Security Systems News

JAN 2018

Security Systems News is a monthly business newspaper that reaches 25,100 security installers, product distributors, central stations, engineers & architects, and security consultants. Our editorial coverage focuses on breaking news in all major se

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Honeywell focuses on how to differentiate, disrupt, and deliver Continued from page 22 overwhelmed with requests for sponsorships or their desire to help many areas of the com- munity—don't overcommit, Hood advised. For example, EPS tries to only donate money where it will also donate its time. Custom Alarm is based in Rochester, Minn. Brinkman gave examples of how the com- pany has gotten involved. The company has been very involved with United Way, said Brinkman, as well as with local efforts like Fire Prevention Week and Litter Bit Better, which gathers volunteers to clean up road- sides in the area. Custom Alarm looks to focus its efforts on specific areas, such as aiding people in crisis and the development and support of children. Brinkman also organizes where it devotes resources, looking at who is suggesting the charity—a customer or an employee—and if it is an employee, whether they are also donating time or money as an individual. While there can be positive benefits to a company helping its surrounding commu- nity, all speakers stressed that this should not be the largest factor in starting a community service effort. Friday, Nov. 10 Three words were projected above the stage before the first general session: Differentiate. Disrupt. Deliver. These three words serve as the main themes for Honeywell's 2017 CON- NECT and I saw some of that in the previous day's sessions; differentiating your company by being more involved in the community. The general session started with a video address from Michael Flink, president of Honeywell Security and Fire. He highlighted the theme and introduced Mandy Harvey, a singer who differentiated herself by singing and making music despite having lost her hearing. Harvey performed her original song "Try" live on stage here in San Diego. Following Harvey's performance, Scott Harkins, Honeywell's GM connected home, came on stage and addressed the theme of "Disruption." Companies that want to do well in the industry need to be open to the idea that disruption is possible in the industry, he said. Harkins addressed the recent spin-off of Honeywell's residential and ADI businesses, which total a $4.5 billion entity. The com- mercial security and access control sides, a $5.5 billion business, will remain within Hon- eywell. This will allow both businesses the ability to be more disruptive. Harkins outlined the market into three categories of U.S. households; the 20 per- cent without broadband internet, 60 percent that have internet but don't currently have a security system, and an additional 20 per- cent that have internet and a security system installed. Honeywell recently announced a DIY-installed home security system, and it is currently on the crowdfunding site Indi- egogo. This system is a way for Honeywell dealers to compete in the other 60 percent of the market, Harkins said, calling it "profes- sionally-enabled DIY." Alice DeBiasio, Honeywell's VP and gen- eral manager of software solutions, took the stage to talk a bit about the company's work in 2017. This year, Honeywell launched 10 products in its hardware business and more than 10 software offerings. The company has also improved its pace of release, she noted: it launched its lyric platform in 12 months time, then its Lyric Gateway in less than 10 months, and the com- pany's new DIY system is on pace to be less than 9 months. The company released a new version of its Total Connect app, which has been highly rated by users, DeBiasio said. One thing the company is working on now: partitions. Honeywell is working to enable users to arm and disarm different partitions of their property and assign different users to different partitions. Josh Linkner, the first keynote speaker of this year's CONNECT, delivered his pre- sentation "Harnessing Innovation: Fresh approaches to Growth, Creativity, and Trans- formation." Linkner has authored three books and founded multiple companies, including Eprize and Detroit Venture Partners. To open, he said his goal was making the terms disruption and innovation more tan- gible and accessible. A theme throughout his presentation was that people should can, and should, stop and apply creativity in their busi- ness challenges. He challenged attendees to think of one new idea for innovation; even if it's not imple- mented, professionals will start to think in that direction and that can even spread to coworkers, he said. After Linkner's presentation, Honeywell's Medal of Honor award was presented to Doyle Security Systems and accepted by Kevin Stone, Doyle's chief operating officer. Jerry Camarillo, operations manager for Dillard Alarm Company, presented one of the day's first sessions "Building RMR into Your Video Business Model." One of the technolo- gies that Camarillo highlighted was MAXPRO Cloud, Honeywell's cloud-based hosted ser- vices platform for access control and