An elderly gentleman, who walked into an ATM with family members in tow, was startled when the machine started talking to him, telling him that only one person can be in the cabin at any point in time.

That the family watched its head complete the transaction is another story. But the point is the ATM was being monitored by Zicom Electronic Security Systems from a remote location through cameras and two-way voice systems. This is the latest trend in outsourcing of security services.

Under this model, the outsourcer invests in equipment, technology and manpower. “This model entails a lot of savings for the client. Normally, it is the bank that makes the investment,” Zicom Founder and Managing Director Pramoud Rao told Business Line .

Zicom’s 12,000 clients across 1,000 cities include Federal Bank, Kotak Bank, HDFC, Punjab National Bank, HSBC, McDonalds, Dominos Pizza, Pizza Hut and Muthoot Finance. Its charges range from ₹500 to ₹50,000. The number of sites is expected to rise to 24,000-30,000 next year.

In a pattern shift from its earlier model of providing devices, the BSE-listed company is now banking on technology to aid security. Technology also enables Zicom go beyond pure-play outsourcing as it offers services such as business intelligence (BI), anti-theft and emergency response.

An alarm goes off at its control centre at Andheri in suburban Mumbai when an attempt is made to steal the cheque box, tamper with an ATM, to steal the air-conditioner or even the wastepaper bin.

“There have been many instances of garbage bin theft. We also have quick response teams on standby mode,” says Rao.

At night the cameras are on the motion detection mode. Rao cites an instance of the command centre detecting smoke and putting it out before it became a blaze.

The company has 2,500 buildings under surveillance across Mumbai, Pune, Thane and Vashi and gets an average of ₹3,500 per building. Zicom intends expanding this service to Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad and the National Capital Region by the second quarter of this fiscal. It earned about ₹18 crore from these services this year, and expects about ₹50-60 crore in FY15.

With every company, housing society and even streets being potential customers, the opportunity for the company is immense.

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