What are the Right Questions for Security and Are You Asking Them?
Posted on Wed, May 18, 2011
By ASG's Professional Services Group
I discovered something ironic on a recent client trip overseas. I 
found out that it doesn’t matter where you are in the world, the story for customers doesn’t change. While with a client in the Middle East, I met with some of the higher ranking people within the organization. They explained to me that they were in dire need of someone who could help them with their strategy and not just sell them cameras. Through our discussions we were able to sit in on an integrator briefing around a project and I noticed the same questions I have heard many times in many meetings just like this one:
I had to laugh and thought to myself that, even a world away from my headquarters in Seattle, people were still asking the same questions and missing the most important points. The value an integrator brings can happen in three ways and if you are not asking the right questions, you’ll never get anywhere. So I would like to take the three questions listed above and tell integrators and their clients what you should be conversing about.
Why do you have a Video Management System?
Instead of going right to determining how many or what does it cost, the more important and costly question in the long term is to understand the strategy for cameras and more importantly the management of them. Getting to these answers can help to align your organization’s needs with the integrator and consultant. If you simply dwell on cameras, then you are simply buying hardware and not incorporating hardware into your security system. For your integrator this is important because they can offer a much greater value if they are helping you with the “why and how” of creating solutions and not just determining camera counts and specs.
What is your access control like now?
For an integrator, in order to have a true relationship with a customer, they must be able to walk in their client’s shoes. If they are only concerned with “what you need to purchase” and not asking how you got to where you are now, they are missing some valuable information. Knowing what has already been implemented and working is a critical aspect of any new projects under consideration. Often, before customers tell me what they need, I stop them and ask where have they been? Why did they go that direction? How did they choose that route? More questions than answers will tell customers that you want to understand and want to look at their history to not repeat the same mistakes. It also helps in these situations to just listen.
What is your roadmap?
Specifications mean that creativity has flown out the window. You are effectively buying from a distributor and purchasing nothing more than parts and labor. When I encounter customers like this, I often times try to redirect the conversation and ask them where they want to go, what do they want to achieve and do they have a plan? More often than not they are only thinking about the project at hand and nothing beyond it. By helping a customer create a strategy and a plan, we often save them time, money and help align internally around the value of security. Specifications mean that the intellectual property in an integrator’s head means nothing to the customer.
The approach to these questions will impact each customer. It is so important that you, the client, demand more than a reaction to your questions. For the integrator, the right questions at the right time will help you understand the right approach to your client’s security. Does your integrator provide you with labor and parts or are they your strategic partner? Do you let them get creative with integration or hand them specifications? Are they more concerned with camera counts or in helping you build a roadmap for the future?
How you answer these questions will tell you if your integrator and you are aligned and strategically focused on a goal or you are simply part of a transactional relationship based on lowest cost. There are vendors for that as well. However, the need for collaboration is not always obvious. Proceed with caution.