Commercial Integrator + Security Sales - January/February 2025 - 66

SSI ROUNDTABLE: RESIDEO CONNECT
'A lot of small
security companies
are afraid of going
after RMR. If they
don't jump on it,
though, the harsh
reality is they won't
survive.'
- Kristen Siqueiros, CEO,
Langston Security &
Integration, LLC
" I see companies investing in growing
and moving and that's good for us, " he
says. " We've had a great four years [with
President Biden], but I expect the next
four years to be even better. "
Siqueiros is realistic that Trump's
election doesn't mean the U.S. is about to
become perfect, but she does expect it to
be better for the security integration business
as a whole and Langston Security in
particular.
" Problems never go away completely, "
she says. " The security industry is pretty
good about noticing trends and responding
to that. "
Security Integration World
Leads the Way in RMR Activity
When it comes to recurring monthly
revenue, the security integration world
has always been well ahead of other
integration sectors, including AV and IT.
With customers now paying monthly
subscriptions for just about everything
these days, it's a no-brainer for them to
do so for security systems, our panelists
say.
" There's value in peace of mind, " says
Cave. " There's a lot of time and money
savings for customers who are paying
those monthly fees for their security
systems. That monthly rate is nothing to
them. "
Fleenor calls RMR " the gas that powers
the engine, " adding it's " integrated in our
DNA. "
" The public has also been trained [to
pay monthly fees for alarm services], "
66 Commercial Integrator+Security Sales & Integration | January/February 2025
he says. " It's expected to go with security
systems. We don't get the pushback like
some other industries might. "
Siqueiros notes that recurring monthly
revenue has seen far too many small
companies, both in and out of the security
industry, step away from RMR out of
fear of upsetting or losing customers for
asking them to dig deeper in their pockets
every month.
" A lot of small security companies are
afraid of going aſt er RMR, " she says. " If
they don't jump on it, though, the harsh
reality is they won't survive. " The increase
in cloud security installations is the most
obvious way for security integrators to
jump in on recurring monthly revenue,
Siqueiros says.
Protection Systems " won't sell access
control without RMR, " says Lohr, meaning
customers who bristle at the monthly
fees have to fi nd someone else to do their
installations. That doesn't happen all that
oſt en, though, he says.
" People don't mind paying, " says Lohr.
" If you tack on too much, people wonder
if it's necessary, but we don't have too
much of an issue with how we do it. "
Fleenor has inspection agreements for
its fi re alarm systems, while Siqueiros
has similar deals for its access control,
closed-circuit television and call box
installations.
AI and Other Hot
Technology Trends
Although artifi cial intelligence is getting
the lion's share of the hype when it comes
to technology that will change and revolutionize
industries of all kinds, that doesn't
mean that it's the only thing security integrators
expect to become more regularly
requested by their customers.
" There's a huge demand for video
monitoring, " says Siqueiros. " It's a gamechanger. "
This
will be the year to " expand use of
video analytics combined with AI, " says
Fleenor.
Lohr notes that customers are coming
to him armed with a lot more information
today than they did when he fi rst started
in the security integration space.
" They see ads and start to expect what
they see in commercials, " he says. " It's
fascinating how they educate themselves. "
When it comes to incorporating more
AI capabilities in your security systems,
" you have to have some education behind
'Customers want to
call us and talk to
someone and rely
on somebody. When
AI replaces human
interaction, you
can run into some
problems.'
- Jason Cave, sales
manager, People's
Security Company
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Commercial Integrator + Security Sales - January/February 2025

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