As the largest American-owned security officer services company, AlliedBarton Security Services provides high-quality security to more than 3,300 customers nationwide, including approximately 200 Fortune 500 companies. Virtually every industry and individual depends on security officers to ensure their overall safety.
Aware of their sphere of influence, AlliedBarton continually strives to be at the forefront of the security services industry by using the latest technology. In 2009, the company advanced this commitment by partnering with Intellum to launch "the AlliedBarton EDGE," an innovative online learning management system designed to provide every AlliedBarton employee with the tools necessary to educate, develop, grow, and engage (EDGE).
Building a partnership
With more than 50,000 employees and 100 offices located across the United States, AlliedBarton's training extends far beyond security officers to include managers, corporate personnel, and executive leaders. Through the AlliedBarton EDGE, the company planned to implement not just a new LMS, but also a different approach to training and development itself. Aware of the implications, AlliedBarton recognized that finding the right partner would be critical. After an extensive vetting process, Intellum was selected.
"Intellum took the time to learn our business and understand our culture and the importance of training and development as a market differentiator," says Rich Cordivari, AlliedBarton's vice president of learning and development. "We needed a partner who was open to our ideas and willing to work under a strict timeline for delivery without sacrificing quality. The Intellum team understood our content delivery needs and would be able to work with us as we expanded our training library to meet the needs of employees at all levels of development."
To meet the specific needs of each employee, Intellum developed several unique platforms for the AlliedBarton EDGE through Rollbook, Intellum's fully hosted, on-demand LMS. In addition to creating and customizing multiple platforms, Rollbook provided a user-friendly structure that employees from across the organization were able to utilize. A LMS is only as strong as the courses it contains.
This drove AlliedBarton's commitment to launch an extensive library of web-based training courses through the AlliedBarton EDGE. While originally planning to develop roughly 50 courses in the first year, Intellum, working in partnership with AlliedBarton's extraordinary training team, was able to make more than 120 unique courses available to AlliedBarton employees.
Training for tomorrow
The increasingly complex nature of security services necessitates that officers possess a diverse range of skills. As Cordivari explains, "Today's security officers save lives, evacuate buildings, and secure and patrol every type of facility imaginable. The training is complex - it goes beyond the information needed for an officer to staff a post, and prepares officers and managers for multiple security challenges as well as career advancement opportunities."
With dozens of courses covering hundreds of topics including fire safety, terrorism, and customer service, the AlliedBarton EDGE provides the materials needed to effectively train today's security officers.
Throughout its history, AlliedBarton has been committed to developing leaders from within. This commitment is exemplified by the "Leaders' EDGE," a unique platform offering a variety of courses on topics critical to leadership. Through a diverse mix of titles such as "budgeting," "time management," and "goal setting," employees from across the organization are able to obtain the skills necessary to advance their careers.
With the understanding that effective development has to take place at all levels on the corporate ladder; AlliedBarton instituted the "Managers' EDGE," consisting of specifically targeted learning modules to support ongoing growth. These include
- Security Academy in Leadership (SAIL). The goal of SAIL is to enhance employee development and performance, and help managers excel through partnerships with senior-level management.
- Supervisor's Workshop. A one-day instructor-led course that covers effective supervision skills, the Supervisor's Workshop is required for all new site and shift supervisors.
- Operations University. This module helps new managers better understand AlliedBarton's business processes so that they can deliver high quality service. The course covers a wide variety of business and security-related topics.
The future
In only the first year since launching the AlliedBarton EDGE, more than 200,000 courses were completed. By comparison, completions through AlliedBarton's previous e-learning system averaged roughly 50,000 courses per year. Based on these tremendous results, AlliedBarton and Intellum are planning to build upon the success of the AlliedBarton EDGE by introducing AlliedBarton EDGE 2.0 and offering new topics, updated courses, and additional key features such as the Mobile EDGE, which will provide a library of audio and video pieces to support online training.