Trapped by technology

By: María Cecilia Hernández

A little less than half of his life has been Jaime Henrique Berrío dedicated to the security industry. The Colombian knows this market from all fronts, through the provision of physical protection services, to the one that seduced him, wrapped him in his networks and finally caught him: the one that makes use of technology.

Electronic security is his world, a universe that not only excites him but also allowed him to create his own company and consolidate it to form a business group that enjoys positioning and recognition in the context of this market. BT Security Technology S.A., a company created in 1999 and which today has four strategic business units.

This engineer agreed to join us in this edition of SECURITY SALES, as the protagonist of the Professional of the Month section, to talk about the development that the electronic security sector has had in Colombia and its dynamics in the Latin American context.

From the Caribbean to the capital
Although many would like to have a cabin in front of the extensive sea of Cartagena, live surrounded by the beach, the cooing sound of the waves and bathed in a bright sun, many Colombians renounce this paradise to build their own in the capital of this South American country. This is the case of Jaime Henrique Berrío, who from the Caribbean city traveled to Bogotá to live and find the opportunity to make a way at will. He studied at one of the most prestigious universities in the town: at the Universidad de la Sabana the coastal man found his north and sowed the seed that would later give him the best fruits of his life.

"I started my working life in 1997 when the regional in Bogotá de Vimarco Ltda. (Vigilantes Marítima Comercial Ltda. was created), I joined it as responsible for the acquisitions of telecommunications equipment, uniforms and endowments in general, including armaments. By contact with different manufacturers in the sector, especially radio telecommunications, my passion for electronics began. I remember that at that time the largest manufacturer was Motorola, so I was feeling a special interest in the technological issue that, in addition, was gaining importance in the country especially in the area of alarms, "recalls Berrío.

Changing the future
The path traveled in that company was short but fruitful, the Colombian took the opportunity to climb in administrative positions, learn from the market and nurture his professional experience. He quickly became deputy manager of Vimarco, so he had enough evidence that having a company of his own and leading it to happy growth was not a crazy idea and, on the contrary, filled him with expectation with the certainty of going for a safe goal.

Jaime narrates the beginning of his entrepreneurial adventure: "In 1999 I made the decision to become independent and start a business. Together with a great childhood friend and close relative, Gabriel Torres Ibarra, we created our own company whose objective was the sale of electronic security equipment. We initially named it BT Security and Protection Ltda. The acronym referred to the initials of the surnames of the two. We are dedicated to the distribution of equipment that we acquired in the United States and Europe. We mixed this activity with the provision of the specialized service of escort personnel for multinational companies."

To the surprise and fortune of the engineer the project worked and over the years its objectives and raison d'être matured. Two years later, in 2001, an unexpected change came to the growing company, Torres made the decision to give up his project to go to work in a multinational company occupying the position of security manager with responsibility, for the entire Andean region.

The growth of what was born as a project and that today is shown as a whole business group has been evident and satisfactory for its creator, who explains that "today we have a presence in Colombia with our own branches in different and strategic regions of the country such as Bogotá, Antioquia, Valle del Cauca and the Caribbean area. We also have offices in other countries in the Andean region such as Ecuador and Venezuela."

BT Security manages four strategic business units: integration in electronic security, traffic and parking, infrastructure and telecommunications and specialized after-sales technical support; with which they have managed to cover a wide niche reaching many segments of the corporate market.

"We have worked very hard to specialize in the integration and automation of electronic security subsystems, as well as in the creation of new strategic business units that complement an excellent portfolio of solutions. However, in this many manufacturers have chosen to distribute or integrate their solutions directly, which generates an imbalance and the rupture of what is the true value-added chain in this business: manufacturer – distributor – integrator – end customer. However, this is a growing market that will be consolidated in the next five to ten years as one of the important segments of the economy, "says the businessman.

You have to be one step ahead
According to Berrío, the convergence between electronic security and the world of telecommunications is a fact, which makes this market very dynamic and variant every day. "Manufacturers are updating and releasing products on the market that give greater performance to end users and integrate very high technological innovations in terms of security levels and scope of tools, which makes it imperative that companies in the sector must maintain the same speed and dynamism with which the market is changing. I believe that the sector must continue its specialization, companies must invest a lot in training and standardization of their staff, to provide better levels of service in the solutions they offer."

For the entrepreneur, Colombia has had a significant evolution in this industry and in five years has gone from talking about the basic issue of alarms to having specialized organizations that offer a real differential factor to the end customer, the offer is wide and the incursion of new brands is evident and there are new manufacturers outstanding in world markets. He assures that "the challenge of our organization in the next five years is to consolidate our regional operations and explore the incursion of our solutions in the Central American market."

In the workplace, his vision is always oriented to honest competition, discipline, perseverance and social responsibility. It tends to deliver a good service both during the sale and after it.

He dreams that his sons Jaime, seven, and Jerónimo, four, the result of a marriage that is already eleven years old, achieve dreams that he has not been able to fulfill, professional motorsport is one of those illusions. "Life did not allow me and today I practice it, I run professional karts and cars and I hope that one day they will continue with the practice of this exciting sport," he says.

He has already planned several of his next steps, because a manager who respects himself must focus his vision of the company in the future without neglecting the actions of the present: "I am convinced that the electronic security industry will have to continue integrating into the world of infrastructure and telecommunications and that the entire distribution chain existing in this market will tend to specialize and offer increasingly advanced and greater solutions. added value. Companies that do not migrate to that north will not be able to support the existing demand and, in turn, will not be able to expand in the face of a need of the regional market."