Providing security and stability

AS A security agency, APRO-Asian Protection prides itself on providing security and stability to its clients and its employees. The family business, which passed into deputy managing director Li Xiaowen's care in 2015, strives to strike a balance in serving all its stakeholders.

Li said: "It all comes down to our business ethic, I think. How we think about the success of our business is much more than just extracting maximum profits for the shareholders."

APRO was first incepted in 1985 as a partnership between a British and a Swedish company. Li's father, who served as its general manager in its early years, was offered the opportunity to acquire the 51 per cent majority stake when the British player wanted to exit the business.

"It was kind of a difficult decision because the company was doing poorly," Li said. "My parents made a decision, on the basis of their belief in the business, that it was possible to turn its fortunes around."

Two years later, the company had managed to turn things around, he said.

In the subsequent years, APRO's remaining shares would change hands before Li's father acquired them in 2008 to wholly own the company.

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But Li credits early years working with its first Swedish partner for APRO's "progressive practices" that remain today, many years after its departure.

The early exposure to the Scandinavian country's progressive practices in service delivery and employment meant that over time, APRO has moulded itself into one of the more progressive companies in Singapore when it comes to employee and human resource practices, said Li.

"And that's something that we continue to push pretty hard on."

The security industry in Singapore dictates wages for employees based on a progressive wage model (PWM), where wages are tied to rank structure, which is in turn informed by the training and tenure of security officers.

However, APRO strives to maintain a 20 to 30 per cent premium over the minimum prescribed wages.

"Before PWM wages were made mandatory, we felt that being able to pay a higher wage really provided our employees with the ability to have a decent living," said Li.

At present, when the labour supply continues to be tight, its generous salary provides the security firm with a competitive edge.

Li admitted that sustaining "good living wages" for its 1,500 employees can be challenging, as they carry over to the price of its security services, which may cost 10 to 20 per cent more than those of its competitors.

But APRO demands high standards of its employees and is able to value-add for its clients, Li said.

In an industry with a high turnover rate, he believes that APRO's salaries and career pathways have allowed it to attract and retain high-performing employees, who provide stability in security operations.

Its security officers stay with the company for an average of four to five years, and most of its middle management team have climbed up the ranks over an average of 15 years, he said.

"There is a continuity of knowledge," Li said. "There's familiarity with the scope of work that needs to be carried out."

APRO also runs subsidiaries that provide security training and security systems integration. Through its security systems integration arm, the company has also been able to augment its security services.

For example, where a premise may previously have been secured only by locks during non-peak periods, cameras can now be deployed. This allows security officers to remotely monitor sites from APRO's headquarters, with artificial intelligence technology to detect unusual activity such as intrusion attempts, improving security outcomes with minimal cost implications.

APRO works with clients ranging from embassies to manufacturers. While implementation of technology may be limited by specific clients' security needs and corporate policies, Li attributes much of APRO's recent growth to a reconsideration of traditional, manpower-centric security operating models.

He said: "We have been fortunate to ride the recent wave of industry transformation in the security industry... By incorporating technology elements and intelligent process redesign, APRO is able to moderate client security costs while continuing to ensure security outcomes."

APRO has grown rapidly over the years, with Li reporting an annual revenue of approximately S$40 million in 2018, which had jumped to about S$70 million in 2020. This year, he predicts that the annual revenue will increase to about S$80 million.

But Li said that this doesn't translate to making fat cats of its shareholders. APRO targets to achieve a 5 to 8 per cent operating profit on net revenue, which he feels is "fair and equitable" to all stakeholders, including shareholders, employees and clients.

"If we are making outsized profits, that means I am either overcharging my customer, or I'm underpaying my guards," he said. "That's not how we want to do our business."