Trends & Industry Issues

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Living in today’s uncertain world brings many challenges and changes every day, but it also brings new opportunities for those willing to expand their business offerings and learn new skills. Security companies are trusted by owners to protect and care for their families through system installation and monitoring.

I’ve been leading security industry sales teams since 1983 to record levels of achievement. Over the years I’ve learned a thing or two about managing sales teams.

There’s hardly a person in the electronic security industry that does not realize the value of networking, but mention the value of actively networking with fellow industry professionals, and you get a mixed reaction.

In the last six months many of us have endured changes to our daily lives that would have been unthinkable a few months earlier. The term social distancing has entered our lexicon; many of us now routinely wear masks to go about errands.

The Internet of Things (IoT) is finding its intake into the security and safety industry.Developments around the IoT, if observed from a distance, carry along products andsolutions with a closer fit for its eventual users. Connectivity makes life easierfor users,leading to opportunities such as remote and predictive maintenance.

Taking a service-based approach hasn’t always been the norm for security integrators, but the shift from traditional project-based sales is making it a necessity. For so long, security decisions were made by security leaders; but as the lines blur between IT and physical security, and as more security devices need to find a home on the network, it’s crucial for integrators to work alongside both departments.

So much of my background comes from being an end user and working as an integrator. Managed services aren’t new for so many of us; but selling them can be challenging. Especially when you may be essentially trying to fit a square peg in a round hole, as many customers are used to buying technology, having it installed and then being left to “run” it.

Historically, the vast majority of security integrators have relied on project-based sales generating one-time revenue to fuel the success and growth of their businesses. Even those that have maintenance and support options rarely sell multiyear service contracts.

Recurring revenue within the alarm industry has been the lifeblood of alarm dealers for decades. On the integration side of the physical security industry, however, many security integrators have historically had little or no recurring revenue.

Allied Universal, a security and facility services company in North America, is seeking to hire more than 1,000 security professionals in Arizona.