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the growing popularity of DIY- MIY systems, professional security dealers, installers and integrators have the opportunity to enhance their sales by incorporating these do-it-yourself systems into their current product arsenal. Consider: Over the last 15 to 20 years, the professional moni- toring market has been fairly well established—but that's not nec- essarily a good thing. In fact, for years the home security market has struggled to get beyond a penetration threshold of 20-25 percent. In other words, the con- sumer base that wants profession- al installation and monitoring as a solution has been very stagnant. That leaves anywhere between 75-80 percent of homes that are either disinterested in a security system of any kind (not likely) or looking for alternatives to the tra- ditional model (very likely). To be fair, many of the tradition- al, professional security-systems companies do offer DIY systems that can be installed by the con- sumer but are still monitored by a monitoring center. These systems highlight a willingness on the part of the industry giants to recognize that the traditional "we install it, we monitor it" model does not suit all consumers—certainly a step in the right direction. But what about adding sys- tems that are both DIY and MIY By Jorge Perdomo W IT h O u T a doubt, there has been an increasing trend toward DIY secu- rity systems, which are not only installed by the homeowner but also monitored by them (also referred to as MIY, or "monitor- it-yourself" systems). Many home- owners are discovering the advan- tages of these systems, such as eliminating the monthly fees asso- ciated with the central monitoring station that are such an inte- gral part of the p ro f e s s i o n a l offerings. While these DIY-MIY secu- rity systems h a v e b e e n well-received by consumers, there has been an understandable tendency for companies that sell profession- al systems complete with 24/7 monitoring to view these new- age systems as a threat. Many of these professional entities feel that their offerings are the most effec- tive way to provide a high level of security, particularly with a monitoring center that is watch- ing over your house 24/7. But the reality is, many homeowners don't feel the need for this "around the clock" surveillance, when literally no devious or dangerous activity is going on the vast majority of the time; they would rather just get a notification when something does happen, along with the ability to do something about it quickly and effectively. The desire of many consumers to avoid a monthly monitoring fee cannot be overstated. a report from Strategy a nalytics included the results of a recent survey showing that about 22 percent of online households currently subscribe to professionally moni- tored security, paying, on average, $39/month. When asking those not subscribing to security ser- vices how interested they would be if those services were free, 43 percent of online households reported that they were interested or very interested in security if it cost nothing. Still, there are consumers who enjoy the peace of mind of 24/7 monitoring, and are more than willing to pay for the service. a nd they prefer to have a professional install their system to ensure it's done properly. The point is that there is room for both types of sys- tems based on consumer needs, wants, budgets, and level of tech- nical "handiness." But the issue goes well beyond the simple fact that the consumer now has the choice between two separate and distinct avenues to achieve their security goals. With Self-monitoring systems: Friend or foe to the professionals? Jorge Perdomo MIY see page 11 SECURITY SYSTEMS NEWS Ja NU a RY 2018 www.securitysystemsnews.com Guest Commentary 9