May/June 2021
'We are always implementing new technological solutions to our facilities that allow us to increase our knowledge, control, efficiency and security', explains Guillermo González García, Cecabank's Director of Property, Security and Services, who analyses with Cuadernos de Seguridad the strategies implemented by the institution in response to the pandemic, as well as the role of digitalisation in the banking sector.
—What have been the biggest challenges faced by Cecabank's Property, Security and Services Department over this past year?
—Without any doubt, dealing with an unexpected pandemic. It is a challenge of a magnitude that we will rarely have to manage in the course of our professional lives. It has changed the way we work, how we interact with each other and the way we live in general, and it has forced us to accelerate huge changes in order to adapt to a new reality and to continue providing service to our customers with total normality.
—What have been the key factors in ensuring the safety and protection of Cecabank's employees and customers in this ongoing health crisis?
—At Cecabank we have addressed this crisis through several committees, where the primary focus has always been on protecting the health of employees and their families and on the continuity of the business. This has allowed us to make the best decisions in record time. We have always kept abreast of the evolution of the pandemic, assessed the protective measures proposed by the health authorities and implemented those that had the greatest protective effectiveness, no matter how trivial they may have seemed. These premises, together with the support of the appropriate technology to provide staff with equipment and software optimised to facilitate communication and collaboration between people, have been the key tools that have allowed us to continue our activity without any significant incidents in our services and customers.
—Faced with an unprecedented event such as Covid-19, has the strategy and action plans of Cecabank's Property, Security and Services Department changed?
—Undoubtedly, strategies and action plans have changed and have been geared and customised to meet the challenges we face on a daily basis. As a result, we have developed new action protocols specific to Covid-19, reviewing all aspects of the operation, occupation and security of our facilities, with the involvement of all the service companies, which have allowed us to adapt to the situation under the best possible conditions. However, although this pandemic will take longer to resolve than we thought, we hope that one day it will end and we will be able to recover our pre-Covid action strategies, focusing on new work methods (Agile methodologies), collaboration, multidisciplinary teams and even incorporating teleworking in an orderly manner, and not forced as is currently the case. However, the Covid experience offer some elements that will remain with us, such as teleworking, which will coexist in the new working model of the future.
—This crisis has been a major catalyst for the digitalisation of society, and specifically for companies with the implementation of teleworking. Are mechanisms and protocols in place to enhance cybersecurity?
—In the financial sector in general, the level of digitalisation was already well advanced from the start, at least much more than in other sectors. However, we had to complete a final sprint which, in our case, allowed us to provide employees with the communication and IT tools to implement a near-total lockdown in just a few days, without affecting the organisation's activity. Most importantly, the bank has defined procedures for continuous improvement in cybersecurity, monitoring threats at all times to close security loopholes and minimise possible attacks, with a highly professional team that is able to maintain a very high level of protection based on in-depth knowledge of the technology. We are all very insecure about the variety, magnitude and potential impact of cyber attacks, and we can only act with professionalism and the ongoing efforts of our IT and IT security departments in coordination with the operational departments.
—Have the technological solutions available at Cecabank's facilities been implemented or improved in recent years?
—We are always implementing new technological solutions at our facilities that enable us to enhance our knowledge, control, efficiency and security at these facilities. The fields of application are very diverse, ranging from security-enhanced printing systems to CCTV systems supported by artificial intelligence. Every opportunity to modernise facilities or renew service contracts must be exploited to introduce the latest technologies and best practices in order to ensure greater efficiency and security in the continuity of the business.
—From a professional and personal perspective, what lessons have you drawn from living through an experience of the scope of this pandemic?
—It can probably be summed up quite well by two concepts: resilience and change management. We have had to learn to adapt to circumstances that we have discovered along the journey and to which we have had to respond from all levels of the company, in terms of culture, communication, facilities, security and technology, with great speed and forcefulness so that the business could remain operational at all times. A major challenge that can only be achieved by involving every part of an organisation that has to function as a perfect machine.
—What aspects of private security -training, technology, professionalism, etc.- should be enhanced and improved?
—Opportunities can always be found in many areas; the advance in technology, for example, regularly provides us with cost-saving opportunities with increasingly intelligent and sophisticated systems that we need to monitor. But if I have to mention one area in which we must always be involved, it is in the area of collaboration. I am referring to collaboration in its two most interesting aspects: collaboration between institutions and/or sectors with common interests, and public/private collaboration. In the former, we will find opportunities for sharing solutions that respond to similar problems affecting these institutions or groups. With regard to public/private collaboration, the aim is to ensure that public administrations and, in particular, law enforcement agencies, are able to understand not only the problems that we face, but also able to provide solutions that are appropriate, effective and simple to implement. We must take advantage of the support that the public sector is offering through its collaborative bodies and integrate them into the strategies and objectives of our security departments.
