People

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Stanley Security Names Kara Pelecky as Chief Information Officer
Pelecky, who joined the company on March 2nd, will be responsible for the strategic vision, leadership and ongoing implementation of the system integrator’s information technology initiatives. She brings to the company more than 20 years of experience as a highly accomplished technology executive and business transformation specialist.

Stanley Security Appoints Chadi Chahine as Chief Financial Officer
With over 22 years of experience as a global market financial executive, Chahine will be responsible for helping accelerate short- and long-term business objectives while also ensuring strategic financial decisions and initiatives operate with excellence. He previously held roles with a variety of companies including Abbott and Smith & Nephew.

SnapAV Appoints Jana Sherer as Business Development Manager for the Security Market
As the former National Account Director for Interlogix and Distribution Channel Manager for Milestone Systems, Sherer brings a wealth of experience in growth strategy and execution of national market programs for the security channel. In her new role, Sherer will help SnapAV develop and implement initiatives to help the company better serve security integrators.

King III emergency Communications New Emergency Dispatch Center Director
King III is pleased to have Michelle Lindus join the company as Emergency Dispatch Center Director. Having spent the last 16 years in Emergency Dispatch Operations with Vivint Smart Home, Lindus has a reputation for resolving problems, improving customer and employee satisfaction, as well as driving overall operational improvements.  In 2016 she won the prestigious Central Station Manager of the Year and in 2012 her central station won the coveted Central Station of the Year award.

DICE Corporation Welcomes Executive Vice President Avi Lupo
DICE Corporation is proud to announce and welcome Avi Lupo as the company’s Executive Vice President. Lupo will play a leading role in the company, contributing to high-level organizational decisions, product development and new business opportunities. He will also be integral in establishing new sales and marketing expansion strategies for the company’s growing cloud video recording technology, CloudEye.

Continental Access Adds New Regional Sales Manager to Support Midwest Integrators
Continental Access, a division of NAPCO Security Technologies, hired new Midwest Regional Sales Manager, Rob Etmans. Rob comes to Continental after years of working for one of Continental’s integration partners in the Wisconsin area, and as such has real-world, solid experience selling, installing and servicing Continental products.

COPS Monitoring Promotes Juergen Henry to Assistant VP of Operations
As Assistant Vice President of Operations, Juergen’s primary role will be to provide direction and individualized support to the operations managers at each of COPS’ six locations to ensure continued commitment to the high standards that has made COPS Monitoring a leader in its field. Juergen began his security industry career 10 years ago in an entry-level position in COPS’ Florida monitoring center.

COPS Announces Promotions to Strengthen Accounting, Finance Teams
COPS announces the promotions of Michele Beckett to vice president of accounting and Nicole Black to vice president of finance. Michele Beckett is a graduate of Rutgers State University, Certified Public Accountant (CPA), and recently celebrated 10 years at COPS Monitoring. Nicole Black graduated from Shippensburg University and began her career in public accounting at KPMG, LLP, a Big Four accounting firm. She is also a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) and has also earned the Certified Management Accountant (CMA) certification.

Resideo Hires Jay Geldmacher as New President, CEO
Resideo Technologies announced that the company has appointed Jay Geldmacher as president and CEO, and a member of the board of directors. As a 30-year industry veteran, Geldmacher brings experience leading a complex industrial and technology spinout, Artesyn Embedded Technologies. Most recently, Geldmacher was president and CEO of Electro Rent Corp., a leader in testing and technology solutions.

 

Industry Associations’ Joint Survey Results Reveal COVID’s Impact

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In the last few weeks, TMA joined with ESA and SIA to conduct a nationwide survey of members in order to better gauge the impact COVID-19 has had on electronic security and life safety businesses. This survey confirms the electronic security and life safety is being negatively impacted despite its role as an essential service in our economy.

