Simplifying Site Management at Okada Manila Resort

Okada Manila has been accorded a Forbes 5-star rating for four consecutive years to date. To keep the resort abuzz, Okada Manila’s thousands of staff spread out across this expansive and scenic oceanfront property.

“From a physical control standpoint, it can be incredibly challenging to secure a property as diverse as ours,” says Kelly Billups, Executive Director of Security Technology Services for Okada Manila. “From a security systems perspective, we expect a very high level of capability to provide a strong layer of technical administration and proactiveness in regard to the overall security effectiveness for the property.”

To achieve that high level of supervision and monitoring, Okada Manila requires a security partner capable of simplifying the site’s complex management while offering controls capable of matching the resort’s elite standards.

But Kelly takes it all in stride: “It’s a huge operation, but the big benefit we have is that we’ve got Gallagher.”

Managing a Site Through Centralized Data

The scale of Okada Manila’s operation means managing their site’s security has the potential to become unwieldy rather quickly. Even simply controlling staff entry can become a monumental task with a requirement that all employees and third parties use one dedicated entrance and exit to a very sizeable back of the house area that extends nearly the entirety of the property.

To ensure such compliances are met across the site, Okada Manila relies on data reporting from multiple technologies to provide a bird’s eye view of the resort. Gallagher’s Command Centre integration capabilities make it possible.

From one centralized platform, Okada Manila can generate singular, chronological reports populated from multiple systems, enabling their security division to combine data from their back of the house applications, guest lodging, electronic key management system, lifts on the property, and custom HR interface to produce a holistic account of activities within the resort.
“We rely on Command Centre for that technical administration and to generate high-level reports,” says Kelly, “and those information sets are one of the key benefits of our Gallagher system.” Data reporting also enables Okada Manila to optimize site management.

“Beyond the expected service of access control, we’re looking for behavioral patterns in our reflective data and reports,” explains Kelly. “We maintain a combined proactive approach utilizing live data with other systems, as well as conduct random audits every month to get a sense of how individual parts of our resort are operating. That information can tell us the usual amount of time or frequency members of our team utilize a space, perform an action, or generally move about the property, which in turn helps us identify where additional staffing or resources are needed, or if any unusual activity is happening.”
 

A One Card Solution with Dramatic Results

But to achieve this level of oversight across their site, Okada Manila needs a single input tool for tracking those behaviors. To simplify the process and ensure compliance, Kelly introduced a one card solution.
Using a single card, employees can:

•     Enter the property
•     Operate lifts
•     Access restricted areas, guest rooms, and amenities
•     Interface with payroll time clocks, electronic key management, parking boom gates, and wardrobe services

Not only does this make it easy to collect data from multiple technologies, but this one card solution also removes the burden of managing several codes, key fobs, and cards for staff.
 

Locker Management Solution for 6,000 Lockers

But of all of these access card benefits, one in particular stands out: “If I were to lay claim to any one major win we’ve accomplished with Gallagher at Okada Manila, it’s what we did with staff lockers,” Kelly says. “We have around 6,000 lockers for staff and third parties on our property, and previously, as experienced in other integrated resorts, we were only able to secure and manage lockers with mechanical locking solutions. This meant investigating any events involving staff lockers was significantly challenging and not always successful. But once we applied Command Centre’s Locker Management Solution, we reduced undesirable events to nearly zero, and at the same time increased the efficiency of staff services.”
Using their one access card, Okada Manila’s staff secure their individual lockers, ensure they’re closed properly, and prevent unauthorized access. “Such a dramatic reduction in adverse events has been an incredible benefit to the business and our employees, who don’t have to worry about the safekeeping of their belongings anymore” explains Kelly. “And of course, it frees up security resources to focus on other things.”

Partnerships Beyond Security

With all the complexity surrounding Okada Manila’s operations, Kelly emphasizes that a supportive partnership is a key proponent among the resort’s top security needs.
“Partnership is everything,” says Kelly. “I know a lot of customers use less than 10% of the features when they deploy an access control system, but we always want more out of our system, so it’s important that we work with a vendor who we know is going to listen to our ideas.”

And Okada Manila believes they’ve found that kind of lasting partnership in Gallagher. “People ask me all the time, ‘Why the preference for Gallagher?’; I say it’s the ease of use, and most importantly, because they listen and cater to individual customer needs,” Kelly reflects. “It’s that ease of interface to a multitude of control and business systems, and you only get those results by really, truly listening and addressing your customer’s needs. Trusting in that partnership and being able to combine all the technologies I need into one platform is critical to our success with security technologies.”