SentryNet Conference Coaches Dealers for Future Growth
More than 100 alarm dealers attended SentryNet’s two-day “Beyond the Recession Blues” conference at the Isle of Capri Hotel and Casino in Lula, Miss., taking part in a variety of educational sessions and related activities.
The event, held April 28-29, kicked off with SentryNet President David Avritt congratulating dealers for surviving the recent economic meltdown by working hard and focusing proactively on keeping their current customer base of RMR.
Following the welcome, Gordon Hope, general manager for Honeywell’s AlarmNet communications business, involved the group in a lively discussion on where communications in the industry is headed, adding that POTs is losing 700,000 subscribers per month to broadband and other wireless services.
“A sea of change is rapidly transforming how people communicate, and security professionals who don’t embrace this transformation are putting their businesses at risk,” said Hope, who also serves as chairman of the Security Industry Association (SIA) Board of Directors. He added that dealers must focus on accommodating customers with what they want to buy and not what dealers sell them.
A panel discussion — featuring representatives from Visonic, AES-IntelliNet, Videofied and Emizon — focused on personal emergency response systems (PERS), mesh network radio communications, video verification and Internet communications. The group presented opportunities for developing new RMR from existing subscribers and finding an entirely new marketplace for security professionals using the aforementioned technologies.
Security Industry Alarm Coalition (SIAC) Director Ron Walters discussed new legislation and SIAC’s efforts to implement model ordinances nationwide. He discussed enhanced call verification (ECV), a new policy developed by SIAC to reduce law enforcement dispatch to invalid alarms. Currently, SentryNet has adopted the policy, which is now becoming a standard of the industry nationwide.
SentryNet also moderated a discussion with panel members who represented the residential, commercial, metropolitan and rural markets. They discussed their experiences through the recession and what they did to survive while others were watching their businesses lose ground.
Among the conference’s entertainment offerings, attendees were treated to an evening of live music at the Ground Zero blues club.
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