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What do you think the long-term impact of the 2020 pandemic will be on security technology trends and the industry? Is a move towards contactless access control across the board now inevitable? Will successes with video analytics such as face mask detection and people counting lead to increased adoption in other areas? How will the non-security applications of security systems change its use over the next few years?
Challenging circumstances have been witnessed across many sectors throughout the UK during recent months, but this has also highlighted how technologically advanced the fire and security sector is. For many years, various manufacturers have had great features available, but until now their full potential has not been realised. Take intruder alarms, for example, the Upload/Download capabilities for providing remote support for alarm systems have been available for many years, but less than 10% of security companies use this feature, instead preferring to send an engineer to site.
Many installers will see this as a way of physically demonstrating to the end-user that they are getting the full service they are paying for. However, how often do you see an engineer when you have an issue with your broadband router?
The pandemic has highlighted that being able to access systems remotely is now a vital feature as it means that critical security systems can still be serviced and maintained without the need for an engineer to attend site – although some issues will need on-site support.
Signalling providers, panel manufacturers and CCTV companies have great tools for providing this remote connectivity and we are going to see more installers wanting to utilise these features to help ensure that they can offer uninterrupted service to their end-users. In the ever-evolving world of M2M and IoT, there has never been a more important time than now for us all to embrace this technology and maximise the benefits it can bring.
Our industry is in a leading position to deliver this remote support and I believe we will start to see this become the norm for professional installs.
The tools are there to allow our industry to provide ‘business as usual’ service on-site or if needed, from a computer in the office. Let’s embrace it!
John Coleman, Head of Sales UK and Ireland, CSL
