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.

Essen 2012

The bi-annual Essen Security exhibition has now closed for another 2 years.

Boasting a huge array of Halls and technology to visit, surely Essen has now rightfully claimed its title as THE Security Exhibition to visit ahead of rivals such as IFSEC?

Essen security show

Spread over 11, yes that’s 11 Halls, Essen needed a transport system of its own inside just to get us from hall to hall !

Talking of transportation, the travel system, namely the hugely efficient DB Train system, delivered us on time every day – if the platform board showed 1 minute until the next train, 1 minute it was!

Anyway, back to the show.

Notable massive stands (or booths as our European friends referred to ) were Bosch, Honeywell, Siemans.

Bosch had their representation of an aircraft, complete with actual airline seats to sit and listen to the presentations! Rumour has it (and only rumour because we weren’t invited!) that all visitors to their stand (oops, booth) were taken out to the back of the Bosch area and treated to a full 3 course cooked lunch!!! Now that is customer care!

security shows

Interesting that their flagship new MIC 550 was represented by one, solitary lonely looking model on top of one of their product podiums…….

The British contingent were represented in the BSIA section by the likes of GJD with their HD CCTV lighting solutions, Elmdene and NVT. Also present for the first time at ESSEN was 360 Vision Technology, brave guys taking their range of Predators into the back garden of Bosch MICS!!!!

Talking of 360 Vision, they certainly flooded their stand with multiple-coloured Predators! Gold, orange, green and JCB Yellow ensured that sun glasses were needed for this UK manufacturer!

Into Hall 2 and the mighty Geutebrueck had an amazing stand – packed with staff and visitors it seemed for the full 4 days!

Some great video Analytics were observed over at the UDP Technology stand – fully expecting these guys to be taking the UK by storm real soon with their very clever technology!

MP was represented amply by the usual guys – Arecont and Avigilon had excellent displays.

We spotted  Todd Rockoff  at the show as well spreading the word about HDcctv . Keep watching this space for more news from Todd soon.

Visitors attending the show were from far flung regions – talking with some of the exhibitors, they had seen good quality leads from US, Asia, Australia, New Zealand, Middle East and of course the main Euro regions – affirming Security Essen’s status as a truly International show.

It therefore must beg the question, with such a high quality show held only every 2 years, is there now room for a smaller, certainly less well presented IFSEC anymore in the UK? We paid fairly low airline fares to Dusseldorf, stayed in a clean, functional but inexpensive hotel (compared to London or Birmingham hotels) and travelled effortlessly, cheaply and efficiently on excellent transport to and from the halls.

Our opinion? Security Essen is the show that is worth visiting……and waiting for!

SPC iPhone app for Siemens intruder alarm

SPCanywhere Mobile App

Siemens have announced the release of SPCanywhere – the mobile application solution for SPC.

SPC iPhone app
SPCanywhere will work with with iPad 2©, iPad©, iPhone 4©, iPhone 3GS©, iPhone 3G©. The new SPC iPhone app gives the iPhone user a powerful interface to control his SPC intruder alarm system from anywhere. Using advanced graphics and mapping the SPC iPhone app can let you easily see the status and condition of your alarm giving reassurance of the state of the premises. Setting or unsetting your SPC intrusion system is simple,also check the status of all of the zones on your system and also to get live CCTV images from the IP cameras connected to SPC.

Link to SPC iPhone app

 

Changing security companies

When is it time to change your security provider? Is it better the Devil you know when it involves CCTV, access control and Intruder alarms or, if you don’t shop around are you in danger of paying well over the odds for your security systems?  There are generally two driving forces that make end users look at changing their security providers. The first is the after service they receive, the second is ongoing costs.

security service provider

Most companies decide to make a change because they are fed up of service levels they are receiving. Recent economic conditions have meant many security companies have had to make cut backs in order to survive, this invariably leads to poor service. It is also the case that prices have had to be squeezed at point of sale and this often leads to poor installations or the provision of cheaper, sub-standard kit. This can only lead to problems for the end user in the future.

So what is the best advice when choosing both a service provider and installer?

Firstly get references, talk to other companies that have used the security supplier and ask about their weak points and service levels.

Next, run a credit check. A good security company is a solvent one.

Always ensure they belong to an affiliated inspectorate such as the SSAIB or the NSI.

Ask to look at an installation or get a demonstration of their products.

Make sure the goods you buy are not closed protocol, once this type of system is installed you are trapped , going elsewhere for service becomes very difficult.

Always insist on a specification.

Ensure the equipment is of good quality and comes with manufacturers guarantees.

Good installers will have health and safety well covered. Ask for examples of  risk assessments.

Check their insurance meets your needs as a company.

 

Swapping service providers can be a pain and many security companies will do everything in their power to make things difficult. Not providing codes or central station details will make life tricky and keeping drawings and specifications away from the end user will mean they can’t provide it to third parties to help them formulate a quote . As a customer you have every right to this information, so insist you get it at the point of installation.

At the end of the day, you, the customer have the power to change and seek better value if you are unhappy with your security provider so don’t hesitate to take action, where your companies security is at stake.

Has the NSI lost its way ?

For those that don’t know, the NSI is the regulatory body that oversees the security industry, in the old days they were only interested in Intruder alarms and to be fair the regulation they imposed and enforced rigorously with member companies was very helpful to the industry. It meant standards were good amongst members and insurance companies would only insure those clients who had their intruder alarm installed to a “NACOSS standard”. In a way this was jobs for the boys.  If you were in the club then it would exclude electricians from poaching your business just because they could do it cheaper and were not burdened with the paperwork that goes with a properly installed intruder alarm system.

NSI GOLD installer

The NSI went further though, if you were a company that wanted to embrace other disciplines within your portfolio such as CCTV and access control,  the NSI insisted that if you wanted to display the NSI logo on your company paperwork or vans,  then you also had to install CCTV and access control to their standards and pay for and issue certificates accordingly. OK this was just about bearable and the additional costs could be absorbed. However insurance companies did not drive end users to use NSI approved installers for CCTV and access control in the same way they did for Intruder alarms therefore the commercial advantage was not so great to be a member of the NSI club.

Further standards were introduced though such BS8418 for monitored CCTV in order to involve insurance companies and the Police and it was hoped they would then insist all monitored CCTV could only be done by the NSI members. All in all though this initiative failed, the insurers either did not care or found it was of no advantage to them to insist on BS8418 systems to be installed, the Police were overcome with apathy.

Now though we have a whole new ball game. IP CCTV is changing everything. Security companies are competing with IT integrators and the IT boys are totally unburdened with regulation.The playing field is not fair anymore and security companies are being weighed down by the NSI.

We need changes and we need them fast. What’s good for the goose is good for the gander. So NSI, either the IT integrators must be forced to issue certificates and install to the same high standards that is expected of security companies or CCTV must be deregulated to mean a company that installs both intruder alarms and CCTV does not have  suffer the overheads that the NSI brings with it.