Conceptualization Stage (1974 to 1978):

Mr. Ravindra Kishore Sinha, a graduate of Political Science and Law who started his career as a journalist and was a leading investigative reporter and writer, particularly as a war correspondent during 1971 war.

As a first generation entrepreneur,he initiated the security service business by taking up the first security service contract in 1974 when it was decided to be outsourced by an industrialist at Ramgarh near Ranchi. It was a small contract of 11 guards in Eastern India. SIS was born!

It was coincidental that SIS was the first security service providing company started by a non Ex-serviceman and a first generation entrepreneur professional in an era when venture capital was not even conceptualized!

Formative Years (1978 to 1992):

While the guarding business grew gradually, the primary focus for Mr. Sinha, continued to be investigative journalism and detective services. It was during the late 70s - early 80s when rapid industrial growth led to an increased demand for contracted security services. This was the time when the `private security guard' started replacing the `company employed chowkidaars' that consequently gave rise to the private security business in India. SIS also benefited from this trend and started forming itself into a full scale guarding company to meet the growing demand.

In 1981-82, SIS, which was so far operating exclusively with ex-army personnel, felt the need of recruitment of civilian manpower due to increased business requirements. There was also a pressure to have the manpower specially trained in Industrial security duties. This led to establishment of the first fully residential training facility by SIS in the Indian private security industry which was developed on the lines of Police Training Academies and located at Palamu District, Jharkhand. This was the first of the many visionary and pioneering steps taken by Mr. R K Sinha and even today remains a unique feature of SIS amidst private security service providers in India.

The trained manpower provided a distinctive competitive advantage to the company and business started to grow in volumes. The business growth led to SIS being registered as a Private Limited Company in 1985, as per the requirement of the then prevailing statutory stipulations.

During the period 1985-90, the company experienced exponential growth in Bihar, Jharkhand,Orrisa and West Bengal primarily due to the fact that it received recognition as the only security service company providing trained, regimented and disciplined manpower. This brand equity sets SIS apart from its competitors even today. This was also the time when SIS ventured into new territories and commenced operations in the Northern, Central and Southern India. Thus, in 14 years from inception, SIS had become a major player in the private security business.

After creating a reliable supply chain for trained security guards, the next challenge was to induct young individuals to form the managerial cadres of the company. To meet this requirement, Mr. R K Sinha took yet another visionary step by launching the ASO (Assistant Security Officer) program that aimed at inducting young graduates and training them in every aspect of private security. These officers were inducted through stringent academic and physical tests and put through a rigorous training program of 6 months in Company owned training academy. The induction of such officers was on annual basis and numbered from 15 to 25 per year. It was envisaged that these young trained officers in course of time would graduate into middle level managers.

Today such officers are leading SIS business at the regional and branch levels. This is one of the core strengths of SIS, envied by its competitors. Needless to say that SIS has several welfare and retention schemes in place to retain its valuable managerial team.

These pioneering steps propelled Mr. R K Sinha to the center stage of industry leadership and earned him recognition and respect of hundreds of security service providing companies in India. To meet the expectations of the industry, Mr. Sinha established "International Institute of Security and Safety Management" (IISSM) in 1991 in line with the American Society of Industrial Security (ASIS International) with the primary objective of creating the first ever industry forum of users, providers and consultants in the Indian security industry. The forum focused on experience sharing through conducting seminars, workshops and chapter meeting. It also aimed at industry representation and conducting development programs for security professionals.

Expansion and Consolidation Phase (1992 to 2002):

In 1990s, the entry of multinational security companies in India led to several fundamental changes in business dynamics. The most significant amongst them was larger acceptance of outsourced guarding as a service.

This development also altered the market qualitatively and in commercial terms. While on one hand, these developments led to the recognition of the industry, on the other hand, it enhanced competition, customer expectations and pressure on the Indian owned security companies.

Under the changed market dynamics, SIS initiated several measures to face the new challenges of the business. Major initiatives were taken towards re-engineering the organization and amending the processes of recruitment, training, communication, quality assurance and customer relationship management. One of the key issues was to change the image of SIS from a security "agency" to a well-organized outsourcing company in the services industry.

Accordingly, as a first step, the company registered itself as the first public limited company in the Indian Security Industry on 29 th July 1993. Another landmark step was company wide implementation of ISO 9001 international standard initiated by Mr. R K Sinha in 1995. SIS, today is certified to ISO 9001:2000 standards for design, development and delivery of its security services.

In order to further refine the business processes, in 1996, SIS undertook implementation of the British Standards, BS 7499 and BS 7858, and got itself certified by the International Professional Security Association (IPSA) of UK. This standardization added significant value to the selection, recruitment and training processes in the company and wide scale acceptance by discerning Multinational customers who required security service providers to be of international standard. The Company thereafter, launched its operation in Western India in 1997 and became one of the few nationwide operators in the country.

Three more training academies were added in northern and southern regions of the country, which together with the first academy in the east covered recruitment on all India basis and subsequent training of personnel to provide quality security services.

The size of guarding force increased manifold and in order to maintain non-unionized status and retention of manpower, several welfare measures including grievance redressal process were implemented. These have been very effective and have prevented formation of a union till today. SIS, in the category of leading national or multinational security service providers in India, remains the only non-unionized workforce.

Exponential Growth Phase (2002 onwards):

The attack at the WTC in New York on 9/11 had a considerable impact on the global security industry. The Indian market was no exception and overnight security became a top priority concern for most customers. This was also accompanied with a radical change in focus and thrust of the customers towards sophisticated and integrated security solutions.

In the changed scenario, SIS promptly mapped its present business processes and service offerings to meet the growth opportunities. Accordingly, a major change process was planned. In true tradition of taking visionary decisions all through, Mr. R K Sinha, as the Chairman & Managing Director of the company, decided to induct professional management team to act as catalyst for the change process. Top professionals with experience in different industry were drawn into the company's fold and the Board was restructured to induct eminent, professional and independent directors. This coincided with the induction of the second generation of the promoter family into business.

The financial year 2002-03 was truly and particularly a landmark year for SIS. Taking stock of its strengths and the growth opportunities in the market, the new top level professional management drew up a 3 year corporate plan. An elaborate change process was initiated to introduce modern management practices like annual business planning, performance management processes and customer relationship management besides implementation of a systematic data based management system.

With the thrust on decentralization of decision-making and empowerment of middle level management, the company was restructured to respond to rapidly changing customer demands. The cornerstone of the change process was to shift from individual driven organization to a system driven organization.

A major branding exercise was also undertaken to recreate SIS as a "total security solution provider". This exercise was backed up by creation of independent non-guarding business divisions like C&I (Consulting and Investigation), CIT (Cash in Transit), ESS (Electronic Security Systems) and R & T (Recruitment and Training). Towards meeting the business objectives of these verticals, a divisional bifurcation of the business was done and the organization was restructured into corporate, regional and branch levels.