Basilio Ángel Holowczak, very close to reaching his 77 years, is a professional who like few knows the current situation of the electronic security industry in the Latin American region. He is our guest as Professional of the Month of this edition of SECURITY SALES.
By Santiago Jaramillo Hincapié
The engineer Basilio Ángel Holowczak is responsible for Latin America and the Caribbean Region in the company Takenaka Engineering Co. Ltd. (Takex Japan), he is always up to date on the latest trends in electronic security, in fact, he has an extensive transcendence in the history of security.
Buenos Aires, Argentina, is Basilio's hometown, he was born on October 24, 1939.
The education he received was primary, secondary (bachelor's degree) and university (electronics engineering degree). Musical from 5 to 14 years old at the Alberto Williams Conservatory of Music receiving piano teacher.
He began his working life in 1953 in his father's company, at the age of 14, starting as a cadet and apprentice of the mechanical modeling trade and then taking over the total direction of a foundry ground molding of non-ferrous metals that motivated his father to buy.
"My father was of Ukrainian nationality, of profession "mechanical modeler" and the relations with it were with companies related to related specialties, all directed by foreign immigrant professionals with characteristics of industrial lords with high human and technical training giving me the luck and the precious memory of having been formed, in my first steps through life, by such gentlemen where professional ethics, respect, good examples, advice and consideration, were the characteristics that prevailed, "emphasizes Basilio.
In 1967 and due to his lesson of pursuing university studies in the electronic specialty (boom at that time) he joined the Proartel Company (Channel 13 of Open TV in Buenos Aires, directed by Mr. Goar Mestre), entering as a video-tape operator of 3rd. Category, in which after different examinations to advance from categories he reached the final position of Chief of the Technical Operations Division.
"I linked with the Electronic Security Industry and started my activity in it when I joined the Company "Sistemas Electrónicos de Seguridad" in 1978. At that time they were the beginnings of the use of security and control systems in my country (Argentina), given my previous technical training in Brodcasting Television, the CCTV used in electronic security being simpler I could understand and handle immediately and what refers to intrusion sensors I learned by reading the manuals of the different manufacturers, because at that time there were no courses on electronic security and those who were curious and self-taught learned, "says our Professional of the month.
In this Company Basilio had the opportunity to design and direct installations of important systems, to name a few of them; Central House of the Banco de la Nación Argentina (a very large monochromatic CCTV, many cameras and video recorders with two monitoring centers) – Security Projects for the Casa Rosada of Government, for SIDE (Secretariat of State Intelligence), for the Navy, Army and Argentine Air Force and many more.
"The most important intervention I had is when the Company already indicated appoints me as its Technical Representative for the first comprehensive safety project for the Embalse Río Tercero Nuclear Power Plant (Córdoba), a project that was executed for 3 months in the Honeywell Subsidiary of Argentina, together with two local managers of such subsidiary and two engineers who were sent from Honeywell of USA, they were two senior engineers who had vast international experience in projects and implementations of comprehensive security systems of great magnitude throughout the world from the warmest places to the coldest extremes, from whom I learned a lot through asking them humbly, "pondered Basilio Ángel Holowczak.
Challenges, technology and training
After inquiring about the challenges you face as a professional, our Professional of the Month states that he tries to make the relations with employees and collaborators profitable and useful for them, trying to transmit all the knowledge learned by other professionals and their own acquired during their work and professional career in electronic security, especially those accumulated in important installations of external perimeter control systems with CCTV support to verify from the checkpoint the nature or cause of an alarm.
"As for technological innovation, I follow the same and try to provide new ideas that help advance them and especially their correct application," says Basilio.
Turning expressly to the issue of staff training, our guest indicates that he has always tried to be in favor of initiatives of this type, helping himself to select personnel who had proven technical training and, especially, long experience in the field and as far as possible in facilities and, currently, such trainings are replicated in the talks and courses he offers to installers, integrators and distributors.
According to Basilio Ángel Holowczak the objectives that must be met in the market is to try to manage within the guild taking into account, first of all, to offer high quality products, to give importance to the technical and not only to the commercial.