Quick Figures:

  • 21-30% loss of revenue is the median reported for all respondents
  • Less than 4% of respondents were denied the “essential service” label in their jurisdictions
  • 31-40% denial of access to job sites for service/testing/inspections/maintenance was the median for residential integrators, compared to 21-30% for commercial integrators

A cross-section of the industry represented itself in the responses as follows:

Market Segments Responses
Residential Integration 27%
Commercial Integration 49%
Monitoring Center 11%
Manufacturer 41%
Distributor 11%
Manufacturer Representative 5.7%
Individual/Specifier/Consultant 19%
Other Security Solution Provider 19%

Impact on the Industry Overall

Across the country and in every vertical, our industry is experiencing negative effects on revenues from state and local executive orders for residents to practice social distancing. Survey respondents reported a median loss of revenue between 21 and 30% due to the executive orders. More than 60% of respondents reported losing this much or more of their revenue.

While most companies are experiencing declining revenues, some are impacted more than others; about one in five respondents reported a loss of more than half their company’s revenue.

Although revenues have dropped, most companies are not hindered from doing business due to “shelter-in-place” and business closure orders. Less than 4% of survey respondents reported that their businesses were denied access as an “essential service” in their jurisdictions.

More than 56% of respondents reported having to reduce hours or layoff less than 10% of their employees. On the other end of the scale, 13% of all respondents were forced to reduce hours, furlough or layoff more than 90% of their employees. Less than 4% of survey respondents reported that their businesses were denied access as an “essential service” in their jurisdictions.

Impact on Residential and Commercial Integrators

The median reported revenue loss due to COVID for residential and commercial integrators was 21-30%. The majority of integrators – more than 70% – lost less than half of their revenue.

The denial of access seems to contribute to income loss for most integrators, as more than 80% report some level of interrupted access.

Some business owners might wonder which verticals are faring better than others, as many companies have already pivoted into the commercial space. According to the survey results, the differences are significant but not as drastic as you might expect. The median loss of revenue reported by residential integrators was 31-40%, while the median loss of revenue reported by commercial integrators was 21-30%.

The reported levels for denial of access to job sites for service/testing/inspections/maintenance in each segment correlate with these figures, with residential integrators reporting a median denial rate of 31-40% while the median denial rate for commercial integrators was 21-30%.

Survey responses confirm the observation many have already made: gaining access to residential customers’ homes has been more difficult during this time than access to commercial properties, many of which are unoccupied due to social distancing measures. This could contribute to lower demand for residential services during the pandemic.

When asked how industry associations could continue to help businesses weather this storm, respondents most frequently expressed their desire for opportunities to connect and continued updates on the latest information related to winning business strategies, economic assistance and industry trends.

Visit TMA’s COVID-19 Resource Center. We encourage regular review of the resources we offer, and we will continue to keep members informed on all the latest developments that impact your business.

UL Seeks Feedback on Revised Guidelines

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On March 16th, in response to a request from TMA, UL published a statement on Monitoring Station Certifications and continued operations as communities work to contain the impact of COVID-19. An initial set of guidelines for virtual workplaces was included for stations considering at-home operators as part of their contingency planning.

Since then, it’s become clear that health risk mitigation measures will likely be required for longer than any of us had anticipated. UL now seeks feedback  from industry stakeholders that rely on UL Certifications as part of their own risk management programs to review the updated Guideline revisions, which are intended to better define virtual workplace security measures.

Review the revised draft of Virtual Workplace Guidelines that incorporate these initial suggestions. Because this version of the Guidelines is more technically specific than the original, UL would welcome industry feedback prior to publication.

Please send any input you may have directly to Steve Schmit, Senior Staff Engineer, UL.

Steve will also discuss the revised Guidelines and UL’s direction in the COVID environment during TMA’s Virtual Town Hall on Monday, April 20th.

TMA Members Named SSI’s SAMMY Award Winners

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Security Sales & Integration announced the winners of its 2020 Sales and Marketing Awards (SAMMYs). The SAMMY Awards program, now in its 25th year, is the only one of its kind in the security industry to recognize and honor dealers and integrators for their marketing, business, installation, and overall excellence.

Typically hosted as a gala affair on the eve of ISC West in Las Vegas, the coronavirus outbreak forced ISC West 2020 to be postponed, moving the SAMMYs to the safe confines of the Internet.

