Business Tools

Did you know that the security industry has a good neighbor by the name of home controls/automation. This neighbor is so close all the security dealer has to do in look over the backyard fence. This neighbor has the capability of bringing in new customers, and can help generate more revenue and, yes, even more ...

Divorce. Hostility. Families broken apart. Estrangement. Collapse of family relationships. All are words or phrases that describe what happens when family members in family-run businesses are not ...

The current migration to IP-based solutions may be the most aggressive technological shift ever seen in the security industry, but dislodging decades of installed proprietary systems will be a long-term endeavor for proponents of open architecture. John Moss, CEO and co-founder of Framingham, Mass.-based S2 Security Corp., and a leading advocate for ...

The more I examine Pierce’s statement, the more I realized it is not so much that you have to find a new business, but find something that excites you like a new business. Most of us who own companies tend to have family involved in the business. As a result, family drives many of the ...

Manufacturers, dealers and integrators probably locked down their 2008 budgets two or three months ago, and now we’re approaching the end of the first quarter.

This will reveal just how good each company’s market analyses was when they finalized their numbers late last year, and it will show what the early chances are of reaching the full 2008 ...

When I retired from Security Associates Int’l (SAI) as its founder and CEO, I formed a company called GraybeardsRus. It was designed to provide an advisory board experience for small- to medium-size alarm companies that didn’t have an outside board of directors. It seems as though so many ...

An entrepreneur who splits time running a leading third-party central monitoring station and trade association work. A shrewd executive who helped the industry’s largest independent supplier join one of the world’s leading brands. A wunderkind who grew up in the industry and resurrected one of the nation’s best-known alarm companies. A globe-trekking developer/marketer of motion sensors who ...

As a committee member of the National Burglar & Fire Alarm Association’s (NBFAA) National Training School (NTS), Joel Kent hopscotch’s the United States teaching Certified Alarm Technician courses and other industry training ...

A case could be made that there is no industry that benefits society more than electronic security. There may be some that are its rival, but electronic security’s purpose of protecting and safeguarding people and property is about as noble as it gets. Just who are the individuals behind the industry championing that virtuousness? Who are the people with the business savvy, technical expertise and salesmanship that have built the industry up and ...

We’ve all been there. You need a new car. When you first start looking, it’s fun and exciting. Then you figure out what you want and compare it to what you can afford, and some of that excitement changes to nervousness and anticipation. By the time you get to the dealership and the lot vultures, er, auto sales professionals approach, your blood pressure has gone up ...

Whether it’s a major security system installation project or the magazine you now hold in your hands, one of the most satisfying aspects of professional life is seeing your hard labor transformed into a finished product of which you can be proud. For me, that moment is the delivery of the latest issue of Security Sales & Integration. I find it especially gratifying when ...

I think what Stang really means is that not only do we have to step outside our business and look at it through the eyes of newcomers, but we have to look at other businesses and industries to see what they can offer us in our business. Integration and convergence have become such hot ...

Q: I have a customer who wants me to modify some UL-listed panic hardware with a nonlisted retrofit kit. Does this void the listing on the panic hardware? ...

Brett Bean is one of the top young people in our industry. He’s in his mid-30s and has already built a company with operations in Chicago, Detroit and central Illinois. His company will soon be visible to all in a yet-to-be-defined location in the southeast. I would have to say that this company is one of the fastest — if not the fastest — growing alarm companies in the industry. The company has grown through diligence, hard work and ...

Finding oneself is one of life’s great mysteries and quests. It is an ambition that burns deep within our psyches. This drive has fueled great works of art and literature, and shaped our history since the dawn of time. Typically, we strive to accomplish this mission in early adulthood, leaving plenty of years to pursue and accomplish the goals necessary to achieve self-fulfillment. Many of you have found your sense of purpose by ...

Large corporations, industrial enterprises, retail chains, financial institutions, educational concerns, health-care providers and government agencies, among others, have been increasingly committed to and involved in ensuring their people and assets are as safe and secure as possible.

If you had just one really great idea you could share with the alarm industry, what would it be? ...

Large corporations, industrial enterprises, retail chains, financial institutions, educational concerns, health-care providers and government agencies, among others, have been increasingly ...

Remote Video System Monitors Shows Wrong House to Customer
2979 views

Guardian Alarm Does the Harlem Shake
1110 views

Alarm System Alert Users With WiFi Camera, iPhone App
4746 views

May 8, 2013
A Look at Thermal Imaging
6 photos

April 19, 2013
Photo Gallery: ISC West 2013 Highlights From the Show Floor
22 photos

April 18, 2013
FBI Releases Suveillance Photos of Boston Marathon Bombing Suspects
8 photos