With growing anti-social behaviour, staff shortages, increasing regulations as well as continued difficult traditions conditions, 2024 promises to be another challenging year for the fire and security industries. In this short interview series, I talk to six industry leaders from different backgrounds about the main issues they face as we head into 2024.
First up, is Jamie Allam, CEO of installation and integration firm Amthal Fire & Security
“While we operate across the fire and security sectors, the last couple of years have, for us at least, seen a shift away from security and towards fire and life safety.
Since the Fire Safety Act of 2021, which came into force after the Grenfell Tower Fire, there has been a much greater awareness of the importance of life safety among our customers. In fact, there are regular updates to the legislation including the need for increased fire door and fire stopping inspections.
Increasingly, technology is playing a more important role in fire safety with electronic log books and improved traceability for buyer plans and buyer strategies. Whereas once we had to send an engineer to a hotel or hospital, which can be difficult to access, we now have devices that can tested remotely via Bluetooth.
We’re also seeing the roll out of CLSS (Connected Life Safety Services), an all-in-one cloud-based platform which communicates with your fire panel. So, for example, it will tell you asset ages, whether the panel is in good health as well as giving you all its service history.
In the security sector, customers are increasingly using video surveillance systems with AI technology to capture data that allows them to make business decisions, rather than just using it for monitoring purposes. We’re also seeing CCTV, access control and intruder alarm systems become more integrated so, for example, if you are the first authorised person to access the building, the alarm will automatically deactivate.
Undoubtedly our biggest challenge at the moment, and going into next year, is recruitment and retention of staff. For us sales are almost the easy part of winning the business. The difficult part is having competent people to deliver it.
We do a lot to develop talent including apprenticeships, but ultimately you need competent people to develop the less competent people. With wage inflation still high, and with skills in high demand, that means paying staff more money. Inevitably that means higher prices for customers.”
Free Download: The Video Surveillance Report 2023
Discover the latest developments in the rapidly-evolving video surveillance sector by downloading the 2023 Video Surveillance Report. Over 500 responses to our survey, which come from integrators to consultants and heads of security, inform our analysis of the latest trends including AI, the state of the video surveillance market, uptake of the cloud, and the wider economic and geopolitical events impacting the sector!
Download for FREE to discover top industry insight around the latest innovations in video surveillance systems.