Please join in congratulating the TMA members who won a 2020 SAMMY Award are:

Best Website Design
AvantGuard
Ogden, Utah

Best Promotional Giveaway Item
Wayne Alarm Systems
Lynn, Mass.

Best Promotional Video or Audio
Guardian Protection Services
Pittsburgh

Best Sales Brochure
Acadian Total Security
Lafayette, La.

Best Display Advertisement (Print or Electronic)
Acadian Total Security
Lafayette, La.

Best Overall Integrated Marketing Program Large Company
STANLEY Security
Fishers, Ind.

Installer of the Year (Large Company)
Vector Security
Pittsburgh

Integrated Installation of the Year (Large Company)
ADT
Romeoville, Ill.

Attend TMA’s Weekly Virtual Town Hall Meetings

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To date, TMA has hosted two Virtual Town Hall meetings and we have an additional four scheduled. Attendance has been high and the interaction between members and key subject matter experts has been open and compelling, as we had hoped.
 
We will be hosting meetings at 11:00AM [ET] on each Monday of April [6th, 13th, 20th, and 27th). We may extend the schedule based on member needs.
 
Due to the outstanding support we’ve received for these meetings, and some concerns over the bandwidth and security of the Zoom platform, we have decided to present all future meetings on GoToWebinar.
  • If you have already registered for future meetings, you don’t need to do anything. TMA staff is transferring all current registrations to the new platform and you will receive a new confirmation with login instructions from GoToWebinar shortly.
  • If you have not registered, and would like to take part in our future Virtual Town Hall meetings, please register online.

DICE Corp Presents Solutions for the Challenges of Remote Working

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Register now to attend our next Virtual Product Review (VPR) presented by DICE Corporation, March 26th.

The coronavirus pandemic has fundamentally changed the way many organizations operate for the foreseeable future. As governments and businesses around the world have recommended self-quarantines, social distancing, and office closures, remote working has become a new reality. Operational changes have impacted the alarm industry significantly. Monitoring stations handle thousands of life safety calls and interactions every day and no matter the circumstances, customers rely on operators to respond without interruption. In this presentation, we will explore the importance of establishing a disaster recovery and remote working plan and how you can support your customers when it matters most.

After this presentation, you’ll:

  • Understand the benefits of disaster recovery plans and remote working
  • Understand the necessary steps to implement a disaster recovery and remote working plan
  • Understand how telecom and PBX plays a critical role in remote working

Speakers:

  • Cliff Dice, President and CEO
  • Avi Lupo, Executive Vice President 

Register now to attend this FREE VPR.

Urgent News From UL for Monitoring Centers

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UL Statement on Certifications to the US Alarm Monitoring Industry

As developments around the coronavirus COVID-19 continue to evolve, UL has been asked how health risk mitigation techniques might impact Alarm Service Certifications, especially those that involve quarantine, social distancing, work from home, and similar.

At UL, our driving mission is to help create safe living and working conditions for all of our constituencies. This value shapes our Standards and program policies. The emergence of the COVID-19 virus presents a new challenge, but by working together, we can find ways forward.

As in the past, after natural disasters such as hurricane Katrina, superstorm Sandy and others, actions taken to maintain monitoring operations may temporarily be out of sync with the current language of UL827, Central Station Services. In emergency situations like these, know that UL’s primary concern is for the health and safety of your staff and customers. If circumstances prevent you from complying with the written requirements of the Standard for staffing a station, we simply ask that for now, you document your station’s alternate procedure and when it went into/out of practice.

UL is working with industry to develop reasonable guidelines and alternative operating methods for scenarios such as the current COVID-19 outbreak. An initial draft is attached to this statement and will be updated as improvements are identified. These guidelines will eventually form the basis of revisions to UL827 to address pandemic-type scenarios better.

Please note that for US based stations monitoring National Industrial Security System accounts, any deviations from UL827 language need to be discussed with and approved by the relevant US federal security agency with jurisdiction.

UL’s current understanding is that due to the high risk nature of these systems, many Federal Security Agencies will not approve of monitoring outside a UL Certified Central Station operating room. If such monitoring is not available, it is likely defense contractors will have to react in the manner prescribed by the applicable security manual for instances where monitoring is not available or not employed.

