The Guardsman Group is making strategic moves to tap into the growing demand for cybersecurity services offered by local companies while simultaneously broadening its onsite protection offerings.
In a significant development, Guardsman has joined forces with the international tech company Intellicene to establish a new entity named Guardsman Cyber Intelligence Limited. This new venture primarily targets mid-size enterprises, bolstering the Guardsman Group’s commitment to bolstering business security. Guardsman Cyber Intelligence operates as a direct subsidiary of Guardsman Metaverse.
The Guardsman Group, with a five-decade legacy in Jamaica and a presence in eight other Caribbean nations, now oversees a conglomerate of 28 companies. Some of these companies are engaged in the provision of home and business surveillance systems, including the likes of Guardsman Elite, iProtect, Beryllium, M.O.P.S, Nature’s Paradise, and Orkin.
The recently formed companies, Guardsman Cyber Intelligence and Guardsman Metaverse, are embracing the incorporation of artificial intelligence (AI) into their service offerings, aiming to attract both new and existing clients. The underlying platform for these companies is owned by Intellicene, but under their partnership, Guardsman holds distribution and installation rights within Jamaica.
Renee Menzies-McCallum, Director of the Guardsman Group, highlighted the key differentiator: “The difference is in our Guardsman Metaverse product, really, in the operating system. Most companies have a CCTV room where they monitor several cameras for security breaches; however, our new platform, called the Security Operation Centre or SOP, allows you to see everything in real-time and can be consolidated onto one screen.”
She further explained, “Importantly, the system also alerts you to anything that’s out of the ordinary and tracks the guard’s location along with any unscrupulous individuals to ensure swift response.”
The newly introduced onsite service is presented as a cost-effective means to upgrade to more sophisticated security systems, as it is adaptable to older security infrastructure. Additionally, Menzies-McCallum noted that the system offers a checklist of responses in the event of emergencies, such as break-ins or fires, and identifies security equipment that requires maintenance.
Menzies-McCallum emphasized the core objective: “Effectively, what we seek to do is to create a solution to minimize the number of security guards a company needs to have on site daily. If there is a case where more guards are needed, then Guardsman can respond to that call, but it is costly to have multiple security guards onsite.” Guardman Metaverse has already garnered business from sectors including Business Process Outsourcing (BPO), medical, and hospitality.
