On this occasion, the author points out that there are deficiencies in the subject of security consultants and the recommendations they offer to the end user.
By: Humberto De la Vega
I went to breakfast with some friends at the traditional Café Tortoni located in the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina. The place is wonderful and you can breathe an atmosphere between bohemian, intellectual, elegant and at the same time mundane, where conversation is the center of attention of each table.
At the same time, one of my cuates and I had to return to our hotel. When we left we discovered a wonderful day with the frame of the Avenida de Mayo completely clear and with only a few cars circulating, in the background you could see a beautiful Casa Rosada. My friend, a photography aficionado who takes his equipment virtually everywhere, I invited him to throw a few shots of the stage that in my eyes was unique.
He did it and already installed in the taxi that we boarded immediately he shared with me the result of his shots. The truth is that I did not like them or rather I still had in my mind a very similar scene, completely different.
This anecdote serves as a frame of reference to the fact that every day there are hundreds of security projects under development throughout our region and that the actors in each of them are in theory similar but in essence completely different from each other, and therefore, the point of view of the recommendation, solution and execution is very varied.
Conceptualizing a solution through a project requires not only knowledge and experience, it is also very important to have consensus and validation, and this is only achieved through the perspective of a third party who, with elements of judgment, ethics and technique, manages to place on a neutral plane what has been proposed, giving a point of view that allows a conclusive decision to be made.
This third is a character scarcely present in our industry, who is none other than a consultant. In almost 25 years that I have in the industry I can say that I count with the fingers of one hand to the people I consider really consultants. Of course I am not the center of the universe and surely there are much more, but the truth is that I do not know where they are.
Of these few on my agenda, virtually all are focused on fire prevention and control issues, and perhaps a couple with additional knowledge of electronic security systems. It is important to clarify the issue of electronic security, because I do know a few dozen experts in personal security, but in most cases their knowledge in electronic security is scarce.
It is time for consultants to begin to appear and be hired by companies that plan to implement electronic security solutions, not everything is a matter of finding the best provider in terms of prices and services, it is also to have the right project covering each and every one of the possible perspectives.
I invite end users to perform a validation of the proposals received by a consultant, it will surely ensure success.
And you, my dear reader, what do you think?
