Who would have ever thought the remote monitoring market would hit close to $30 billion in 2011? Not us here at SIAC.
We’re heartened to hear that statistic, recently reported by IMS Research. They estimated 54 million customers use remote services, including alarm monitoring, video monitoring, physical access control, fire detection and PERS (Personal Emergency Response Services).
These numbers are good for our industry. They demonstrate we are relevant and growing. They also show how important it is that our installations should be of the highest quality and that monitoring personnel MUST be properly trained to handle two-call verification and customers who need help managing their security systems.
As more and more systems go into service worldwide, monitoring centers become more critical for follow-through to ensure we keep reducing unnecessary calls for police dispatch to alarms. As business continues to grow, our challenges continue to grow, because more systems go into place, and they are getting increasingly complex.
We urge you to join your local, state and national associations to get the right training so your monitoring personnel understand ECV (enhanced call verification) and how to explain safe operations of an alarm system to a new customer. Better training helps your business, and improves our image with local officials.
Our challenges are good ones – a $30 billion industry around the world. That also means we have big challenges, like proper monitoring and utilizing best practices, which are all part of our alarm management recommendations. That’s what SIAC does. Hit our Web site to find out more: www.siacinc.org.