Making a Change

Alarm verification -- a coming shift in the security industry

• By Jeff Brummett
• Mar 08, 2007

THE security industry has gone through many paradigm shifts during the last 100 years. As is the case with every paradigm change, there are winners and losers. The security industry is no different. Business paradigm shifts seem to always create new opportunities. However, some of those opportunities leave a wake of destruction and demise in its path. Seeing and understanding a new paradigm before it happens can make or break any company, regardless how big or small the company might be. Never underestimate the power of a changing paradigm.

One of the most famous examples of the power found within a paradigm shift is the watch manufacturing industry. In the time/watch industry it quartz technology leveled the playing field and created a paradigm shift in how watches were made. It ultimately facilitated the rise of Timex as the reigning worldwide dominant watch maker. At the same time, this new paradigm in technology facilitated the fall of the once dominant Swiss watch manufacturing industry. People born in the last half of the 20th-century are not old enough to remember when the Swiss watch manufacturers controlled more than 90 percent of worldwide watch sales. Imagine trying to compete in an industry where one country controlled that much of the market. How could anyone ever foresee such a dominant competitor toppled? Let alone, toppled virtually overnight? It happened.

The irony behind the fall of Swiss watchmaker was the fact that the Swiss manufacturers had a first look at the technology that ultimately spelled doom for their businesses. Instead of seeing opportunity for expansion and increased revenues, all they could see was a watch that had no gears and didn’t fit their existing business model. And that’s not something that just watch manufacturers have seen. Security professionals have encountered a shift, as well. In fact, it’s happening right now. It was outside their existing paradigm.

Shifting Gears
In the world of security monitoring services, one could say the advent of the “free alarm” installation for residential customers was a paradigm shift. Most central monitoring stations prior to the free alarm saw the commercial monitoring market as the market of choice. Central station monitoring companies that embraced the radical idea of supporting low-cost, consumer alarm installations, and went on to create successful dealer programs, saw account bases skyrocket. Those who didn’t were swallowed in the wake of change.

The next paradigm shift striking the security monitoring industry is the advent of verified alarms. False alarms have become a growing problem for security monitoring professionals. Today, nationwide alarm monitoring companies and installing security dealers are fearful. Companies are fearful of the impact that may result from a growing trend driven by a key partner in the business model—the police. Many law enforcement officials, weary from the drain that responding to a false alarm signal places upon the department’s limited resources, have begun to push the idea of requiring onsite verification of emergency signals. Without verification, police believe responding to false alarms is a poor use of already overtaxed department resources.

The alarm industry as a whole has been very slow to embrace the idea of requiring onsite verification for alarm signals. While offering a variety of reasons—examples of lives saved or criminals caught—many believe the underlying fear comes down to who will pay for services when police fail to respond? Could it be those fearful of that question only see the business through its current paradigm? There may be a better paradigm. Two complimentary companies in the greater New York City area may already have it in operation.

Opening the Box
Larry Dolin is a 26-year security system veteran. He is the president and CEO of American Security Systems, a successful New York alarm company and systems integrator. While many of his peers spend their time trying to support efforts to slow the trend of verified alarms, Dolin’s instincts told him to embrace the new paradigm.

“The way I see it, already some jurisdictions are already refusing to dispatch on unverified alarm signals. Police have a legitimate and reasonable concern. Some jurisdictions have enacted laws that result in highly punitive fines. Pandora’s box is open. You can either fight Pandora or make her your ally,” Dolin said. “Most security firms simply go on the daily routine of selling, installing and servicing. They read about these issues in industry magazines and hear it talked about at trade association events. Most don’t like what they’re reading or hearing. It represents a significant departure from the status quo. They feel helpless on the one hand, fearful on the other. The easiest thing to do is to support the status quo, and resist the change you fear. I’m just not so sure it’s the most profitable thing to do.”

“History tells us with change comes enormous opportunity. I see this as one of those opportunities. Video verification, I believe, is the coming staple service in professional security monitoring—especially among commercial properties that simply cannot afford police not to respond. That’s why I began searching for companies who could provide that high level of service a few years ago.”

After searching, Dolin said he realized few central stations were really equipped to provide efficient and meaningful video monitoring services.

“They’re just not set up to do it without going through wholesale changes in both philosophy and personnel,” Dolin said. “Most of them end up sticking their toe in the water without making the significant investments and wholesale changes they really need in order to do it well. I think that alone is the biggest reason you haven’t seen this service explode. The service that’s being offered to most customers today is a shell of the service that technology can deliver. We’re proving that here in New York with central station companies like Statewide Central Station and products like Video Doorman™.”