At this time, we encourage monitoring stations to make contingency plans for operating in environments where operators are not able to physically come together to monitor signals in a central station operating room. There is a meaningful risk that the rapid spread of COVID-19 could trigger governmental movement and assemble recommendations/controls that would preclude normal station operation.

If you have questions or concerns, please contact Steve Schmit, steven.a.schmit@ul.com, 847-420-8032

In the current COVID-19 mitigation environment, central stations may be challenged to operate in strict compliance with UL Standards. UL expects that stations will make every reasonable effort to exercise options available in UL standards. However, in cases where delivering ongoing monitoring services requires alternate procedures, we request that stations document those procedures and be prepared to share them with UL if/when necessary as a basis for maintaining their UL Certification.

As a last resort, some stations may be considering use of home based operators to process signals. Based on input from industry, UL recommends considering the following guidelines.
Note – For US based stations monitoring National Industrial Security System accounts, any deviations from UL827 language need to be discussed with and approved by the relevant US federal security agency with jurisdiction.

UL’s current understanding is that many Federal Security Agencies will not approve of monitoring outside a UL Certified Central Station operating room. If such monitoring is not available, it is likely defense contractors will have to react in the manner prescribed by the applicable security manual for instances where monitoring is not available or not employed.

VIRTUAL WORKPLACE GUIDELINES

These guidelines are designed to provide procedural guidance to operators who perform job duties at alternative work sites, most specifically at home offices. The virtual work arrangement requires remote operators to be self-motivated and work well with minimal supervision. The following guidelines apply to the virtual environment:

  • Virtual workplace operators should be provided with a computer. Home/personal computers shall not be used.
  • Connections between virtual workplace computers and central station automation systems shall be made through a secure, encrypted virtual private network (VPN)
  • Internet speed may be affected by others in a home using the same internet. This may require an virtual workplace operators to suspend use of the internet by other individuals in the home.
  • Multifactor authentication should be required every 24 hours.
  • When not on shift, computer should be in shutdown and put in a secure place. This is to prevent any damage of theft of the computer.
  • When processing alarms the computer should be setup as not to allow others to view the monitoring screen or any other information.
  • When walking away from computer while on shift lock the screen so others cannot gain access to the monitoring window.
  • Virtual workplace operators are expected to have an appropriate workspace that is suitably designated for work and segregated in order to eliminate distraction and noise.
  • Due to the nature of virtual work arrangement, operators may not provide primary care for a child or dependent during the on duty hours except in the case of an emergency. The focus of an operator’s core working hours must remain on job performance and meeting business demands.
  • Virtual workplace operators are advised not to release their home address and telephone number to non-employees of the company.

Download PDFs:

  1. COVID-19 Statement & Guidelines for the Alarm Monitoring Industry in US
  2. COVID-19 Statement & Guidelines for the Alarm Monitoring Industry in Canada

COPS Monitoring Delivers Uninterrupted Services Through Nashville Tornado

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In the early morning hours of March 3, 2020, powerful storms ripped through Middle Tennessee spawning tornadoes, killing at least 25 people, and knocking out power and communications to an estimated 45,000 Nashville business and residents. COPS Monitoring shared that monitoring services continued without interruption despite the loss of both power and communications at its Tennessee monitoring center as a result of the Nashville tornado.

“The hearts and prayers of all COPS employees go out to the families impacted by the Nashville tornado,” said COPS President Jim McMullen.” This tragedy is a painful reminder that a catastrophe can strike anywhere, at any time, and without warning.”

Barely a mile outside the path of destruction carved by the tornado, COPS Monitoring’s UL Listed monitoring center in Nashville was spared any physical damage. The site lost electricity and continued to operate on its own Generator power, but it also lost all three carrier-diverse redundant communication paths and the ability to respond to alarms for approximately 9 hours.

