Why AI and analytics require integrators to broaden customer conversations

ISJ hears from Brad McMullen, President of 3xLOGIC, PACOM and Sonitrol.

Thanks to AI and analytics, security technology has evolved to offer value beyond traditional security in areas such as marketing, operations, facilities management, customer service and more.

With that comes an expanded audience of stakeholders who will influence an integrator’s success.

Understanding these decision makers is critical to a smooth installation, purchase, ongoing repair services and the supply of professional services that can transform an integrator’s business.

This begins by knowing the audience, discovering the goals, understanding the pain points and informing the client of what can be achieved with a security system.

A shift in the integrator-client relationship

As integrators engage with a range of stakeholders, they expand opportunities to make an impact and will increasingly be seen as a trusted advisor by their customers.

By connecting across different departments, integrators will gain a greater understanding of their client’s business and identify opportunities where video, access control or intrusion detection can make a difference.

They will get more opportunities to solve client needs utilising technologies such as analytics at the edge.

What’s more, the availability of budgets from departments other than security alone will open new commercial avenues, upgrade opportunities and the ability to evaluate new solutions.

So, who are the stakeholders that are increasingly important to integrators’ business prospects?

A look at IT

IT is likely to be the first stakeholder integrators meet outside of security for one major reason: They are focused on how a security system connects to their network and want to mitigate any vulnerabilities this may create.

As security systems become increasingly connected with the IoT, integrators must assure IT that new security devices will not compromise network integrity and can be managed efficiently.

Questions regarding VPN mandates, access rights and network segmentation are common, reflecting the critical importance of maintaining robust security protocols.

Operations’ perspective

Operations teams will focus on the efficiency of a security system, ensuring they work seamlessly with other systems and offer the right insights to different departments.

Security systems may also provide business intelligence that improves day to day operations – such as providing insights into energy usage, determining maintenance and cleaning schedules, ensuring low friction experiences for visitors to a facility and longer term building and site planning based on usage.

Sales and marketing insights

Sales and marketing can gain useful insights from video data, especially in industries like retail.

Point of sale data and traffic patterns can inform sales and marketing materials, influence product placement and drive promotions aligned with the optimum areas and timings informed by video insights.

To fulfil this need from marketing and sales stakeholders, integrators must ensure that security systems can integrate with CRM tools for better data insights.

Procurement is also at the table

Integrators also need to engage with stakeholders in procurement who are focused on securing the best price for solutions, while considering the overall value and suitability of the security system.

This means it’s essential to communicate the comprehensive benefits of the solution, beyond just the cost, to ensure it meets the organisation’s needs.

Understanding whether purchases will be made using the client’s capital expenditure (CapEx) or operational expenditure (OpEx) budgets is crucial so integrators can consult, propose and price a system appropriately.

As cloud-based solutions become popular, this understanding becomes even more important.

Conversely, billing models such as service-based and subscription pricing, may be necessary as systems move to the cloud – this needs to be made clear to procurement stakeholders.

Engaging with the right stakeholders

Depending on the size of the project, all or just a handful of these stakeholders may be present in the decision making process, purchasing and implementation.

Either way, from the outset, it is vital that integrators initiate and host comprehensive scoping meetings.

These should set out to identify what each department hopes to get from a new security installation while identifying pain points and acknowledging concerns.

This way, integrators can make sure the system addresses all needs.

In these initial meetings, which should be as early in the implementation as possible, integrators can also set a realistic schedule, so everyone’s expectations are aligned.

They will want to get everyone in the same room (physical or virtual) early so that stakeholders are listened to and engaged from the very start. That way, they will feel more invested in the implementation.

To streamline communications throughout the execution, a single point of contact is still important – perhaps with one back-up on larger installations – who can coordinate the efforts of all other partners.

Given their overarching understanding of the system’s primary function and integration needs, this role is often best suited to someone from the security team.

Providing clear value

In addressing the entire customer team, integrators may discover that the organisation still works in silos.

This is where the integrator’s role in bringing all stakeholders together can really set them apart and establish the provider as a key business partner.

Even if the client isn’t doing this on their own, pulling everyone together and involving them in an organisation-wide system implementation can deliver value for the integrator and client for many years.

With more stakeholders involved, demonstrating value for money becomes more complicated, as each department will be interested in different metrics.

For instance, marketing might focus on customer traffic data, while HR could look at visitor management.

As there is rarely a ‘one size fits all’ dashboard, integrators should create customisable dashboards that provide relevant metrics for each stakeholder.

Regular business reviews will help demonstrate value and address needs.

Reporting success

While providing different metrics may imply more effort, reporting regularly on the different types of value being generated for various parts of an organisation can increase buy-in for future projects and upgrades.

Plus, it need not be an onerous task: Partnering with reputable manufacturers can simplify this process.

As they engage with different stakeholders, clients will provide a better understanding of what reporting they desire.

Integrators can then work with manufacturers to see what is possible for each department to support their needs and goals.

For example, health reporting systems can be configured to alert the integrator first about system issues, while occupancy anomalies are directly reported to HR, ensuring that each department receives the information it needs in a timely manner.

Increasingly, the insights a security system delivers by leveraging AI and analytics can help clients better manage their business and plan resources more effectively.

The integrator is the key to unlocking this added value – if they include all the stakeholders who will share in this success.