ASIS 2011 meetings hint at tipping point for managed services

So I got back from ASIS International 2011 late last night and have been playing catch up at my desk all day. I'm just now getting around to going through my notes and putting together a little something to let all of you know how it went.

While I was there, I had the chance to sit down with a number of people and ask them how the show and their year was going as we approached the beginning of the fourth quarter.

It seemed like everyone was talking about the age of managed services. Integrators are no longer simply accepting them, but are beginning to expect them as well. According to some I with, the advent, proliferation and advancement of wireless technology has pushed the industry to a tipping point.

OzVision global director marketing Matt Riccoboni said smart phones had trained end users to expect more.

"Smartphones have changed the way we interact with data. It's no longer sufficient to say, 'I'll look it up later.' Smartphones have created an immediate need, an immediate thirst for data. So what we're doing is making services like video available that way," Matt told me. "And it can be for a lot of different things: an audit trail, for liability issues in the healthcare vertical … The channel partners, the integrators are really thinking of where this can be effective…. for example, with quick serve restaurants, integrators can offer access to video that shows a manager if people are consistently leaving because of long wait times. That's business intelligence that tells the manager they might want to bring on more staff to better server their customers."

I've talked with Matt before about the company's partnership with Sonitrol as well other issues.

It's all about choice and not getting stuck in the past, according to Telular vice president of marketing and business development Shawn Welsh.

"Our focus has been raising RMR. Cellular is now a trusted pathway, so now how do you leverage it to make more money?" Shawn asked. "One way is through offering interactive services, which we developed with the TG-1 express that work with older panels as well as new panels. You can offer an iPhone app to a panel from the '80s."

I talked with Shawn last month about the new manufacturer-agnostic two-way voice capability Telular was touting at ASIS.

Diebold director of security solutions Jacky Grimm pointed out that managed services allowed integrators a way to offer a lower price point and a lower learning curve for getting in on the value managed services can offer.

"Technology is changing so fast. It's difficult for end users to have the money there to update, so what we're doing is packaging it in to leverage payment over time," to include things like training, oversight and hardware and software updates. "So you pay a flat fee up front, but the technology keeps pace with the world."

I've also spoken with Jacky recently about a number if things Diebold had going on, including their insight on managed access control, their move to pick up UL 2050 certification, and their addition of exta, managed services like targeted weather alerts.

I also met with Bruce Mungiguerra who is vice president sales and dealer development at Monitronics International. He told me their training program was performing nicely for them.

"We've enhanced MoniX a great deal," Bruce told me at the Monitronics booth. "It's like boot camp. It gives dealers a stronger relationahip with us ... We compared growth for new dealers and the average growth from month three to month 15 was 160 percent."

Bruce talked with me last year when Moni picked up a large dealer, Power Home Technologies, as an authorized dealer.

I also had a chance to sit down with Rob Tockarshewsky, Pete Tallman and Ken Modeste from UL. We talked about standards development, different UL listings, webinars, and UL's work with vetting hardware and software for Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) 140-1 and FIPS 140-2 compaliace.

"FIPS 140 is a standard that's based around encryption and encryption technology in the federal space. It's been a requirement since 1995 ... Any kind of encryption has to go through this vetting process ... Any product, whether it's a USB stick, an alarm panel, a network router or printer--if it has any kind of encryption technology is required to go through this program for testing and evaluation," Ken told me.

"As more and more of these companies become more involved with the federal government, the need for FIPS testing becomes very important," Rob added.

I've spoken with Rob and Pete over at UL before on matters ranging from the competing NRTLs and UL 2050 listing and what it can mean for an alarm company.

I also had a chance to chat with former SDN editor Rhianna Daniels--now the principal at Compass PR--who dropped by SSN's booth with some of her clients from Next Level Security Systems who were due to sit down with SDN managing editor Whit Richardson for an on-camera interview. I interviewed Rhianna and NLSS' Amelia Hew earlier this year at ISC West in regards to their work with the Women's Security Council.

Over all, it was a fruitful trip to Orlando.