However, because COPS operates a network of six monitoring locations consisting of multiple layers of redundant technology and diversified staffing, its ability to provide monitoring services to alarms continued without interruption. “During the unexpected temporary loss of our Tennessee site, alarms and calls continued to be handled by our other five sites,” explained McMullen. “Furthermore, our overall active staff was impacted by less than 16%. We were able to absorb the staffing reduction and increased alarm traffic resulting from the violent weather in the short-term by altering break schedules of people already on shift at our other monitoring centers. In the longer term, we compensated by overstaffing our other sites with additional team members.”

COPS Monitoring began its preparation for redundant monitoring nearly two decades ago in the wake of 9/11. Not just for possibilities like the Tennessee tornado, but also for the countless types of localized conditions that can compromise a central station’s ability to monitor alarms such as earthquakes, flooding, fires, blizzards, hurricanes, a fiber cut, civil unrest, and even outbreaks such as the current coronavirus COVID-19.

“Opening a redundant site was a very small initial step in the right direction,” continued McMullen. “It certainly solved some technological challenges by giving us more than a single place to deliver calls and alarms in the event of a site failure. Unfortunately, operating just two sites did not solve the staffing redundancy needed to maintain quality during a site outage. It’s simple math, really; 50% of your staff can’t handle 100% of your alarm traffic, let alone the additional traffic usually created by extreme circumstances. The fact is, no matter how advanced your technology is, there isn’t any place on the planet to build a monitoring station that isn’t vulnerable to some sort of natural or man-made influences, which is precisely why we mitigate potential outages with redundant technology and by diversifying our staffing across all six of our locations.”

How you can help:

Though the storm is over, the work helping those affected has just begun. If you would like to donate through the Red Cross, you can text Red Cross to 90999 and make a $10 donation. You can also donate online at: https://www.redcross.org/local/tennessee/ways-to-donate.html

TMA Members Among SSI SAMMY Award Finalists

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Security Sales and Integration magazine announced the finalists for its 2020 SAMMY Awards, which recognize professionalism in dealer/integrator sales, marketing and installation efforts. The awards program marks its 25th anniversary this year.

Awards will be presented March 17th in Las Vegas.

Please join in congratulating the TMA members that made the list of finalists:

  • Acadian Total Security
    • Installer of the Year  (Large Company)
    • Display Ad
    • Sales Brochure
    • Vehicle Graphic Design
  • ADT Commerical
    • Integrated Installation of the Year (Large Company)
    • Installer of the Year  (Large Company)
    • Overall Integrated Marketing Program (Large Company)
    • Newsletter or Content Marketing
    • Social Media Campaign
    • Vehicle Graphic Design
  • AvantGuard
    • Community Outreach
    • Website Design
  • Custom Alarm
    • Installer of the Year (Small to Midsize Company)
    • Integrated Installation of the Year (Small to Midsize Company)
  • Guardian Protection
    • Promotional Video or Audio
  • Kimberlite (Sonitrol)
    • Integrated Installation of the Year (Large Company)
    • Social Media Campaign
  • Securitas Electronic Security
    • Integrated Installation of the Year (Large Company)
  • STANLEY Security
    • Integrated Installation of the Year (Large Company)
    • Overall Integrated Marketing Program (Large Company)
  • Vector Security
    • Installer of the Year  (Large Company)
    • Overall Integrated Marketing Program (Large Company)
    • Social Media Campaign
    • Website Design
  • Wayne Alarm Systems
    • Promotional Give-Away Item

View the full announcement of finalists.

TMA Releases Seven, Individual Operator Training Modules

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TMA is pleased to announce that seven modules from its popular Operator Online Level 1 training program are now available for individual sale. 

The newly released single modules reflect the most current technology capabilities and customer service practices in today’s most effective monitoring centers. 

  • Module 1 – Introduction to the Monitoring Industry
  • Module 2 – Technology
  • Module 3 – Effective Communication
  • Module 4 – The Monitoring Process
  • Module 5 – False Alarm Prevention
  • Module 6 – Industry Readiness and Monitoring Center Security
  • Module 7 – Monitoring Center Operator Code of Excellence

Cost per module: $45 (Nonmember) | $30 (Bulk Member 1-4) | $27 (Bulk Member 5-9) | $24 (Bulk Member 10+)

Visit TMAtraining.org