Introduction

Demanding proof of whether a security purchase or program will pay for itself—and how long it will take—requires the development of appropriate accounting strategies to capture their value.

Opportunity

The value to organizations from time-savings can be significant in many security projects and calculating it can paint a more complete picture of the value that a security service brings to an organization, as it appreciates that security not only reduces security risk but it also gives workers more time to be productive.

Solution or Approach

A global pharmaceutical company’s security contractor rolled-out a new smart card access credential for their locations companywide. Unlike its legacy credential, the new one permitted cross-site access, so employees who visit different company facilities can now gain entry immediately—as quickly as if they were entering their home office. In doing so, the new system eliminated the average 15 minutes that these employees typically waited while security officers processed their request for access. So, for every access event, its vendor’s new system facilitated 15 minutes of additional employee labor. To understand the financial benefit, the company multiplied the total number of these access requests by the average employee salary and the minutes saved.

Results and Benefits

By examining the ‘value of time’, the company learned that the security provider’s quicker access system saved it close to $500,000 annually. The company’s worldwide security technology executive explained that time-savings was critical for calculating and communicating the true payback period to his senior management team.

Indicated Call-to-Action

Including the “value of time” from security is one way to include “soft measures” into calculations of security value. Many soft benefits don’t translate as neatly into a financial model, but operational managers should nonetheless give some thought into all the ways in which additional security spending can benefit the organization and devise methods for relating those benefits to senior company executives.