"Increasingly, security is a key factor concerning the management and marketability of commercial property as well as ensuring the preservation of property values - whether it relates to retail, office or industrial property," says Marna van der Walt, CEO of Excellerate Property Services.
"This strategic partnership provides considerable benefits for both organisations and for our existing clients and property owners in the marketplace. There are significant synergies between the two companies, which will enable our group to further enhance our bundled service offering, which provides one-stop delivery of a broad spectrum of property-related services, all of which are now readily available to Enforce's clients. These include property management, leasing and sales broking, cleaning, parking, repairs and maintenance, utility, development and project management, pest control and landscaping.
"Enforce shares our vision of providing a holistic range of complementary property services while achieving one standard of excellence and accountability and has sought out the group as the best possible partner as it moves forward into a new growth phase.
"In turn, we now have a credible security offering within the group to complete the bundle, enabling us to offer landlords a fully integrated and comprehensive range of professional security services. These include guarding services, investigation, polygraphs, alarms, remote video monitoring, CCTV and access control, fire and voice evacuation and independent custom-designed solutions to suit individual requirements."
"The merger is exciting and an important strategic decision for the company, as we firmly believe that there is a growing trend towards bundled service delivery among our current and prospective customer base," says Enforce Security CEO, Clinton Phipps. "The group's approach appeals to us, as it offers niche, industry-specific, focused brands to the market. This enables clients to receive specialised industry specific service delivery, coupled with bundled service management benefits and cost effectiveness. We are excited to introduce our new group's broad range of services to our customer base and vice versa."
Adds van der Walt, "Today, property owners and tenants across all sectors of the market, place a high priority on security in terms of their premises and businesses. Internationally, the five major expenses incurred by a commercial property owner in running a building are firstly security, followed by parking, maintenance and repairs, cleaning, and marketing/advertising. Historically, the owner would normally negotiate and contract individually with each provider, with each of these providers requiring a supervisor to oversee their employees at site. Global companies have turned this approach on its head and pioneered the one-stop approach, which enables all the above services to be provided at a generally reduced price."
She says multi-skilling employees and managers on site to perform more than one of these services is one aspect; for example, a security guard performing a cleaning function. "In addition, instead of supporting multiple back office functions, these can be combined into one, thereby allowing the service to be provided at a reduced cost. Naturally, the cost saving is of key relevance to the property owner however, being able to have one point of contact to manage is becoming more appealing.
"In South Africa, property yields are increasingly coming under pressure, with lower rental rate increases and more vacancies, so landlords are looking to service providers to reduce pricing, making the bundled services approach beneficial."
Van der Walt emphasises that in today's challenging economic trading conditions and highly competitive environment, cost efficiencies are critical in terms of reducing operating costs for property owners. "Our partnership enables us to now offer a complete and seamless bundled service offering, which conveniently caters for all property management and property related requirements, while balancing the need for cost-effectiveness without compromising on quality. The benefits to its existing clients include the fresh approach and value stemming from the application of our bundled services, coupled with continued service excellence."