Dolin said a lot of barriers most central stations face revolve around the lack of technical proficiencies in existing personnel.

“They face the same challenges most security dealers face. Our technicians, like their operators, know very little about operating the sophisticated software these systems afford. The response to that challenge by both sides has been: ‘Well, if we’re going to have to do this, lets use the simplest system with the easiest (or fewest) features to learn,’” Dolin said. “I think that’s why you see so many frustrated people. In my mind, they are all frustrated for the same reason. Most central station companies do the same thing most installing dealers do. They end up dumbing down the equipment they use to help make it easier on employees, instead of increasing the quality of people to take full advantage of the improved product technology. At the end of the day, the result becomes a service offered that isn’t all that impressive, even when it works.”

That’s why Dolin decided to invest and partner with a small central monitoring station in Staten Island, N.Y., Statewide Central Station, a full-service, UL-listed, FDNY-approved central station. It has the type of management, ownership and staffing Dolin believes executes high-end, customer-driven video monitoring services.

“These guys are some of the most driven, technology savvy, central station service providers I have ever seen. They saw changes on the horizon and got out ahead of the technology curve. New York is a tough, competitive market,” Dolin said. “They have thrived in that market. Instead of fearing technology changes, they embraced those changes and staffed themselves to make the most of it. The only thing lacking was a great central station video product. Once we found American Sentry Guard and the POWERViZion central video monitoring product, we knew we had real, meaningful, high-performance video monitoring solutions and the ability to execute.”

Virtual Vision
Today, Statewide Central Station has grown to provide UL-listed monitoring services to dealers and clients throughout the United States and the Caribbean.

Sayeed Zaman, director of product development at ASG, said he agrees with Dolin about the current state of video monitoring sesrvices.

“We get approached by central stations in this industry all the time about our integrated video monitoring product,” Zaman said. “The fact is, when you sit down to talk, most of central stations just don’t have the technical staff to pull it off, even fewer are willing to make the financial commitment it takes to make it work.

“Statewide was certainly different in that regard. They have people who get it, and they were willing to put their money where their mouth was. I believe they are defining what a true, full service central station video monitoring service will look like for years to come. I can’t think of anyone who’s doing all the things they do, certainly not at the level they’re doing it. Dealers absolutely love them.”

The application and benefits of POWERViZion’s central station video product used by Statewide include real-time POS sales supervision, live streaming video with two-way audio, extended opening and closing services, customized programmed virtual guard tours, alarm verification and Dolin’s Video Doorman. All systems include vital signs health monitoring, which notifies Statewide Central Station operators before hard drives fail, or become full, prior to the intended cycle use.

“Our operators even know when a camera goes out, or its view is blocked or changed. We can immediately notify the dealer and/or the end user,” said Steven Coppola, director of technical services at Statewide.

That was exactly the kind of service and technology Dolin was banking on when he decided to develop a high-end integrated video/access control product call Video Doorman.

“Non-doorman buildings with this product can enjoy the same increased security peace of mind and conveniences of doorman buildings without the expense. In effect, the product gives equal rights to these tenants. The right to order on the Internet and receive UPS/FedEx, or local deliveries, such as flowers or laundry, that until now, simply wasn’t possible,” Dolin said.

Dolin has become a pioneer with the technology, working closely with his contacts in the NYC Housing Authority. Several of the building clients served by Dolin’s company have already activated the system in buildings with positive results.

The system allows the operators at Statewide to serve as virtual attendants, interacting with delivery service people, allowing for the monitored entrance to a building or access to a particular part of the building such as a storage area for the delivery of packages or services. When a signal is transmitted to Statewide, the operator, is notified that someone is at the entrance of a participating building. The operator can visually see the person on a monitor. Not only can the central station see that person, personnel also can communicate via two-way audio. Monitoring personnel can then grant or deny access; follow the person through the building, tracking passage from point A to point B; allow access to point B; remotely lock point B as they leave; then track passage back to point A and consequent departure from the building, locking the entrance. The tenant is then e-mailed or called for notification that a package is awaiting them when they return home.

Since installing the first few systems, Dolin said building tenants have requested a “video escort,” asking that operators at Statewide, when notified by the tenant upon entering the building, follow the tenant as a virtual escort to the appropriate floor.

Interactive, remote video monitoring promises customers a rapid response and safe supervised passage during sudden emergencies. Activated by the end user or security event, the response is immediate and verified. What started as a cry for help from law enforcement entities may end up in a paradigm shift, changing the way security monitoring services are delivered and managed.