SJA hears exclusively from Jeremy White, Founder and CEO of Pro-Vigil, who discusses the ripple effect of global conflicts on business security and theft.
When news of the war in Iran broke, the countdown for global shockwaves began.
As a major producer of the world’s oil and with the military might to choke a major shipping lane, the Strait of Hormuz, Iran’s continued defense has lengthened what was hoped to be short-lived fighting into an extended conflict.
And now, the ripple effects are coming into clearer view.
As of 6 April, the average price of gas in the US topped $4.14 for regular fuel, with prices rising across the board from mid-grade to diesel.
The bottlenecked flow of oil through the Strait of Hormuz, where one-fifth of the world’s oil passes, has caused pricing shifts worldwide. And now? Thieves see opportunity.
Even if the conflict ends, prices won’t magically snap back to where they were before fighting broke out.
Where there’s peril and risk, thieves and criminals see opportunity. And that correlation is closely tied to rising prices which can turn ordinary assets into strategically necessary line items during volatile periods.
For example, key construction material prices are surging, due to the cost hike in fuel and oil. Prices for aluminum and steel mill products rose 39.1% and 20.9% respectively year-over-year.
That’s the kind of detail today’s criminals are aware of. And it’s the kind of risk that businesses need to prepare for, from protecting the bottom line to ensuring a comprehensive security strategy in the face of economic uncertainty.
Businesses that store or use products made by aluminum, steel or copper/brass mills may find themselves the target of savvy criminals’ attempts to turn a quick profit. And if prices remain elevated, so does risk.
It seems simple: a thief steals an object and the business loses the opportunity to turn a profit and either accepts the loss or offsets the missed revenue with higher prices. But such scenarios are rarely straightforward.
And theft is hardly ever as simple as a stolen ‘product.’ Many businesses are dealing with parts theft that triggers a chain reaction that eventually reaches all corners of the operation.
It begins with downtime and delays, with teams and leadership forced to slow down or even stall operations to respond to and recover from the theft.
This can lead to missed delivery windows, hours lost dealing with insurance companies, emergency procurement and, of course, labor inefficiency as your workforce awaits a decision from above.
And this is why – even in times of economic prosperity and geopolitical stability – it’s important to ensure a proactive security strategy is in place so that your business comes out ahead when theft strikes.
It’s easy to push off investment in security when things are going well. It’s much harder to catch up when you’ve delayed any strategy upgrades or enhancements for years.
Still, there’s no time like today to get on track for real crime prevention.
Right now, with the economic shockwaves from geopolitical conflicts taking shape, the global economy is putting cost pressures on the process of shoring up your security strategy.
It’s natural: many businesses don’t invest in a security strategy until an event spurs them into action.
But recovering from a major case of theft isn’t as simple as adding a layered, preventative security strategy.
In today’s volatile market, one case of theft can set the business back and completely reset your budgetary constraints, especially if there was little to no allocation for security initiatives.
Whether you’re building a security strategy from scratch or reinforcing an existing one, you can update it today. The operative word in today’s best physical security postures is layered.
Think of the layers as separate obstacles that hinder a thief expecting an easy heist.
There’s the obvious one: physical barriers, such as fencing. This is an immediate, visible deterrent because criminals have to work harder to get past perimeter defenses and gain access to a facility.
That said, today’s criminals work hard to get around the obstacles in their way.
Fencing and physical barriers can’t be a standalone strategy. Businesses need eyes on the physical spaces they’re protecting. In that respect, many strategies include cameras for better visibility.
However, when choosing the right camera system, we strongly recommend businesses don’t go for simple record-and-store. Those are great at capturing evidence of a crime, but they do little to prevent one.
I always recommend businesses opt for remote video monitoring (RVM) to kill two birds with one stone.
By having someone monitor the live footage at your business’s location, you have better eyes on the site.
With today’s emerging AI and automation technology, you can unite the power of RVM with the efficiency and learning capabilities of automation and AI to quickly operationalize and streamline the escalation process.
For example, embedded AI can learn suspicious behaviors, identify threatening objects, and flag them to a live monitor who can then determine whether there is an active threat or not.
This relieves the human monitor of having to watch a site when nothing is happening.
By utilizing AI, those monitors can use their time to trigger deterrents like flashing lights, alarms and recorded warnings to prevent thieves from continuing their attempt at theft.
By uniting all of these tactics, businesses can ensure a layered approach that helps to fill gaps that only one of those strategies would do alone.
Volatile moments like today’s uncertain economy and ongoing conflict remind us that the status quo can change at the flip of a coin.
Prepare for the worst-case scenario and you’ll come out better when rising prices and general uncertainty drive thieves’ attention to your business.
Layering your security strategy is the name of the game here. That’s how you make the most of each security layer. That’s how you make the most of your strategy. And that’s how you protect your business from the unexpected.