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Business Security

From Installation to Monitoring and Service, One Company Can Handle It All

By Chuck Robinson

Once you have made the decision to install a security system or fire and life safety system at your business, it’s important to choose the right monitoring company.

While you can certainly choose any licensed company to handle the monitoring for your intrusion, surveillance, access control and fire and life safety systems, we believe the best choice is always going to be the company that designed and installed your building’s systems.

Why You Should Choose One Company for Your Safety & Security Needs

Why trust just one vendor with the installation, service and monitoring of your systems?

Aside from the ease of working with one company, there are several practical reasons for why your system installer should also be the one to monitor and service your systems:

1. Better knowledge of your systems.

Your system installer will have a good understanding of your system and how it integrates with other systems. This helps create a more seamless interaction for your IT team, your employees and all of the processes and systems throughout your business.

Plus, your installer worked with you in naming all of your reporting zones, so they know what each zone in your building means without having to ask your team. When your installer is also your monitoring company, they will have your zone lists handy, allowing them to more quickly determine where the issue is and better guide your team when and if you need to troubleshoot a situation.

This leads to a more seamless experience for your company.

2. More familiarity with your site.

Your system installer will have more knowledge of your facilities. A third-party who is providing a monitoring service won’t know the layout of the building and where things are located.

There’s a lot of benefit to being familiar with a site. It’s much harder for a third party service provider to respond to a trouble condition quickly and efficiently if they’ve never been on site. If there is an emergency, you won’t want someone having to take time to figure out where to turn or determine which switches need to be flipped.

3. Proactive and responsive support.

ACT employee working on hard wired network

At ACT, we can set up panels to alert us as soon as there’s a trouble condition with one of your systems, such as low batteries or if one of your panels isn’t communicating to the system properly. Because our team is also skilled at maintenance and service, we can proactively respond to situations, sometimes before our clients even know there is something wrong.

That isn’t always the case when you’re dealing with a standalone monitoring company.

The Downside of Different Safety & Security Providers

If the benefits weren’t enough to convince you to consolidate your system vendors, here are some problems that often occur when multiple vendors are involved.

1. Many monitoring companies don’t provide maintenance or service.

For a lot of companies that monitor systems, that’s all they do. They don’t provide service.

That means if you get an alarm condition or trouble condition on your system, it’s on you to find someone to fix the issue. And that could take hours, days or longer.

Do you have that kind of time to be without your system? Wouldn’t it be easier to get one call explaining the problem and telling you that help is already on the way or could be dispatched upon your approval?

2. Coordination issues.

When you’re dealing with multiple vendors, it can take a lot of time (and trouble) to coordinate with everyone to handle the issue.

For instance, every time an alarm goes off on one of your systems, it will set off a game of telephone for you. You will get a call from the monitoring company and then you’ll have to get in touch with your installation or service company.

If these are not the same company, then a “whose responsibility is it?” game starts to become apparent. Which means you’ll have to coordinate with the company who handles the service to take care of the repairs and argue the bill. And finally, once someone comes out to repair the system, they may still have to work with the installer to make sure everything is working as intended.

That means, you will have to talk to the monitoring company, the installation company, a repair company, the installation company again, and on and on. The chain reaction that’s set off is a waste of time, energy and money. In some cases, you’re dealing with two or three different companies and things get complicated really fast.

3. Higher cost.

When you’re dealing with a separate installer, monitoring company and service team, you could get bills from three different companies when something goes wrong.

Not to mention, your service bills will be higher than they would be if the team who did the installation and monitoring also provided the service and maintenance. When you’re not as familiar with a site or a system, maintenance and repairs can take a lot more time. And ultimately, that means more cost for you.

Why a Full-Service Security Provider is Best

So, what’s the solution?

Wherever possible, work with a full-service security integrator. A full-service provider, like ACT, can handle it all––installation, maintenance, monitoring and service.

We find that this approach makes life a whole lot easier for our customers. And that’s our goal––taking the hassle out of security so you can focus on other aspects of your business.

At ACT, we will help you determine the right system for your company’s needs, and then install it, monitor it, service it and maintain it. That way, you only have one call to make for all of your needs, whether it’s video surveillance, access control, alarm monitoring or fire and life safety.

Working with ACT for installation, monitoring and maintenance is good for your business from a logistics standpoint, for efficiency and for your bottom line.

Curious about switching? Call us. We would be happy to help you explore switching and walk you through it.

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Looking to take your security or technology to the next level? Request your free site assessment today. We’ll review your goals and walk through your building or home to help you determine the best solution.

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  1. […] And because we can handle your full suite of security needs––including alarm monitoring, access control and video surveillance––we are equipped to help keep your company safe and operating smoothly from every angle. […]

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