MSG Corporate Protection is just over one year old but is proving that it's here to stay. The claim of directors, Mike Cousins and Mark Bell, that it was just one month between the idea and the formation of MSG, belies the planning, consideration and sheer hard work that has been the backbone of the business.
Mike and Mark met whilst working in the security industry, but coincidentally share a military background. They were convinced that their experience could be put to good use. "One huge advantage of working for someone else is that you can observe both good management and mistakes from arm's length", says Mark. "We had watched and learnt and although we knew it wouldn't be easy, we were sure we could build a successful business". The third director, Don Cutmore, was a joint friend and golfing partner, who brought his financial and company secretarial skills to the venture.
It was Don who suggested that they seek advice from the Colchester Business Enterprise Agency. Mark enrolled on a Business Planning Course, which took place over a six-week period. "The course was helpful and stimulated lots of ideas but I never got to finish it because the business simply took off", explains Mark. Early efforts at mail-shots and follow up telephone calls paid dividends quicker than expected and the first few clients were soon on the books. "It was an exhausting time", remembers Managing Director, Mike Cousins. "Naturally, at that stage we had to do most of the work ourselves; our families hardly saw us and sleep became a real luxury!"
Rapid expansion allowed MSG to employ security officers and soon the company consisted of 10 people. Like any fast growing business, the directors found themselves with a raft of questions. COLBEA was the obvious solution: their business advisers helped MSG cope with employment legislation, health and safety issues and staff related matters. The directors have now enrolled on business training to extend their skills in areas such as Sage accountancy. "Our next requirement will be to employ someone who can take care of administrative and financial aspects such as payroll", says Don, "but we believe in multi-skilling a small workforce and hence we merge our job roles deliberately."
The company has a crystal-clear idea about how they want to develop, and makes no bones about the fact that the security industry has not always had the best possible reputation. New legislation is to be introduced in 2005, requiring all security companies and personnel to be licensed. Mike, Mark and Don welcome this initiative, commenting that the strict criteria contained within these regulations will pull up the security industry by its bootlaces! In the meantime, they know that there is a need to differentiate their business from the competition, and believe that the best way of doing this is through personal service and a professional attitude. They have strict controls over personnel and procedures, not only for reasons of staff safety but also in order that clients get value for money. They aim to achieve the ISO 9001 quality mark by mid 2004, and to join the British Security Industry Association as soon as they are eligible - which will be after two years of trading.
With clients as diverse as blue-chip corporations and local businesses, services need to be extensive. As well as guarding and security, MSG's corporate consultations provide advice on the security of staff, equipment and premises. Surveillance work can throw up nasty surprises and clients are often shocked to see evidence of what happens on or around company premises during non-working hours. "It's definitely a case of better the devil you know", explains Mike "and to date we haven't met a situation that we can't deal with". MSG also offers state-of-the-art home alarm systems: some of which provide 24 x 7 monitoring and emergency call facilities. Plans are being drawn up to establish a contract cleaning division - a move that would surely be a welcome amalgamation of security and facilities management.
