From paper to AI in security
Key stats
- 46 million visits per year
- 28% reduction in violent assaults
- 50% reduction in time to report
Manchester Arndale – from paper to AI in security
Overview
From paper to AI in security
Industry: Retail
Company Size: 130,000 employees
Location: Manchester, United Kingdom
Responsibility for the safety and security of these visitors rests with the OCS on site security team.
With the tragic events of the 2017 Manchester Arena bombing within recent memory, the head of security wanted to improve their understanding of threats and risks at the Manchester Arndale.
Challenge of threats, risks and data
Before working with SIRV, Manchester Arndale was facing a fractured data landscape, an incomplete risk picture. They needed a solution to:
1) Address immediate reporting needs
2) Present data as one coherent picture
SIRV was introduced to Manchester Arndale in 2023, at which point good report practices were in place. However, to better understand where and when incidents occur a new digital system of internal reporting was needed, along with analysis and data visualisation.
In time, management wanted to:
- Improve its understanding of their threat and risk landscape by combining internal and external data sets
- Develop an application to support major incident decision making
- Enhance staff deployment
Solution
SIRV began a three-month trial at Manchester Arndale in 2023. A need analysis was performed to understand the security team’s requirement. As a result, a data capture, analysis and visualisation solution was introduced. After a successful trial the solution was optimized to achieve best fit.
During 2024 and 2025 a new major incident application was specified. The security team were looking for key features such as:
- Bi-directional mapping of the internal and external environment to allow users to interact live with Streetmap and schematics.
- Decision log
- Asset identification and tracking
Artificial intelligence
A review was undertaken to establish where artificial intelligence will increase efficiency and augment current processes. The review highlighted a number of areas where the SIRV AI agent Cal, can support both the security and compliance teams, for example:
- Providing control to a core workflow which impacts security, operations, retailers and third parties. The workflow provides for human in the loop (HITL) approval, notifications and third party risk profiling.
- Procedural and process knowledge base for security related questions
- Risk assessment and method statement triage
- Querying of SIRV data using Cal’s natural language interface.
Client testimonial
“We’ve had an outstanding experience working with SIRV and are highly impressed with the quality and impact of their IT security solutions. The implementation of their Electronic Daily Occurrence Book (EDOB) has significantly raised the standard of our incident recording and operational reporting. It has brought structure, consistency, and clarity to our daily security processes, making record-keeping far more efficient and reliable.
In addition, the custom visualisation dashboard developed by SIRV has been a game-changer. By extracting data directly from the EDOB and presenting it in a clear, structured format, the dashboard has dramatically enhanced our ability to analyse trends, identify potential threats, and make faster, more informed decisions. As a result, our department’s ability to respond to incidents has improved significantly, and our overall situational awareness has never been better.
SIRV’s solutions have not only streamlined our processes but have also added real value to our security operations. We highly recommend them to any organisation seeking innovative, reliable, and effective security IT solutions.”
— Phil Roberts. Head of Security, Manchester Arndale, OCS
Key takeaways
- The technology landscape is changing rapidly; with a willing, collaborative partner, huge benefits can be realised
- When making a software purchase decision, it’s important to consider a partner’s development pipeline
- Investment in information technology can significantly improve an organisation’s situation awareness and resilience
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"SIRV helped us move beyond basic reporting into a system that actively supports decision-making". Les O'Gorman, Director of Facilities, UCB - Pharma and Life Sciences
