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Secure in Synergy’s future
07 February 2010 By Gavin Daly
By his own admission, John Lawlor is not one to seek the limelight. ‘‘We operate in a very conservative business; we keep our heads down and we do a good job," said Lawlor, the low-key managing director of Synergy Security Solutions.
Last week, however, he broke cover to challenge the gloomy economic environment with Synergy’s plans to create 200 more jobs this year, bringing its total staff above 1,000 people.
Synergy, which claims to be Ireland’s biggest indigenous security firm, was formed through the merger of several security businesses owned by Lawlor and his business partner, Ken O’Reilly. The pair have decades of experience in the sector as the respective founders of Rapier Security Group in Dublin and Express Security Group in Cork.
‘‘We had four or five separate companies - even we were getting confused by it," said Lawlor. ‘‘It was time for something fresh and new. About 18 months ago, we looked at bringing the businesses together. We came up with Synergy as the way to move it forward."
After significant investment in its procedures, IT systems and industry accreditations, Synergy is on ‘‘rock solid’’ footing, with customers spanning all areas of the economy. They include retailers such as the Musgrave Group and Brown Thomas, multinational firms including Google, Bayer and Millipore, and semi state bodies such as the ESB.
The firm also provides services to car park operators, patrols concerts and other large public events, and has several public sector clients, including the Courts Service and government departments. It has large operations in Dublin and Cork, as well as several regional bases, and Lawlor has predicted ‘‘exponential growth’’ - starting immediately.
Taoiseach Brian Cowen last week joined Lawlor and O’Reilly in announcing plans to add 100 more jobs before the end of next month. By the end of this year, it expects to fill a further 100 positions. According to Lawlor, those are conservative figures for the number of staff that Synergy will need in order to fulfil contracts that have already been awarded.
‘‘There is no reason those rates of growth can’t continue, or be bettered," he said. ‘‘We are seeing opportunities on a daily basis - the first month of this year has been very, very good, with lots of signs of new shoots. The opportunities are great."
Lawlor’s security sector credentials are impeccable. Swapping an economically-depressed Ireland for London in the mid-1980s, he got a job with Pinkerton Security, which has a 150-year heritage that makes it the most famous security firm in the world.
Its founder, Allan Pinkerton, is credited with foiling an assassination attempt on US president Abraham Lincoln, and his ‘Pinkerton men’ have been immortalised in many Western films for their pursuit of America’s outlaws. (In Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Paul Newman and Robert Redford are pursued by a posse of Pinkerton men that never seem to tire - failing to shake them off, the two outlaws marvel: ‘‘Who are those guys?") Lawlor had an equally busy time during his seven years with Pinkerton, when he worked at the first phase oft he development of Canary Wharfin the London docklands. As part of a professional security operation with 250 security officers and its own ambulance service, he was heavily involved with a range of issues, including the threat of IRA bombings.
‘‘Canary Wharf was the equivalent of what’s going on in Dubai in terms of size and structure," said Lawlor. ‘‘We were dealing with the world’s biggest construction companies, followed by occupancy by the world’s biggest banks."
Leaving Pinkerton, Lawlor worked on other projects overseas for two more years before returning to Ireland ‘‘for sentimental reasons’’ in 1995. He worked for two Irish firms before striking out on his own with Rapier in 1999.
Based on his London experience, Lawlor’s aim was to bring a greater level of professionalism to the Irish security industry, which was highly fragmented and not formally licensed and regulated at that stage. ‘‘I was used to firms that were more structured, client-focused and progressive.
I had an aspiration and I followed through on that," he said.
He found a receptive audience in Ireland’s corporate sector. ‘‘We were embraced by industry," he said. ‘‘Clients were looking for the extra yard, the value-add, from their service provider. We got some very good clients, which gave us opportunities for continuous growth."
Along the way, Lawlor met O’Reilly, and the pair have worked closely for the past six years as shareholders and directors in several businesses. ‘‘We were working on similar projects and we had the same ethos and ideas," said Lawlor.
