We regularly work with high net worth individuals, families and their offices. In many ways, the EP and security needs of these prominent families are similar to those of corporations. After all, these high net worth individuals are often founders of highly successful companies, and in that sense share many characteristics with the C-suite principals for whom we typically provide EP.

Knowing exactly where key employees are is a cornerstone of ensuring their security. Whether in proactive planning or in solving emergency situations, the principal’s location is a critical starting point for all EP activities.

Our globalized economy adds some complexity to the issue of location. Executives are traveling to ever more distant destinations. Expats are stationed in emerging markets where infrastructure and governments are more fragile than at home. And while companies have a duty of care to keep their execs safe, no one wants to invade their privacy in doing so.

No matter how much forward thinking a company does, we are all sometimes surprised by a sudden turn of events. It may be a competitor making a surprise move, civil unrest that balloons into a sweeping socio-political upheaval, or something as simple as a key employee getting in a car accident. In 2014, a hostile group announced its intentions to harm the staff and interests of a major corporation thousands of miles away.

Executive protection and event security are two core things Allied Universal® Executive Protection & Intelligence Services offer. Rapid response, smooth travel logistics and international expertise are another three core services that our clients rely on. On most days, we’re delivering some combination of these five elements above somewhere in the world. Last year, we delivered all of them and more in an intensive three-week international roadshow that launched the world’s biggest ever IPO.

Many companies routinely need to send staff abroad for periods of regular, short-term stays. The travelers can be anyone from managers setting up a subsidiary to technicians installing new production equipment. These “global commuters” are often based in a foreign country for a week or two, then home for a while, then back on the road. When such travel regularly takes employees to developing countries where the security situation can be turbulent, questions of duty of care arise even though the stays are temporary.

Hurricane Odile was the most powerful storm ever to hit Mexico’s Baja Peninsula. When she swept across the Cabo San Lucas resort area in September, 2014, Odile packed winds of up to 125 mph (200 km/hr.) and dumped more than 12 inches (320 mm) of rain.

We have provided safe travel and other services for a number of philanthropic organizations over the years. In terms of objectives, these projects are quite similar to any other EP program we deliver: Our goal is to keep the principals and others in their entourages safe, happy and productive wherever their travels take them.

We talk to a number of companies, large and small, about executive protection programs every week. Sometimes, the conversation starts something like this: “Executive protection? Yeah, we tried that a few times, but it didn’t really work out for us, so we gave up the program.”

At times, the conversation ends there. There are other times when this makes for the beginning of a great dialogue.

Providing effective protective security without wrapping the client within a claustrophobic bubble is inherently difficult. You need to be prepared for anything and everything – usually with little to no warning – and at the same time enable clients to get on with their lives without feeling encumbered by ever-present protection teams.

Protection details are sometimes started on short notice, bypassing critical foundational work required for effective programs. What’s worse, such programs can then run for years without any quality assurance evaluation. So, while security directors know they have programs in place, they may not have the means to know how effective the programs actually are in preventing and responding to emergencies and thus no way to measure program ROI.