Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/31496
SECURITY SYSTEMS NEWS FEBRUARY 2011 www.securitysystemsnews.com COMMERCIAL & SYSTEMS INTEGRATORS 17 CCS: MANAGING ACCESS FOR MANY By Martha Entwistle SAN DIEGO—Ca l i forni a Commercial Security, a systems inte- grator based here, likes the managed access business so well that it’s pre- paring to become a third-party pro- vider of man- aged access con- trol to smaller dealers. The compa- ny’s managed access control business “really grew out of a perceived need in the market- place,” said CCS president Charlie Baker. And it’s morphed into a nice way to augment his security integra- tion business, he said, “to get away from the break-fix mentality,” and to add RMR. CCS is a $4 million systems integrator. About 65 percent of its business is card access, the balance is CCTV, custom applications, fire, mass notification. In business for 14 years, Baker has 26 employees. Charlie Baker Continued from page 16 Altec Altec partners with VideoIQ and G4S for its remote guarding tours. “We’ve had great success with that. It’s great when you can apprehend people and save customers money.” Getting out of the “break-fix mentality” and into a managed services mode has been an ongo- ing process, Feury said. “It’s a shift because you don’t make as much money up front. How do you do that and still pay the bills?” “It’s a continuing improvement thing,” Mary Feury said. “You’ve got to change your processes.” For example, she said if someone calls and says their card reader is broken, companies used to send a technician in a truck out to fix it. To be efficient, you have to be able to remotely diagnose and/or fix the problem, and you have to train your customers to work within this process as well, she explained. You do it one step at a time and engage your employees in the process, she said. And you should “grab education along the way,” through books, online, through associations, she said. “A phrase we use here is to begin at the end,” she said. “If the end goal is not to roll a truck, and to solve the problem sitting in your chair in front of a com- puter, you work backwards. You know you’ll need X information, that you’ll need remote access to a customer’s server. You lay the pieces out and figure out the process.” SSN BENEFITING: ORGANIZING SPONSORS: EVENT SPONSORS: TSHIRT SPONSOR TIMING SPONSOR: Run for Fun [and help change lives] * Help our industry make a difference. Sign up to run or walk at: www.Security5K.com CCS had been doing its own version of managed card access for a number of years. When a problem arises with a non-managed system, it can be considerably more than the cost of outsourcing the management of its access control to CCS, Baker said. Even without problems, it’s expen- sive for businesses to manage access control in house. About three years ago, CCS started using Kantech’s managed access control platform. Its customers can opt for hosted access (they control their access using a web browser) or managed access (CCS manages the system for them). “Right now we have well over 100 accounts and we manage more than 700 doors,” Baker said. “We’ve never lost an account.” The process of working with his managed access customers actually helps with customer retention. “It cements the relationship [of CCS] with the customer,” he said. In the last year Baker rolled out a program where customers can update their access rights via a secure [CCS branded] web site from anywhere in the world. CCS will soon provide hosted and managed access control for other smaller dealers, who don’t have the infrastructure to provide this service to their customers on their own. This will enable smaller dealers to create an RMR stream, and increase CCS’s RMR stream as well. SSN WWW.SECURITY5K.COM Harry meet Sally theplusfactor super-size your access control Harry is a job seeker in the Security industry. Sally is a recruiter looking to find candidates for security jobs. Maxim Access Power Controllers provide seamless power and independent control for as many as 16 electric door hardware devices. Available in a wide range of power configurations for 12VDC, 24VDC or both. Super-size your access control systems with Maxim from Altronix. The Meeting Place for Security Jobs and People. Find the connections you’re looking for now. www.ssncareercenter.com More than just power.™ Lifetime Warranty • Made in the U.S.A. info@altronix.com • 1.888.258.7669 • altronix.com 3915MP Altronix Maxim line ad 4.5” x 4.625” RA April 7th Security5k . com 7:30–8:30am