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Convergence Channel MANAGING THE IMPACT OF FALSE ALARMS paul@matterhornconsulting.com The "convergence" of newer technologies, new competitors and new customer preferences require business owners in the security industry to rethink their business strategies in the future. Learn how to save the environment, your business environment that is. With tax revenues down and costs of running a police department going up, what decision would you make if $633,000 of your budget was spent on responding to false alarms? O nce upon a time … long, long ago … I started my security career as an alarm service investigator (ASI). T is meant between midnight and 8 a.m. I carried a toolbox and a gun, the latter for protecting myself and the former for fi xing false alarms. Once dispatched from the UL central station, I would rendezvous with the local police or sheriff 's department patrol to investigate the cause of a burglar alarm signal. My job was to either assist in the capture of a perpetrator or determine and repair the cause of the false alarm. T e process of troubleshooting was methodical and assisted in real-time by the central station supervisor. T e objective was clear. Find and fi x the cause of the system's false alarm while I was onsite to avoid a repeat trip the next night. When the cause of the system's problem could not be determined, there was lots of paperwork and follow-up with the day shift service department, which would then deploy experienced service technicians to repair or replace system components. It was important to "own" the false alarm issue from several perspectives, which included company reputation, customer satisfaction, police cooperation, and response to our primary business product: alarm monitoring and dispatch. New trends and market dynamics today are forcing security businesses to own up to false alarm issues more than ever before. Changes to the competitive landscape and customer preferences mean security company owners and operators must rethink their current and future business strategies. 20 / SECURITYSALES.COM / OCTOBER 2012 RESPONDER CUTS, DIY MARKET GROWTH In December 2011, the San Jose (Calif.) Police Department announced without any warning it would no longer respond to nonverifi ed alarms. While it would appear this policy decision came out of the blue with little notice to key stakeholders to prepare an adequate response for their customers, we should have seen this coming! It happened in Dallas a few years earlier. With tax revenues down and costs of running a police department going up, what decision would you make if $633,000 of your budget was spent on responding to false alarms? What is the lesson for our stewardship of the security industry? We may need to rethink how we approach our security alarm business to deliver a professional product based on reliability and value. If not, the circumstances of the market realities may dramatically change your security business during the next fi ve years. T is means a more careful look at the products you choose to install, the operational practices for maintaining systems, the customer education training you provide, and your central station alarm dispatch capabilities. But, you say, competitive pricing pressures are squeezing our margins, so selling more advanced, false-alarm resistant technologies means we will lose bids and business! Consider: What if police nonresponse to nonverifi ed alarms becomes more widespread, or if customers choose to install and monitor their own systems at a $0 per month monitoring charge? A major DIY retailer recently started selling a wireless, self- confi guring, self-monitoring alarm system for around $300. >> by Paul Boucherle Paul Boucherle, Certified Protection Professional (CPP) and Certified Sherpa Coach (CSC), is principal of Canfield, Ohio-based Matterhorn Consulting (www.matterhornconsulting.com). He has more than 30 years of diverse security and safety industry experience and can be contacted at paul@matterhornconsulting.com.