Sr. Enterprise Account Executive 
Ask any security service provider about their top concerns. Chances are that labor will be high on their list of priorities. Gartner expects 6.4 billion products to be connected in 2016, which means a staggering amount of devices and systems vulnerable to potential security threats. So ensuring the proper security infrastructure for clients while also optimizing operating costs—especially between contracts—is fundamental to the success and health of the business.
However, with almost half of businesses using on-demand labor for more than a year at a time, it’s clear that a contingent model of engaging a workforce is here to stay. Our 2016 Corporate On-Demand Talent Report found that almost 9 out of 10 companies are deploying scalable talent networks in some way.
What does this mean for you? With thousands of companies employing workers from a non-traditional model—workers with high-demand and valuable skills—you have to develop a strong strategy for incorporating a contingent model into your workforce. That also means adopting an on-demand workforce that can scale with the number of security contracts and the size of your client base.
Here are the top three strategies for using a scalable workforce to improve the quality of your security services, lower labor costs, and embrace a leaner operating model.
1. Ensure Licenses
Embracing an on-demand labor model means inviting independent contractors whom you may not work with repeatedly. As with any employee, you need to verify these contractors and make sure they are trained and certified on your security systems. For CCTV and other security technology, this means ensuring proper licenses and certificates.
To easily and efficiently scale your workforce, you need access to a talent network whose members are pre-vetted, with their licenses readily available to download. Not vetting your contractors leaves your client open to serious risks from malfunctioning cameras to systems breakdowns, and can significantly hurt your reputation.
2. Perform Drug and Background Checks
Does your independent contractor have a criminal record? That’s a highly-relevant concern for someone who will be representing you to your client. With some independent contractors provided by third parties, you have to rely on others to vet qualified professionals for you—if they vet them at all—and usually at a premium, since background checks aren’t free.
Instead, build your own scalable talent network of qualified and vetted professionals. Look for cloud-based, full-service freelance management platforms that allow contractors to perform their own background check at no cost to you, and have the results easily accessible to download and view yourself.
Reliability is just as important as a clean criminal record for someone servicing your clients’ alarm systems. But just as with background checks, drug tests are an additional cost to you and one your contractor may not provide. You can easily avoid this expense with your own trusted talent pool, where you can require applicants to take a drug test before joining.
3. Verify Certifications and Insurance
In today’s technologically competitive landscape, you need to provide security services to protect your clients both physically and technologically. You need to keep the wrong people out not only from the building, but also from your client’s sensitive data. Services like cybersecurity and data encryption are highly specialized, and in many cases, contractors are required to have certifications like CompTIA Security+ and ISSEP to work on these projects.
With your own on-demand talent network, you can rest assured that your independent contractors have the certifications and insurance you need to protect not only your clients’ security, but your own business and livelihood. You can simply specify your requirements, and the system will locate, vet, and onboard your skilled contractor for you.
Address these issues by using a robust, end-to-end freelance management platform that lets you find and manage your own trusted network of qualified and verified independent security service professionals. Through such a platform, you can scale your pool of contractors depending on the size of the contract and your staffing needs.
You can also drastically optimize your labor costs by avoiding certain administrative expenses such as insurance, benefits, and travel, and improve your first call resolutions by knowing exactly who is responding to client sites and representing your company.
Download WorkMarket’s latest 2016 report to learn more about the vibrant on-demand economy, or feel free to contact me directly to learn more about how we can help you implement these on-demand security strategies to save on labor and overhead costs.