"The ideal would be, for what I have been fighting for a long time, is that distributors should understand that their sellers must be technical sellers and, in addition, with solid knowledge in the specialty related to the products they sell and if they have previous experience in their facilities, better than better to achieve success of their sales to the guild. The conformity and recognition of this and the optimal pre and post-sale advice to the same that benefits and grows the area, "says Holowczak.
He also ponders that "I have sometimes noticed that large systems could not be put into operation because the section of drivers necessary for them had not been calculated, which forced to have to redo everything again and this because the distributor did not provide the necessary information to the buyer nor did he consult what such a large purchase was for and where he would use or install it. Unfortunately there are Distributors who mistakenly handle many brands and representations and also equipment from different areas of electronic security so the technical seller ends up not knowing in depth any of them and because of it the impossibility of providing adequate advice to the guild, so I had to listen in some security exhibitions in which I attended that the advice of such Distributor was deficient or almost non-existent."
In the same way, Basilio concludes that the higher level of knowledge of installers and distributors will motivate manufacturers to strive to produce better and better products. The good manufacturer privileges the opinion or observations it receives from expert professional installers. "Conclusion, solid technical knowledge helps everyone; Installers, Integrators, Distributors and Manufacturers, that is, the objectives to be pursued in the market are those of professional and service excellence", emphasizes our Professional of the month.
Evolution of the industry
"The evolution of the security industry in my country as in the rest of Latin America is maintained since I work in it and, lately, with very rapid advances. In my beginnings, exterior systems were used only by large plants, companies and prisons, mostly with sensors with highly elaborate and expensive detection technology; and on a smaller scale those of basic or classical technologies, however, due to economic crises that have occurred during the last decades, this trend was reversed," says Basilio.
As for residential exterior security, our guest concludes that it begins to be used in the mid-80s, given that models of sensors for outdoor use of basic technology for short distances appear and because of this with values within the reach of such types of users, today most of such facilities use in addition to the traditional or initial indoor detection, the exterior. Subsequently, in the course of time, alarm monitoring followed. the sensors of double and tiple technology, the integration of electronic security with data transmission networks the very close presumption of the use of systems (today under tests) of alarm and automation in the cloud, composed of different sensors and cameras, 100% IP, wifi + BT, with unique ID that the user enrolls in his protection cloud and that are managed from his smartphones.
In the same way, Basilio emphasizes that the needs of customers are diverse, some with non-traditional or new applications and with a growing character. "It deserves to be borne in mind that what served before, today is not so since intruders know the systems for their decades of existence and manage to annul them through different devices and procedures. Before it was a deterrent element to notice the existence of an alarm system in a property through its external sirens, etc. that prevented it from being invaded or stolen, today it is preferred that it is not possible to warn the existence of an alarm system to avoid its mockery or cancellation and that it surprises the intruder during his entry into the protected property. However, CCTV in direct view of a potential intruder is considered in most cases to be deterrent and desirable."
A family man
Basilio Ángel Holowczak married at the age of 21 to Nilda Lidia Balerdi Degasperi (French and Italian Basque origins), has two children; the eldest, Olga Maria, lives in El Bolsón, Río Negro, with her husband Fernando Pierani and daughters Giovanna and Sofi. The youngest, Pedro, lives in Buenos Aires with his partner Irene and helps me in my current marketing tasks.
"My hobbies are to perform tango solos on piano, which I do every night in my house, to be and walk with my two dogs, in summer to hoist gardening and maintenance tasks in our house on the sea (Atlantic Ocean), located in Chapadmalal, 436 kms. south of the City of Buenos Aires," says Basilio.
Other knowledge:
-The detection of weapons and metals being Garrett's Representative in Argentina since 1985; and since 2003 it appointed a Distributor for its local marketing, to devote itself fully to its current activity.
– Cryptography
– Music.
"Although I am not a fan of any football team, I am passionate about watching all the matches of the world championships on TV. From my childhood I remember; my childhood, kindergarten, elementary school, the games I enjoyed with my classmates in the neighborhood, the warmth with which I was raised and especially my Father, who was a friend of mine rather than a Father and who gave me excellent advice and noble examples of human behavior, "says our guest, who also points out "I like to enjoy everything I do and what I like least about myself are involuntary mistakes that I have made in my life, that I am extra sensitive and that I easily alter".
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