video surveillance. "There's a different way to make RMR now," Camarillo said. Within the "Building RMR into Your Video Business Model" session, Tim Sutliffe, regional sales manager for Honeywell Security and Fire, looked at a couple examples where equipment that is being installed today could utilize MAXPRO Cloud. When looking at the examples, Sutliffe pointed out that there's a certain amount of up-front revenue, but more RMR that can be gained through adding this offering. Adding RMR services to a system that was already being sold by a dealer is a way to be disruptive in the industry, Sutliffe noted. John Cerasuolo, president and CEO of ADS Security, gave advice for onboarding, ways companies can make their best first impres- sion to new employees with some examples from ADS' processes. "I really spend most of my time on building the culture of our com- pany," he said, underlining company culture's importance. "Sometimes it's easy to overlook the cultural stuff." In his presentation, "Onboarding Employ- ees for Success," Cerasuolo looked at several phases and scenarios for new hires and new employees. Companies can also get involved after an employee has been selected but before they start. ADS sends a fruit basket to new employ- ees. "I can't emphasize enough how signifi- cant [that] is," Cerasuolo said. Companies should prepare for new employees, he said, meaning having all equipment—uniform, work phone, tablet, work vehicle—ready when a new hire arrives. Additionally, people in the company should be aware of the new hire. Clearly conveying the company's culture is also important with onboarding employees following an acquisition, he said. Conveying the right message to new employees isn't something that owners and business leaders can delegate, according to Cerasuolo. "To do it right, it needs the involvement of the senior leaders," he said. At the start of the day's second general ses- sion, Quentin Gunther, Honeywell's dealer development manager, gave awards to com- panies that have now been Honeywell dealers for 20 years—Interface Security Systems and Western Alarm—or 25 years: Golden Bear Alarm, KST Security, Pasek Corporation, and RFI Communications and Security Systems. Several dealers got on stage to share their views on disrupting, differentiating and deliv- ering. First, ADS' John Cerasuolo, talked about ways Honeywell products can help a business like ADS differentiate itself. ADS is exclusively using Honeywell products for its residential business, he said. Specifically, Cerasuolo looked at the Lyric product, which has been positively reviewed by ADS' installation team, sales team and its customers, he noted. He highlighted three main benefits to offering the Lyric. It allows dealers to more effectively control and man- age the installation process, it helps reduce service costs, and with new features coming out for AlarmNet 360, it can help to cut attri- tion, he said. "That's a combination that you just can't avoid," he said. Alexandra Curtiss, Alarm New England VP, talked about her approach to starting a DIY business. One step Curtiss took was calling large competitors, such as LiveWatch and SimpliSafe, to see how they go to market. Curtiss suggested that attendees should call their customers, to see if they are pleased with their service or if they might like more aspects to their system. By understanding the market, companies can better understand how they are different and teach their reps to speak to that differentiation. Scott Hightower, president and CEO of Verified Security, addressed the topic of delivering the best results, both for industry businesses and their customers. In order to deliver, Hightower said that companies need to do a few things: be innovative in the offer- ings, provide solutions, give reliability, and support the products and services. Hightower also addressed several ways that companies can know if they are delivering, such as customer surveys, net promoter score or by getting reviews or testimonials. Honeywell's Life Safety Award was given this year to Graham Bloem, the founder of Shelter to Soldier, a charity that rescues dogs from shelters, fully trains them to be psychiat- ric service animals, and pairs them with a vet- eran who is recovering after returning home. Veteran Vic Martin came on stage with his service dog to talk about how the program changed his life. "Why believe in the cloud?" This question was the session title and main point for Scott Hightower's educational session, one of the final selection of sessions for the day. Hightower opened with an overview of what is good about the cloud. Cloud is well tested, Hightower pointed out, and cloud services have been in other industries longer than they have been in the security space. The cloud also presents an RMR opportunity for installers as well as lower initial costs for cus- tomers. Additionally, products in the cloud evolve faster, with quicker fixes to problems. In the presentation, Hightower dis- cussed his company's work with the cloud, Co NN e CT 2017 see page 30 SEC ur IT y S y STEMS n EWS January 2018 www.securitysystemsnews.com Residential s ystems 25

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