INTERVIEW
The perfect partnership The remote monitoring of video and alarms is the final piece of the professional security jigsaw. The relationship between the installer and the alarm receiving centre (ARC) is key to the success of the project, so how can you work more efficiently with your chosen monitoring partner?
A Carl Meason
“I actually had the conversation with installers about a digital infrastructure around 15 years ago and got shot down for it so maybe I was ahead of my time!” 18
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security contract is only as good as the sum of all of its parts, and the ARC is a vital component of the application that includes the installer and the end user. Readers of PSI will already be working with a company that provides alarm monitoring to improve the protection of their customers, but there are issues that are on the horizon that need to be addressed such as the IP switchover and the rapid growth of AI. To find out more about the current state-ofplay with monitoring and how installers should involve the ARC more when it comes to system design and support, we spoke to Carl Meason, Managing Director at Fenix Monitoring, an ARC that has used technology to reduce false activations by 77% in a year: How has 2023 been for you? The year has flashed by! Overall, it’s been very similar to the previous three years from lockdown, business hasn’t stopped. During the pandemic, organisations were leaving buildings empty so there was a big requirement for protecting vacant properties. Through that period people started to understand the value that electronic security could bring them especially when remote security and technology is used to complement existing physical security measures.
As a result, I’d say that 2023 has been fantastic for the ARC industry and for installers as well because we have seen a whole new revenue stream come through due to our technology enhancing the existing manned guarding services on site. A lot of Financial Directors have caught onto the fact that getting value from security officers isn’t about cutting hours, it’s about complementing them with electronic kit and monitoring services. Over the year we’ve seen lots of growth and plenty of new installers starting up as well. How has the IP switchover been going? We’re in a good position with the move to digital because Fenix has been running for five years so we don’t have masses of legacy equipment that some ARCs do. Of course, as we’ve taken on new installers, we’ve also brought some legacy technology onboard and where we have incentivised customers to replace it, it has work quite well because we are able to have that conversation upfront. I think the message is getting out there, but I do fear there has been apathy about the need to act before the 2025 deadline, although this seems to be dissipating and people are taking action. I actually had the conversation with installers about a digital
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29/11/2023 04:01:46