SECURITY & SURVEILLANCE Integrators Step In Amid Security Market Turmoil CE Pro's Security & Surveillance Deep Dive reveals 15% growth in security and surveillance installations over the past year, as the traditional residential alarm market is upended. by Jason Knott IS THE BUSINESS MODEL for traditional residential security dealers imploding and leaving the door wide open for custom integrators to take advantage? Possibly. At least that's the opinion of Lee Jones, a longtime industry consultant. He thinks the advent of DIY residential options from SimpliSafe and others has made life extremely uncomfortable for traditional alarm companies that used to be able to blanket their local markets with basic " two doors and a motion sensor " systems. Those low-cost installations are designed to garner lucrative monthly subscription fees and build a recurring monthly revenue (RMR)-based business. Today, much of that entry-level residential business has migrated to DIY systems with self-monitoring options, leaving the detritus of several longtime residential security companies in its wake. 62 | CE Pro November 2021 " The mandate for voice-to-voice communication [between the subscriber account and the central station] is dissolving, " Jones tells CE Pro. " Unnecessary Police Response (UPR) is terminology often used by law enforcement to express false alarms. A critical part of the RMR market and market value is the long-standing public-private partnership [between the alarm industry and first responders]. However, due to abuse of the partnership, credibility of private monitoring firms has deteriorated to slow or no site response for millions. All of the above suggest the market is compromised. " Jones' conclusion is that the security market is ripe for the taking by custom integrators, who bring an elevated, integrated installation to clients. The portion of the residential security market that has been somewhat unaffected by the cepro.com PHONLAMAIPHOTO/STOCK.ADOBE.COMhttp://www.cepro.com