Security Sales & Integration October 2022 - 34

Fire & Intrusion
Connecting Customers
With Monitoring Centers
from school. Customers can handle this on their
Calls rated at a
lower level may
not warrant a call
for immediate
assistance. This
information will
help monitoring
centers prioritize
calls to first
responders,
resulting in fewer
requests for
assistance.
mobile phones without outside involvement.
" When an alarm transmits signals, our system
simultaneously sends the signal to all users
and the monitoring center, " says Vail. " Customers
may cancel the application's alarms or
verify an emergency, requesting immediate
calls to first responders. There are many actions
customers can perform with the system that a
monitoring center cannot. "
He says this system works well with younger
end users - those under 40 - who strongly
favor communicating via a text message instead
of a phone call. Manufacturers are bringing the
alarm system in forms end users prefer. Customer-operated
smartphone apps work well
with monitoring centers, says Raisanen.
" End users receive immediate alerts. Sometimes,
they've fixed a problem before we call
them. For example, they use cameras in their
homes to see if a kid forgot to disarm the alarm
panel. That's one less thing for us to handle. Everyone
is happy. "
Sears is also a proponent of a single customer
app that controls most residential security. Most
of his customers are monitored by a nationwide
provider. " I personally love and use the apps daily.
It keeps me connected to multiple locations
at the same time. It's one of the best things that's
happened to our industry. It allows us to be a
true partner with our customers. In the past it
was 'your system' to now we are hearing 'our system,'
that's huge for our industry. "
He says both Silent Guard and its monitoring
center invest heavily in health monitoring
resources for their customers. His company uses
a text messaging platform to communicate with
its customers, notifying them of trouble signals,
alarms and other events that might occur.
Raisanen says she wants system manufacturers/service
providers to share component
changes with monitoring centers before introducing
them to the dealer community and
end users. " We want to ensure things are ready
with the technology in place at our end before
changes are implemented. "
According to Sears, good communication
between manufacturers and Silent Guard is
important for his business. One of the current
issues involves delays in getting required
inventory. " We need more communication as
we don't want any surprises. Communicate and
then at the end of the day, communicate more.
Many times, there are solutions if they would
just reach out and let us know what's going on.
That would be a win-win for both of us. "
Verification Cuts False Alarms
False alarms are a problem facing the entire
industry. Recent studies show that up to 94%
of alarms are false - mostly due to end-user
errors. Many law enforcement organizations
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Security Sales & Integration October 2022

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