Víctor Alarcón, executive director of ALAS, shared with Ventas de Seguridad the details of the ALAS Management Summit that will be held on August 18 and 19 at the Hotel Panama.
Training, education and the appropriation of administrative tools by the managers of security companies are needs that are rarely addressed in the industry, but are just as important as being aware of the latest technological advances.
Precisely, ALAS (Latin American Security Association) hopes to generate with the ALAS Summit, which will be held on August 18 and 19 at Hotel el Panama, that space for meeting and training in management issues. In this sense, the academic program in which Professor Julio Sergio Ramírez will participate as a lecturer, with the theme "Management of the XXI century".
The academic agenda is complemented, among other conferences, with the interventions of Ely Magendzo, with the theme "How to motivate to have successful work teams", Samuel Yecutieli who will talk about "Comprehensive strategies of citizen security" and Marcelo Colanero who will share "Success story: how to build a successful company despite the crisis".
Similarly, the Panel Discussion with manufacturers will be repeated, which in the first version of the event held in Miami in 2010, had a great reception by the attendees of the event. Victor Alarcón talked about these and other issues with us.
Security Sales: How and why was the ALAS Summit born?
Victor Alarcon: "Based on the fact that we as ALAS are generators of information, content, added value for the industry, that is our mission: to train and give knowledge resources. Last year at a Board of Directors meeting we discovered that the managerial part was very uncovered and that is why a specific event was designed for managers, with high-level information, specifically aimed at the directors and owners of electronic security companies including integrators, distributors, manufacturers and end users. The first version was made last year in Miami with surprising success. People responded very well to us and that made us understand that we had chosen the right option."
VDS: What aspects stand out in the academic programming of the event?
GOES: "The conference programme is much better than last year. We have the participation of INCAE (Escuela Centroaméricana de Negocios), which is one of the main business schools in Latin America. We will have specialists in motivation, success stories, end-user case studies. In short, it is an event that has become a very important event and we want to promote it so that it grows more and more and we fulfill the function of training, especially in the managerial aspect, which is what sets the tone and defines what companies can become.
VDS: One of the most innovative proposals is the Panel with manufacturers. What is the purpose of this discussion space?
GOES: "The panel discussion with manufacturers was held in the first edition of the event initially, because we found it interesting to debate the sales managers of the manufacturing companies, also recognized figures of the industry in the region, because there are managers who are already icons in the industry and whose perspectives can contribute a lot.
For that, we designed five specific questions and each person had two minutes to answer each one. Then came the participation and interaction with the audience. The truth was generated a very interesting discussion, so much so that initially it was scheduled for an hour and a half and we arrived at three hours with people wanting to continue.
It was quite an enriching exchange, because people had the opportunity to ask questions, sometimes difficult, directly to the manufacturers. That is why the intention for this year is to create the same space, quite sincere and sometimes controversial, but always with the best objective".
VDS: Why is it important for the security industry to be trained in the administrative aspect?
GOES: "The truth is that many times people get into their companies, grab them day by day and forget that the world evolves, that there are trends in administration, management, business strategy, that you have to update and exchange experiences with peers from other countries that have similar realities.
In that order of ideas, as a language, an industry, an idiosyncrasy is shared, we found very interesting the possibility of creating a forum that would serve as a stage for networking and for the exchange of information between these managers".
VDS: The Summit is an event that is beginning but what with your expectations for the future?
GOES: "Last year, in Miami, we had 180 attendees, and although they made us a lot of constructive criticism and proposals about the content, this year thanks to that we have worked to have a higher level event. In terms of attendees we expect between 250 and 300 people, which would be 130% more than we did last year.
In terms of intangible results, we want to achieve the consolidation of the event as a reference forum for the industry. It may be a bit pretentious to want to achieve that just in the second year, but that's what we want to aim for. That people say "you can not miss the ALAS Management Summit, it is a space to update, network with high-level specialists" the idea is that people mark their calendar every year with the date of the Summit.
We also want it to serve to consolidate ALAS as a benchmark and a generator of high-value content for the industry, which is ultimately the main objective of the association."
