NCJ Number
173034
Journal
Security Management Volume: 41 Issue: 11 Dated: November 1997 Pages: 65-67
Date Published
1997
Length
3 pages
Annotation
This article describes how Aetna's corporate security won management's approval by concentrating on the customer.
Abstract
In 1994, the corporate security department at Aetna, Inc., in Hartford, Connecticut began to consider whether the company could save money by outsourcing its guard operation. Security managers considered what made the department different from a contract security provider. What so clearly set Aetna security apart was customer service, a targeted training program that made security a team player and provided value beyond the bottom line. Some of the customer-focused actions security integrated into its activities include: acknowledging people as they enter an officer's post area; installing building maps in all lobbies; adding officer names and the lobby phone numbers to building maps to direct customers in case they get lost; providing parking maps; calling people "customers"; placing a customer service window at the security control center; publishing a customer service tip every month in the security newsletter; and focusing on the positive changes security can make in the workplace.