Opportunities Abound For Integrators in a Post-Pandemic World

While there’s seldom, if ever, a bad time for security companies to focus on growing their businesses, now is a particularly opportune time to do so. The pandemic paralyzed a great many small to medium sized businesses (SMBs) across many sectors from conducting business as usual, but this reality actually opened up a vast range of new opportunities for those working in the security space to help them through it.  

The abrupt and unexpected lockdown of facilities caused by the pandemic forced organizations everywhere into a new way of operating, as well as a new way of thinking, when it comes to their physical security needs.   

ESA research shows that there is a high demand and willingness among businesses to spend on security solutions and connectivity and upgrade their networks. In this ESX Education Rewind, SMBs – Expanding Opportunities with New Services, we highlight many new opportunities and business-growth strategies that security companies can leverage in this post-pandemic era. These were each discussed in this SMB session presented at ESX, which was led by a panel of speakers from across the industry. The panel was comprised of: Jeremy Bates, Bates Security; Alex Bertelli, CEO, Havenlock, Inc.; Warren Hill, VP Marketing & Partner Development, Alula;  James Reno, VP Commercial Sales, Alarm.com, Paul Williams, Chief Product Officer, Nice North America, and Preeti Agarwal, Senior Cyber Security Solutions Architect, Plume. 

Based on the premise that everyone’s lives have changed – both personally and professionally – over the past two years, the panelists provided several insights on how security dealers and integrators can capitalize on those changes as they pertain to new demand for expanded security solutions by SMBs. 

ACCESS CONTROL  

Access control needs have been impacted significantly both during and post-pandemic. This is not surprising, given the fact that the way a great many businesses operate has changed dramatically. Those changes have dictated a need for new access control policies and parameters. As the panelists discussed during the presentation, customers are really having to adjust their businesses quite a bit. Some have employees that are working from home, others have employees in the office, and still others are working within a hybrid model. In addition, some organizations have downsized their spaces, resulting in different employees taking different offices on different days. Reductions in office staffing on any given day may mean companies no longer have a receptionist or security personnel on site at all times, so adjusting access control for the building becomes very important. Depending on who’s there and when they’re there, access has to be set in the right way and the most important thing is that the building is safe and secure. 

The sudden shift in the workplace paradigm left many SMBs perplexed. It also presented security dealers and integrators with a whole lot of opportunities to communicate with customers and let them know they can provide solutions that will enable them to provide their employees with that signature environment while also helping with capacity planning, as well. 

VIDEO SURVEILLANCE 

The sudden shifts that the pandemic levied on the way many SMBs operate has also caused some shifts in the way they depend on video surveillance solutions, as well as advanced learning video analytics, and leveraging video verification to reduce false alarms. 

A huge opportunity for security dealers and integrators in the video space is giving customers the ability to effectively use the information that video surveillance cameras equipped with artificial intelligence capabilities can provide. This intelligence is proving especially useful in helping better define what and where response efforts are needed when alarms are triggered. 

Cloud-based video surveillance solutions are providing customers with a high value proposition. Connecting alerts from various reports and video footage or detections within that eco-system is going to become increasingly more desired as is enables off-site premises detection and activates devices to trigger an appropriate response to incidents. 

INCREASED USE OF CONNECTED DEVICES IS PROPLELLING THE NEED FOR BETTER CYBER SECURITY 

The pandemic forced some blurred lines between devices that employees use at home and devices they previously used at work. Those blurred lines have opened the floodgates to more cyber hackers infiltrating those devices and the data that is stored in them.  

Smart devices need protection, and this translates into the ability for dealers and integrators to provide added security. The privacy concerns of SMBs should be looked at from the customer’s perspective – and easy automation connectivity and convenient solutions also ranks high on end user’s lists of must haves. 

The panelist aptly discussed how new use cases for security solutions and technology during and post-pandemic is presenting new business-expanding opportunities for security dealers and integrators. They shared that customers, more now than ever, need to connect to their abilities and their properties and be able to see things in one app. 

The pandemic brought to a brighter light the fact that enterprises need to connect their systems and properties to be able to better secure devices used by employees so that cyber attacks can be thwarted. Security integrators savvy in cyber secure solutions have a hotbed of opportunities to help their clients better safeguard their assets and sensitive data. 

The points brought up throughout this presentation also shed light on a sometimes overlooked opportunity for dealers and integrators to present other, and often needed security safeguards to their facilities. And that is energy and environmental management solutions. Many office spaces still remain in a hybrid mode, leaving facilities unmanned to detect on site any potential environmental problems.  Issues like temperature irregularities, floods, or gas emissions need to be monitored, and these are additional value-add solutions that dealers and integrators can provide to customers.  

MOVING FORWARD 

While the COVID-19 pandemic surely did levy many unwelcome and very unfortunate circumstances on the world, circumstances that will never be forgotten or, for some, ever forgiven, it did shed some light on how the security industry can surely help mitigate its consequences and help people better safeguard people and property with robust technology solutions designed to better protect against its repercussions.  To view the SMBs – Expanding Opportunities with New Services presentation in its entirety, go to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bo0Gy22Y1qc