2GIG

The big, bad cable giants and telecoms are riding into town, aiming to steal your horses and accounts and whatever else they can toss a lasso around. Everyone knew the day was coming, but now that it’s here, are you prepared to hold your ground? Do you really have what it takes to compete, or will you forever be at the mercy of the black hats?

Rest assured there’s hope, and you can tap into it at ESX. A number of sessions are planned to help alarm companies deal with this new landscape by staying technologically savvy and by offering what has long been seen as the silver bullet for the industry: superior customer service.

At the ESA Industry Luncheon and Annual Meeting on June 28, Kristen Simmons, managing partner at Lightswitch and former VP of marketing for Mazda North America, will share her expertise about what it takes to earn customers and turn them into advocates for your business. Simmons led Mazda’s “Zoom Zoom” ad campaign and also founded LiveSmart Security, a boutique provider of home security services.

“Over the next five to 10 years, one factor will become ever more critical to the success of manufacturers, security integrators and monitoring companies alike: the customer experience,” Simmons said in an ESX news release. “New technology and integrated approaches have enabled a far more captivating experience for security customers than the traditional ‘detect and respond’ model. Leveraging these capabilities will be an enormous catalyst for customer loyalty, RMR growth and bottom-line profitability.”

On the technology side, at least a dozen sessions are planned at ESX to help attendees take on the telecoms and cablecos. A recent addition to the schedule features Patrick Egan, owner of Lancaster, Pa.-based Security Partners, who will host a series of interviews with industry leaders on how alarm companies can compete with the big boys entering the market. Egan will talk with each executive for about 15 minutes, then open the floor for a 15-minute Q&A.

The sessions are scheduled to run from 1:30 to 6:30 p.m. on June 27 at the Security Partners booth (No. 725) at the Nashville Convention Center. Seating is first come, first served. Executives on board so far include Kirk MacDowell from GE, Lance Dean from 2GIG, Gordon Hope from Honeywell, and Jay Kenny from Alarm.com.

“With all the buzz in the marketplace, we think this is going to generate a lot of interest,” said Joseph Mitton, marketing coordinator for Security Partners.

To check out the full list of ESX seminars, go to www.esxweb.com. See you in Nashville …

Day 2 of ISC West started off with a bang … as in the bang from the starter’s pistol as I ran in the annual Mission 500 Security 5K, the running race that Security Systems News helps sponsor.

Not only does the race do good—this year the more than 500 participants helped raise about $80,000 for needy children in Mexico, India and Tanzania—but it’s a legitimate excuse to take some time to exercise at this busy show. And this year it featured new event, a 2K walk. I heard from several people on the show floor later that they’ve wanted to participate in the race previously but can’t run 3.2 miles. They said a walk would be more doable and said they may participate in that part of the event next year. So, I’m betting that at ISC West 2013 we’ll see even more people joining in this good, healthy—and fun—cause.

Speaking of Mexico, during my visit to the 2GIG booth, Todd Santiago, president of the Carlsbad, Calif.-based home security systems developer told me the company is expanding to Mexico and other Latin American countries this year. “We see international expansion as a huge opportunity,” he said. “We have significant demand for our security offering.”

He said the company, founded about two years ago, also is doing great in North America, with more than 1,100 dealers now.

Among other Day 2 meetings I had were with a couple of fire dealers who impressed me with their innovative ideas.

One was Carter Rierson, founder and president of Best Defense Security & Fire Protection of Waunakee, Wis.
Among things that Rierson and I discussed were his trademark “cellevator,” a cellular solution that enables people in an elevator to summon help in an emergency. Rierson said customers like his solution because it costs half of the traditional solution, which is a phone line voice connection to an elevator.

I also talked to Mark Popkowski of Texas-based Modern System Concepts, a Texas fire and security company. He told me he’s outfitting all the company’s technicians with iPads. He’s also saving time and money by having them do fire inspections with a new inspection app that his company developed. He plans to beta test the new software and then market it to other companies this summer.

He said the app allows companies to “have multiple technicians out in the field on an inspection and they can be doing one part of the inspection and somebody else can be doing the other” but they both produce one report.

The Wall Street Journal just gave a nice nod to 2GIG, touting the 2GIG Alarm Kit in a recent technology article.

In the piece entitled, “Safe at Home,” which is about easy-to-install, tech-friendly security systems and written by Michael Hsu, the WSJ singles out 2GIG’s alarm system in this way:
 

You can't judge an alarm system by how it looks, but the 2GIG Alarm Kit's control panel is so much more elegant than any other security solution out there, it's hard to justify devoting the wall space to anything else. Instead of a clunky keypad that makes you feel like you're working the midnight shift at a convenience store, the 2GIG control panel is a sleek white box with a color touchscreen.

And Hsu says it’s easy to install and he also noted other features he likes about the product of 2GIG, a Carlsbad, Calif.-based home security systems developer, such as:

The best part about 2GIG is how it integrates with the rest of your house. By adding compatible devices, like a thermostat and lamp module, you can have the system lower the heat and turn lights on or off when you arm the system.

According to Wikipedia, the WSJ is the largest newspaper in the United States, with a circulation of 2.1 million copies (including 400,000 online paid subscriptions) in 2010. That's a lot of potential security customers!