Certis keeps it together in a climate of constant change

Singapore

THERE are not that many corporate leaders in Singapore who have helmed a multinational company for close to 2 decades and counting.

Paul Chong - the president and group chief executive officer of Certis - is one of them, having joined the integrated security services provider as its founding CEO in 2004.

Since then, he has guided the Singapore-headquartered organisation through three major transformations.

In the middle of 2005, Certis went from a Ministry of Home Affairs statutory board with a monopoly over the private armed security industry to being incorporated as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Temasek Holdings.

The second big change took place from 2011 to 2016 as Certis invested heavily to ramp up its technology deployment capabilities.

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During this time, the company achieved many firsts - it introduced the practice of business process reengineering and operations (or what it terms BPRO) to help its customers manage rising security costs. It also deployed the country's largest CCTV network for the Singapore Police Force, with over 80,000 cameras islandwide.

Today, Certis is undergoing its third transformation to become a digital services provider, with its technology repertoire including various software solutions and platforms, robots, data analytics and artificial intelligence.

But as Chong recalled in those early days of Certis becoming a privatised entity, the company's very existence was at stake due to the transition.

"In such a change of market structure, economics predict that our business must shrink - as our 100 per cent market share as a monopoly can only go down in a fairly inelastic market," he said in a recent interview with The Business Times.

"We had less than a year to prepare ourselves to compete in a contestable market. Diversification was the only way to resist decline."

In the years that followed, he noted, Certis diversified into unarmed security, aviation security, as well as security technology, eventually growing from "the S$200 million monopoly in 2004 to a S$1.7 billion competitive business today".

But even a thriving operation and a strong balance sheet was not enough to protect Certis from the debilitating impact caused by the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.

The abrupt closure of the borders between Singapore and its closest neighbour Malaysia in March 2020 meant that scores of the company's security officers who were in Malaysia at that time could not return to work in Singapore.

The aviation sector - which contributed around S$300 million to Certis' overall group turnover before the pandemic - went into an almost complete hibernation due to lockdowns. Outside Singapore, Certis has operations in Australia, Hong Kong, Macau, China and Qatar.

But as some doors were shut on Certis, others quickly opened. In the early stages of the pandemic, the Singapore government mobilised Certis and its thousands of officers to help the nation's battle against the spread of the virus.

Many employees had to step outside of their comfort zones and take on new and different roles at short notice, such as enforcing safe distancing measures and movement restrictions, conducting temperature checks, issuing quarantine orders and protecting government quarantine facilities.

"We have been kept extremely busy as we support the government in its Covid-19 response. In a sense, that counterbalanced our business, and overall we have been shielded in some way," said Chong.

As he leads a 27,000-strong global team with 16,000 of them in Singapore, Chong pointed out that 2 of the biggest challenges that CEOs have to deal with today are rising wage costs and adopting digitalisation.

The security sector has had a progressive wage model (PWM) in place since 2016, with security agencies needing to meet PWM requirements in order to obtain or renew their licences.

Last Friday (Nov 12), it was announced from 2023, the baseline wages of security officers will progressively increase over 6 years. Basic monthly wages for the lowest ranking officers will more than double from S$1,650 in 2023 to S$3,530 by 2028.

"Many of our customers are facing cost pressures. In light of rising wages, the pressure for businesses to think of innovative ways to be more cost-efficient will work in our favour," said Chong.

"I hope this will cause many companies to rethink how they purchase security, facilities management and other services, and look for smarter ways to contain costs. It's not going to work if you cut corners and avoid paying people what they are due."

The former Singapore Armed Forces overseas scholar is a firm believer in the greater use of technology as a way to reduce the industry's traditionally heavy reliance on manpower, and that is one of the main ways in which Certis markets its numerous security solutions to its clients.

At Jewel Changi Airport, for instance, Certis has deployed a machine named Peter - an acronym for Patrol & Traffic Enforcement Robot - to patrol the main entrance to deter drivers from stopping their vehicles along the kerb for too long.

Peter is one of the many features of the Security+ solution that Certis has implemented at Jewel, with 12 different systems covering 5,000 sensors, over 200 mobile devices and 700 surveillance cameras.

At Paya Lebar Quarter, a robot named Oscar operates around the clock to detect and sound alerts whenever it comes across illegally-parked bicycles, fires and people smoking in non-designated areas, among others.

"We have more than a dozen robots deployed at various shopping malls and places of high traffic, to supplement the security guards," said Chong.

"One of our mantras is: it's not about building the robot, but rather it's about what you task the robot to do on its missions and how you integrate it as part of your workforce. There are so many tasks in the security business that can be done by robots today, and we are proud to be an early pioneer in doing this."