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Our executive protection services depend on up-to-date information to stay abreast of emerging risks to our principals wherever they might travel. So, it’s no wonder we rely on many sources – including our broad network of on the ground eyes, ears and minds – to predict, prevent and mitigate threats to our principals. Indeed, our most comprehensive EP programs have dedicated intelligence analysts as part of the team.  

We provide secure travel logistics for our clients so they can maintain their productivity and well-being wherever their interests take them. While our managers and agents always train and prepare for the worst, in normal circumstances good planning and procedures allow us to provide our principals with seamless transportation and security that they hardly notice as they move about their day.

For our principals, the so-called work/life balance is different than many people. They work a lot, some would say constantly. They have a profound sense of purpose and truly enjoy what they do, so the distinctions between “business and pleasure” are seldom black and white. The incredible productivity of our principals depends not only on good planning or isolated stretches of downtime, but also on an ability to combine days on end of hectic business activity with the capacity to smell the roses along the way. As this case illustrates, good international EP facilitates all of this.

At Allied Universal® Executive Protection & Intelligence Services, helping our clients getting from A to B is something we put a lot of effort into. Keeping them safe as they move around the country and the world is our first priority, of course. But smooth travel logistics does more than that. It allows our principals to make the most of their time wherever they go. By keeping their focus on running their business rather than running around looking for taxis, hotels and the next meeting, they get more done even when they are on the road. Ultimately, our goal is to replace the burden of travel with an experience that keeps them safe, productive – and even happy – when moving from A to B and beyond.

We help clients with emergency evacuations practically every year, and 2014 was no exception.

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.