SSI’s 2019 Quotes to Note: Security Execs On Industry Needs, Disruption & More

SSI rounds up notable quotes from security industry execs that tackle false alarms, artificial intelligence, IT and much more.

January 01, 2020 SSI Staff Jump to Comments

SSI has multiple features throughout the year that act as an outlet for the security industry’s best to speak their minds and share what has brought them and their companies success.

Below you will find some notable quotes from Hot Seat Q&A’s, roundtables and features published in 2019.

There are a lot of things going on in our industry right now that are extremely dangerous to the way we’ve historically done business. Adaptation and change are the new norm in our space. We’ve seen more disruption in the last five years than we’ve seen in the last 25 years. — Michael Morton, Chief Revenue Officer, EMC Security

False alarms are something that we’re consistently trying to tackle. And that goes into using better technology to verify false alarms, whether we start working with AI or just making it easier for customers to report false alarms, or avoid them in the first place. We focus on false alarms because they have a ripple effect. Experiencing false alarms tends to reduce customer usage, which leads to attrition. — Amy Becht, Director, Central Stations, Vivint

A pain point for us is really that this space is getting crowded. Maybe the better word for that is polluted because, for example, we have cable companies that are in our territories. [They] are bundling, and they’re really misrepresenting what they’re offering. — John Campau, Owner, Comtronics

We’re dealing more with IT departments now than we ever have. In the past we dealt with physical security, the electronic security department and all that. Now the IT people are making the decisions both on picking a product and then on running a product. You’ve got to have people and trained people that can handle the high-level networking. — Jim Muncey, President, Structure Works

The more a customer uses their system and finds value in it, the more likely they are to retain the service. In-demand and highly-engaging add-on services like video and automation generate additional RMR for service providers as well as a higher ROI for their efforts to acquire and activate new customers. — Philip Pearson, VP Sales Operations, Alarm.com

The integrator that chooses to go all-in to continue to develop their overall level of expertise in IT/IP-related areas will open the door to many opportunities as we move forward in the network IoT world. The end user wants all the facets of their security solution networked and easily managed, including remote management of their security. Video surveillance, access control, intrusion — all on one secure network. — Joe Grillo, Founder & CEO, ACRE

[Cybersecurity] is a constant threat. It’s not going to go away. That’s one of the things that gives me more gray hairs. It’s not like we’re going to come up with a technical solution, and two years down the road this is going to be something we’re not going to worry about. This is an issue we’re going to be worrying about the rest of our lifetimes. — Sean MacCarthy, VP, Versar Security Systems

We continue to see a great deal of interest surrounding video analytics and how our access control solutions can mitigate risk while establishing efficiencies across the enterprise. Data, both on-premises and in the Cloud, continues to multiply at a very high rate, commensurate with the growth in cameras, IoT devices and sensors being deployed. — Nimesh Patel, Director of Strategic Sourcing, Convergint Technologies