Technology is changing at a rapid pace and security installers face the challenge of adapting to the impact that the new generation of systems will have on their business. The introduction of Web-based digital CCTV systems means that installers need to develop a knowledge of communications systems and familiarise themselves with the Internet age.
However, it is not vital to become an IT expert and with the right support and training from suppliers of the new systems, it is a straight-forward task to develop the right skills to install a network of digital security systems.
An example of how one established security installer has come to grips with new technology is Cheshire-based Rick Allen.
Rick has been involved in security systems installation since 1982 following a 25 year career in transmission systems at BT. His company, Access Ability (UK) Ltd specialises in integrated security systems and is a major installer of PAC access control where his close relationship extends to carrying out Beta testing for their development team and operating as a consultant to resolve problems in the field.
Outstanding problem
In 2000 PAC customer service asked Rick to resolve an outstanding problem in the field. The client company is a multinational corporation providing out-sourced integrated customer services with highly specialised call centres their principal service. They operate in the USA, Canada, Israel, Latin America and Europe.
The facilities manager of the company having the problems explained to Rick that employee and client security is a high priority for the company.
Employing nearly 1000 people, the company offers highly tailored and confidential call centre facilities for its clients and it is vital to maintain security of access to client records. When the facilities manager joined the company, the electronic access control system was not working correctly and after protracted efforts to persuade the installer to correct the situation, she contacted the manufacturer, PAC International, for assistance. She explained that because of the confidentiality required by some of their clients, access control was mandatory and was needed urgently.
CCTV causing concern
The engineer from Access Ability turned up promptly on site and found the source of the problem and had the system fully operational in three hours. Based on this successful conclusion and recognising the independent expertise available, the facilities manager explained to Rick that a further area that was causing concern was the CCTV system.
Again confidentiality was crucial and conformance to contract conditions needed visual verification by customers, sometimes from the other side of the world.
The existing system was VCR and multiplexer based and she found that labelling tapes sometimes resulted in mistakes, and the clarity of the image was not good. Ensuring that tapes were only used ten times also created administration difficulties. Searching for an event was time consuming and not easy to do. If there was a problem with the mains supply she had to reset the VCR.
Rick arranged for her to look at a number of digital video capture systems on the market. After a careful appraisal based on clarity of image, ease of use and cost she chose a system called LookC provided by Newcastle based Applied Technology Monitoring (ATM).
One of her company’s proud boasts is that “Technically speaking we are the best. Exceptional customer care and billing may be people driven, but it is also technology dependent”.
The company’s call centres are described as tech-savvy and their IT department quickly recognised that the new CCTV system (a web enabled server) could sit on their existing Ethernet network. Given the appropriate user name and password, it could provide access locally from a workstation or remotely from the other side of the world. The Internet-based facility could give the company’s clients real-time visual access wherever they were located.
Hands-on training needed
Access Ability installed the system following product training from ATM at their Newcastle upon Tyne training facility.
Said Rick: “The training for CCTV engineers really does need to have a fair amount of hands-on content in order to reinforce the theory.”
The facilities manager is now pleased with the clarity of the images and the speed with which she can access recorded events and print out relevant incidents. A series of petty thefts have been quickly stopped and compliance issues finalised. By looking at the date and time of an access control transaction, she can now carry out, via the system, a visual assessment of who, when, where and in what circumstances.
If there are power downs, the system’s in-built UPS maintains power to the system for four minutes, enough time to automatically send her an e-mail and deliver a text message on her mobile phone. When the power comes back on, the CCTV system continues recording and automatically tells her of the power up.
She says the system is also used as a video door entry system which is “particularly useful when reception staff have gone home.” When she went on holiday she was confident that her second in command could easily understand the user operation. “If you can use a mouse then you can use the system.”
“Shortly, we are going to put the digital CCTV system into a condition monitoring role in our main server room so that variation in temperature beyond a permitted band will immediately alert our IT systems engineers and they can view the actual temperature wherever they are. Prevention is always better than appraisal”
So it may be concluded that here is a satisfied customer using the very latest technology, but from an installer’s point of view there are a number of issues that this installation raised.
Installers are IT literate
Rick and his colleagues are IT literate, having dealt with numerous access control multi-door systems but this, their first, installation of a digital CCTV system was thought to be a little daunting.
However, with appropriate training from the manufacturer, they soon gained expertise in the system.
Rick’s second installation of digital CCTV was a 16-camera unit at a medical centre. By this time confidence was growing and the IT manager on site was particularly helpful wanting to be involved in the configuration during commissioning. The third installation was a multi tenanted office block that was configured and commissioned by their own engineer. He wryly recalls the first time the instruction manual suggested that he ‘ping the system and then use Telnet’. A call to the manufacturer’s customer service help line explained the jargon. A fourth system was installed in a prestigious legal practice without encountering any difficulty.
The message from the experience of Access Ability over the past year is that digital CCTV is profitable for the installer.
Rick’s sales turnover of integrated systems using digital CCTV, both installed and on order, will have increased 76 per cent on a year to year basis.
He says: “There is a natural integration between access control and advanced CCTV where for instance an unauthorized access attempt can result in the image of the culprit being immediately available either locally or remotely.”
Digital CCTV has many end user benefits and the bottleneck to widespread adoption is the hesitation of the installing company to specify what is initially perceived as something different and somewhat strange.
Resistance to change
How do you overcome this natural resistance to change?
The security industry must approach training and documentation from a point where the CCTV engineer can be gradually led into networking and is not frightened off by training and documentation that assumes he is a highly skilled Microsoft Certified Engineer.
The different jargon and procedures involved with networking may initially be perceived as too alien but once trained, the security installer can rapidly become familiar with this new terminology.
A mix of candidates with varying levels of IT knowledge on a digital CCTV training course can cause frustration. Therefore, training courses need to be tailored according to the background of the engineer so that the appropriate level of understanding can be achieved. Another point to consider is that it may be weeks between a training course and the subsequent installations. Clear, concise, straightforward documentation is essential to give the engineer the confidence to configure a server, set up a router and workstation on a network.
Access to the manufacturer’s telephone help line is also vital to support to the engineer in the field.
An example of a router configuration form that can be completed by the installing company (see fig 1) will allow the manufacturer to dispatch a digital CCTV system that has already been largely configured. It also acts as memory jogger for things to organize on-site.
Manufacturer’s corrections
A further useful customer support tool available to the installer is, with permission, for the manufac-turer to remotely access the digital CCTV system and correct any anomalies on line.
Regular updates of technical service issues such as Frequently Asked Questions can also be issued by the manufacturer and viewed on the web site.
Rick was pleased to hear that rather than breathing warnings of disaster if the instructions were not followed to the letter, the manufacturer of the CCTV system includes a CD to restore the factory configured settings. He is now looking forward to a further successful year where digital CCTV will play a significant part in his business …definitely a ‘converted’ CCTV engineer who accepted the challenge and found that winning was very worthwhile.