They also has similar-sized businesses, with Lawlor’s Rapier and O’Reilly’s Express Security trading profitably. Their revenues are not known, but abridged accounts show both firms achieving gross profits of about €7 million a year.
Lawlor would not comment on revenues at the combined business, but said that Synergy was ‘‘very sound’’ financially, with ‘‘little or no borrowings’’. Its biggest costs are labour, insurance and licensing, as well as uniforms and the costs of its large fleet of vehicles.
As well as security, the firm has a division that does contract cleaning. Lawlor sees potential for acquisitions, particularly as smaller operators come under pressure in a market that is very price-sensitive.
‘‘There is fall-out in the industry on a weekly basis," he said.
The economic downturn is also changing the profile of Synergy’s workers, with people who would never previously have considered a career in security now seeking to don the uniform. ‘‘We are attracting architects, civil engineers, people from all walks of life," said Lawlor, who welcomed the diversity of his workforce.
‘‘It brings a different slant and dynamic to the organisation. It’s good to have people who can bring new ideas and practices from other industries. The key to this job is interaction with the general public - to do this job, you need to have lived," he said.
Technology is also playing an larger role and Synergy has invested more than €250,000 in new systems over the past year.
‘‘It has become a much more tech-savvy job, with an increasing amount of interaction with control rooms and CCTV. We have the technology to manage sites around the world," said Lawlor.
That means that modern security staff have to be highly-trained and Lawlor said that Synergy had taken the lead in upskilling in the industry.
The Private Security Authority (PSA), which came into being in 2004, licenses workers who have achieved a ‘Level 4’ qualification from training body Fetac, but Synergy puts its staff through Level 5 and 6.
‘‘In a service industry, it is all about your clients and the people who work for you," said Lawlor, who is particularly proud of the firm’s achievement of an Excellence Through People award. It has also been recognised by the Irish Security Industry Association, and staff members have twice won the ‘security professional of the year’ award.
All of those things should help to improve the image oft he sector, which is creating viable, long-term employment, according to Lawlor.
‘‘What we do is business-critical for our clients. There are no night watchmen anymore; our employees do much more than lift the barrier to let people in and out of an organisation," he said.
Pay rates in the sector are controlled by a Joint Labour Committee, which set a minimum rate of €10.01 per hour from January last year - more than 15 per cent above the national minimum wage of €8.65 an hour. There is additional pay for hours above 39 hours a week, Sunday work and unsocial hours.
The 39-hour week is a big issue for Lawlor, who believes in work/ life balance for his employees. ‘‘This industry would have been notorious for old-school guys doing 60, 70, 80 hours a week, but that has largely been stamped out," he said.
However, he confesses to working those kind of hours himself and ‘‘putting huge mileage on the jeep’’ to oversee Synergy’s operations.
Normally based in Dublin, he spends one or two days a week in Cork and also visits at least one regional office each week.
‘‘I would have been a fairly hands-on MD, but it’s now a more strategic role. My job is to continue to grow the company and service our clients, and to protect the jobs of my people," he said. ‘‘I continue to learn; the day I stop, I get left behind."
He is hopeful that a new office in Longford will open up opportunities in the midlands and west of Ireland, but the real opportunities are further afield.
‘‘There is a trend in European deals towards having one [security] supplier and we have been involved in two of those already. The plan is to bring our style further afield," he said.
That will mean expansion into Britain and then into continental Europe, partly by forming partnerships with other companies. ‘‘This company can get as big as we want it to. We want the brand to be around for a long time as a major name in this market."
Those moves could make Synergy the target of an industry gorilla such as Group 4, but Lawlor said that he and O’Reilly had no plans to sell out. ‘‘It’s not about money," he said. ‘‘We have too much invested in this in blood, sweat and tears. And we enjoy it."
Instead, he ultimately sees Synergy joining the ranks of gorillas and - like his former employer, Pinkerton - becoming a household name with thousands of employees.
‘‘That’s the plan - and we have been bang on the money to date," he said.
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