Our CPP of the Month, Walter Aguilar, is president of Sicon Strategies Corp., a security engineering consultancy with offices in Argentina, Panama, Mexico and Miami. He is also a Founding Partner of CASEL (Argentine Chamber of Electronic Security) and columnist of graphic media, on the different topics of security in Latin America.
by Santiago Jaramillo H.
Walter Aguilar arrived in 1988 to the security industry at the invitation of the president of the company Protelec, Jorge Pozo (manufacturer of alarms), who proposed to assemble a work team for the sale of alarms in the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Aguilar recognizes that at that time he did not know anything about the industry, but he was caught by the fact of making designs of alarm systems, because everyone, at that time, differed in the fact that we had to analyze the way in which people developed activities in the house etc., so each alarm was specific to that place and what was leading him later to make more important systems, until in the 90s he joined with some partners we formed the company Super Applied Vision (SVA).
"There we dedicated ourselves to designing and installing important works that required a lot of study and analysis of the client's activities, in addition to a great knowledge of the products that were being born in the world of technology. In those years I began to travel to the fairs in the U.S. and make the first ties with the factories and obviously great friends, "says our guest, who is president of Sicon Strategies Corp., a consultancy specialized in Security Engineering with offices in Argentina, Panama, Mexico and Miami. He is also a Founding Partner of CASEL (Argentine Chamber of Electronic Security).
He also relates that after the crisis in Argentina, the business had gone down and he considered that with the experience acquired, he could dedicate himself to consulting focused on electronic security projects and that is where he directed his efforts. Precisely in that adventure he was followed by Edgardo Orsi, (current partner of Sicon), who has enormous technical knowledge and experience in the industry.
After this determination, he began to offer his services and soon realized that they knew a lot about electronic security and projects, but that was not enough to make a real security project, "ours was incomplete, it lacked integration with processes and risks," Aguilar said.
That was the reason why at the end of 2001 he began to study security processes, management and in 2003 he successfully presented and took the CPP exam.
"From that moment everything was simpler, it was no longer a simple empirical and we began to do security engineering projects, based mainly on risk analysis. I believe that the success we have is due to the fact that our integrated projects (processes and support electronics) are feasible to implement and do not require complex issues," he said.
Aguilar, who in 1998 received in San Juan de Puerto Rico the KEISHI SOKAN award from SONY (Security Division) for his outstanding work in Latin America, emphasizes that he was at the head as leader of the project team of the Maximum Security Prison of the City of Córdoba, Argentina, in 1999, and in 2001 he was appointed auditor of the Ministry of Justice of the Argentine Nation, to audit the security systems of the new Federal Prison of Ezeiza.
In the same way, he emphasizes that the function of a CCP is very responsible, since it must analyze the problem from a managerial perspective and find the causes of the problem and not only the effect.
"Certification gives us tools so we can see security in a holistic way, but that's just the beginning, then we have to keep studying and prepare for changes. The characteristic of the CPP professional who exercises the activity, recognizes that it is necessary to professionalize, understands that not everything is said, that there is much to improve and that not everything is solved with common sense. Preparation is also required," says Aguilar, who with more than 20 years of experience in the area of security, has led work teams for the preparation of risk analysis; policies; security plans and high security projects in more than 40 companies in Latin America.
On the other hand, when asking our guest about what are the analyzes that a CPP must perform in a place in terms of security, Walter Aguilar said that to perform a safety analysis, you must first study and understand the operation that is carried out in the place. After that you can analyze what the failures are and then find the opportunities for improvements. "If you do not know in detail the operation, it is very difficult to advise the client correctly," he says.
Also our CPP of the month highlights that the purpose of the certification is to have a standard of knowledge, which is nothing more than a cumulus of experience of a large number of professionals in the industry, so that they allow to advise with the support of a large institution. "The certification helps to raise the quality of the work, hierarchizing and professionalizing the activity of the industry."
On the other hand, our guest told us about how the process of combining electronic security with the public safety program that a CPP directs occurs, as well as what strategies are used to achieve it.
"What we need to be clear about is that electronic security is just one tool that's going to help, but it's not the solution. First we analyze what we want to achieve, then what we have (Human Resources, economic and support from the highest authorities), then a plan is launched where we must define what we are going to mitigate and why. The strategy is to make a correct diagnosis of the reality, then present a program, simple and feasible to implement, where it is clearly shown how the objectives will be met and in what the community will benefit, so that it is supported by the highest authorities. "
As for the objectives that a CPP must achieve in the field of security, Aguilar emphasizes that they are varied "I consider it very personal, but surely each one aims to improve the quality of life of people, through a safer environment to live."
Moving on to the topic of how he sees the immediate future and the possibilities of expansion of the industry in Latin America, our CPP relates that Latin America has the particularity that for a few years the concept of specialized advice has been growing, and that the client has already realized that security is not a lot of equipment or many guards.
"It is no longer enough for him to be told his faults, he needs to be given deeper solutions and in this sense he is willing to invest seriously in the area. Just by observing how the security area grew in the organizational chart within the organizations. Until a few years ago it was common for security to depend on the HR area and even on a maintenance area. Every day we find more frequently a security directorate or the vice presidency of security, led by highly trained professionals."
Finally, walter aguilar emphasizes that although the number of professionals who are trained is growing, it is necessary that everyone who works in this field is trained and updated. "The refresher courses make us meet other professionals and share experiences, which is the basis of the update."
BOX
An industry that brings satisfaction
Aguilar told us that one day a multinational company asked them from their headquarters for an analysis of an important security project that the local CEO of a South American country intended to implement. The project was very ambitious, as well as expensive and the CEO himself was in charge of showing them the project. "He told us about his concern for the safety of the corporate building and how he had come to that project, of which he was proud."
When he was there, they asked him why there was no one from corporate security there and he commented that he had a security chief, but that he was not up to the task. Then when they analyzed the project they observed that everything was based on electronics and very few procedures.
"There were three x-ray scanners in the project among others, so we asked him if when he entered the building he would go through the arches and if his visits would also do so, he replied that obviously no, so we advised him not to install those equipment because they would not work for security, since over time no one would give importance to those equipment and that they would not even generate a deterrent effect, but a high operating cost. He immediately got up at the end of the meeting, kicked us out and canceled the contract. A year later they called us from headquarters, to hire us again, they had already donated the X-ray scanners to a government institution and fired the local CEO."
The strange thing about all this is that a few years later they were called from another company to analyze an important and "ambitious" security project that the air safety had presented and guess who was the external security advisor? They did get it right.
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