.