Today there are factors that critically affect the markets in which monitoring centers have traditionally grown, in their order: commercial, industrial and residential.
By Security Sales
That is why he has surely evidenced a greater effort to sell, has had to adjust prices and make use of his creativity to create new business models both financial and services ... in conclusion, it has been forced by technological disruption into new paths.
It will be increasingly difficult
A new model of mobile phone is coming and the one that was at the forefront of sales will soon be surpassed, the speed of current technological advances is unprecedented in history and affects all industries, including security. So being competitive will require greater effort, vision and openness.
The Fourth Industrial Revolution
Few imagined a refrigerator with cameras inside and Internet connectivity, but they are already here... In 2016 there was talk for the first time of the fourth industrial revolution, which is based on a digital revolution and is already underway. The way we live, work and relate is different. The basic but everyday actions we carry out from a mobile device such as sharing multimedia content, attending a course virtually, Sharing the GPS position are examples of the changes and the impact on the industry.
Security is no longer an isolated element
Security is key and therefore not alien to these changes. The IoT or Internet of Things is, in itself, a competitor to traditional monitoring services and with companies like Google leading its development there is no going back. Users expect to be able to control their security system and other elements from their mobile devices, applications and the Internet.
For security companies it means a great effort to stay technologically up to date and have satisfied customers with their offer, yet customers are always open to new possibilities and now more than ever they receive offers and learn about new possibilities thanks to digital marketing allowing it.
It is quite possible that a large percentage of your customers use old, disconnected security systems and traditional methods of operation. This is normal, typical of an area that has wanted to remain isolated, but can no longer do so.
Are you in tune with the new era?
Talking about obsolete monitoring services does not only refer to a certain technology, equipment or operating software, it refers to the set of elements that the client perceives and enjoys in all aspects of its offer, that is, the user experience.
Take the time to evaluate the experiences you have as a user when using, for example, the WhatsApp application, it is easy to operate, effective and very useful. Continue with the experience of sending money, making transfers and blocking a credit card from your bank application without having to travel and finally, think about buying an item online that comes to your home or office and whose return by exchange there's no cost. Those are user experiences aligned with the new digital age.
Is your company online and connected to digital age trends in technologies, services and sales? Does your offer reach thousands of users through social networks? How does a customer access a service request... using the phone, a mobile app, a Chat service? Do you have the service that offers spreads beyond a low price? What values do you generate for your customers? How easy is it to make a payment? These are just some of the questions that will allow you to identify if your service is becoming obsolete.
Evolution brings good news
Creating experiences for users of monitoring centers and in general of security services is a great challenge and has to be started as soon as possible to turn around the behavior of the market. For example, the specter of price battles will be overshadowed by real user experiences in which customers are willing to invest. The problem is not that customers do not want to pay for services. The problem is that they do not perceive a real benefit from the services offered in traditional proposals.
A potential monitoring client will receive and pay more for a service in which he can protect his family group using the mobile phone than for a basic alarm system for an apartment in a closed housing complex. These are tangible benefits, which make living better or solve a clear problem of society.
Technological tools give competitive advantages
To be in tune with the new era, you have to use new age tools. These tools provide a competitive advantage to the companies that use them and leave those that prefer a traditional scheme in trouble, usually for fear of a paradigm shift. A notable example is mobile applications and cloud services. a higher percentage of security companies have rejected their use while the other percentage, usually emerging companies, take advantage of applying them and grow rapidly.
For a simple example, starting a monitoring center with a traditional scheme involves buying receivers, computer equipment, buying monitoring software and paying for support policies, with an initial investment of no less than 10,000 USD. On the other hand, in a modern model and making use of the cloud the investment would be only about 200 USD per month and superior results. A really critical difference.
The competition generated by DIY (Do It Yourself)
Do-it-yourself, self-management or self-monitoring affect the market for monitoring services. Although these concepts are not practical in reality for real security purposes, the user is captivated by them because they usually involve a single payment and not a recurrence or periodic payment.
The service and support of an entity available 100% of the time is the key to a monitoring service. However, if the client does not perceive the support or has not needed it, he interprets it as an expense and therefore seeks to move from a periodic payment to a single payment. At this point the ones discussed above apply, the service must offer such a user experience that the customer values and wants to stay active, regardless of whether or not they had a security situation.
What to do if your monitoring business is struggling?
1. Upgrade your infrastructure and offering
If you're trying to stay in the monitoring business with your customer base, upgrading is your best bet. Staying in close contact with your customers is the starting point, you need to know what exactly they're looking for from a security service and your current concerns. This way you can choose technologies and make one-off changes to your services that ensure that customer base is maintained.
Investments to upgrade and retain your customers can cost you a cost, but it's sure to be much less than the cost of losing them. Identify key points and tie them down directly.
Many investments will debug your operation, systems to manage customers such as CRMs may seem with high costs but their impact will translate into a critical improvement of processes and customer retention.
If you are looking for new customers, you will have to change your offer and move as far as possible away from traditional offers. In this case, differentiation is the key, it can be through services for specific niches such as special monitoring for hospitals and health entities or service packages focused on little explored markets such as residential. Face these challenges with emerging technologies, you're not going to have different results using the usual systems.
Use digital marketing to reach customers. Users are connected, social media is trending and isolating yourself from it for your offering makes no sense. These tools are very powerful for B2C (Business to Customer) markets, using them is a must.
In both cases you have to move outside the comfort zone that created safety in your traditional scheme of operation. Explore, test and risk creating new services with new technologies so that you get results.
2. Sell your monitoring business
If you are constantly upgrading your infrastructure and joining market trends is a difficult change to tackle, it is time to sell your monitoring business. Your hard work can be compensated by selling your company to a buyer interested in investing in new technologies and transforming the service offering. This move will allow you to exit the industry before your services are totally outdated.
It is a time when the purchase / sale of monitoring centers is remarkable because the vertiginous change imposed by technology implies advanced business models.
Take action now, don't let the advancement of technology take you by surprise.
If you are aware that your monitoring business is at risk of becoming obsolete it is time to take action. There are many options in the business and steps you can take to keep your business in the game.
