Fixed fees for annual NSI membership?

Recently in the security headlines was the news that Stanley security solutions had been elevated to gold membership of the NSI. This is no mean achievment for an organization of  the size of Stanley and very welcome news for the NSI itself. The reason the NSI will be rightly overjoyed is the new money that Stanley will bring to the organization. Being a gold NSI member means every aspect of installation work will need to be certificated. So a simple door access system will cost Stanley a small but by no means insignificant amount and the same goes for a CCTV system and an intruder alarm.

NSI gold approved security company

The NSI have been funded by charging member companies for certificates since its inception but the financial downturn has had quite an impact on the number of systems being installed and thus the number of certificates being issed. less certificates equals less revenue. This has led the NSI to have a re-think about how it can possibly fund its operation going forward and as result the idea of a fixed fee for membership has been mooted. This could have a huge impact on smaller installers who quite possibly would have to pay the same amount to issue 10 certificates per annum as some of the larger organizations who issue thousands per year.

Is this fair? Well its not been confirmed yet but it seems that by even thinking about this route forward the NSI is making every effort to ensure its own survival in very difficult times but at what cost to the overall security industry itself? We sense a potential rift and opportunity for other inspectorates to step into the breach, we will have to wait and see but we sense a shift of allegiance for many security companies could be just around the corner.

NSI guardians of high standards or a burden on the security industry?

NSI or is it Nacoss, but for many years this organization has been the enforcer of regulation and standards within the security industry. Many companies aspire to be NSI Gold approved and the kudos that goes with it is worth all the effort and costs involved. We ask however, is this starting to change?

NSI gold approved security company

Over the last two years within the security industry we have seen a seismic shift away from quality in favour of cost savings. This has meant that the smaller installers and have a go electricians,who had previously been shut out by strict regulation are suddenly finding they are winning jobs and making good profit. Sometimes, but not always, they are able to get away with poorly installed security installations and walk away with the money, much to the ongoing disgust of the larger installers out there. How is this possible though? Why are the big boys losing out? The answer is simple. It’s the overbearing overheads that NSI compliance demands that is dragging the larger company’s margins to breaking point. Add to this the end users lack of concern and disregard to regulation in favour of lower costs and we can see that some of the larger organizations out there are looking at being an NSI gold installer as becoming commercially unviable.

 

When NACOSS first hit the scene before becoming NSI, the improvement in false alarms from badly installed intruder alarms was astonishing. Regulation worked and insurance companies embraced the fact and so did the police. To be fair intruder alarms are not really much of an issue here. The problems for the big boys lie elsewhere.

 

Regulation then started to force its way into other areas of security installations. The NSI started to eye the CCTV industry and those who installed access control. Although not insurance driven, Nacoss decided that these disciplines should also be rigorously regulated. The problem is lots of larger security companies installed all 3, Intruder alarms, access control and CCTV. The NSI insisted any company who issued certificates on intruder alarms must also issue them on CCTV and access control. At £30 odd quid a go this adds cost straight away. In addition corrective response times and maintenance performance targets were also included. This means staffing levels must be increased as a 4 hour response became mandatory on all security systems. Now a smaller company cannot possibly compete in the servicing side of things but when a new job is out there to be won many company MD’s did not care too much about aftercare. Just the bottom line of the cost of the installation matters. With many businesses now self insured against theft and malicious damage there are no insurance companies telling the end user they must install their security systems to NSI standards. Therefore you can see why the smaller guys are winning jobs.

handcuffs on business

So does this mean that the ADT’s and Chubb’s of this world may look to move away from the NSI? We don’t know but  IP CCTV is also changing the way that the NSI will need to operate. At the moment they are not moving fast enough. Even so how can the NSI impose regulation on a security installer but not an IT integrator? The commercial advantage to the integrator would be huge. Admittedly the installation may not be as good or reliable but when the FD of the purchasing company looks at 3 quotes, seemingly identical , he is not going to question the issue of an NSI certificate or the relevant standards at that point. This means the CCTV installer is out of pocket. To us it seems despite all the CCTV installers hard work on his quotes, if things don’t change he will be going out of business fast!!! .

 

So is the NSI in danger of being dropped by the security industry? Will they all inevitably abandon the NSI ? Unless a more sensible and fairer system can be worked out then we think the answer could well be yes!