As security systems migrate to IP, the systems integrator’s role will also have to evolve – being a mere installer of hardware devices will eventually render SIs irrelevant. Delivering integrated solutions to the end user has become more important than ever.
More and more, security systems such as video surveillance and access control have migrated to IP. New applications resulting from this trend, for example remote monitoring of sites and physical/logical access integration, benefit the end user in numerous ways. Against this backdrop, the systems integrator’s role will also have to evolve – being a mere installer of hardware devices will eventually render SIs irrelevant. Delivering integrated solutions to the end user has become more important than ever.
This article contains comments from some systems integrators whom we spoke with during secutech on this subject, as well as notes from an SIA Education seminar at ISC West 2016 titled “Integrators Meeting the Challenge,” featuring the following speakers: Ray Coulombe, Managing Director at SecuritySpecifiers; Andrew Lanning, CEO of Integrated Security Technologies; Joseph Lynch, CEO of Minuteman Security Technologies; and Brent Franklin, President of Unlimited Technology.
According to the integrators, the need for integrated solutions applies to virtually all areas, from enterprises to the smart home. “Till now, people do not have enough ideas about the importance of the smart home. People need it not only as a prestige – it’s part of life to monitor your house and to save energy for you, your country, and the next generation. People will understand more and more about integrated systems,” said Abdullah Al Malki, GM of ITQAN based in the country.
To meet the customer’s needs, the systems integrator must have the necessary capability and skills to deliver these solutions. “We mainly work on home automation systems, and we integrate security with intercom, sound system, and everything under one application. We are developing our application, using everything in the house with one application. Even the security, even the alarm system, even the intercom, we integrate all these together,” said Mohamed Salah, GM of Sudan-based Smart Home Safety Equipment.
“We do integration for clients from healthcare to higher education … they have all these different student or HR management systems. Integrating that to your access control system is very important for large facilities where you have multiple cameras and lots of people coming and going. We find ourselves doing a lot of that integration,” said a speaker at the ISC West seminar.
Engaging the Customer
With security becoming more network-centric, the SI should work side-by-side with the IT department of the end user organization to achieve a win-win situation. “We make sure that we get a relationship with the customer’s IT department. That's very important. Bring your IT guys in so we can talk about this with not just their security director; make sure that IT is involved from the beginning with whatever you are doing,” said a speaker at the ISC West seminar.
“The thing is, always be talking to the customer, understand what their pain points are. These IT departments are learning every single day. If you talk with them, lock arms with them, you learn as well as they are learning, you lock a customer for life,” said another speaker at the ISC West seminar.
“Every customer is different … their needs, their requirements. We actually can look at all the devices on their end and tell whether they are going to fail, whether they are hotter than they should be. We're doing some of those things. Again it's kind of customized to the customer, but you've got to understand what is it that they need, and if you can do that successfully, you'll make them stick,” another speaker said.