by Héctor Gómez Pérez
Do you know that it was born from the union of an architect and a lawyer? A child who from a very young age was interested in plans, contracts and construction. He was born in cold Bogotá, the Colombian capital, on January 23, 1967 and was baptized with the name of Germán Alexis. Germán Cortés Hernández is 41 years old, 20 of which he has dedicated to the security industry from the physical, electronic and communications side. He is currently the manager of Insetrón, a company that is dedicated to consulting for the advice and design of large building automation projects.
That's how everything was born
Cortés is an electronic engineer from the Javeriana University of Bogotá and has a specialization from the same university in Project Management. Later he studied at the National Institute of Standards and Technology – NIST, in Orlando, FL and Gaithersbourg, MY, in the program "Security, Control and Comunnications – Buliding Automation Systems". In this way he became part of the certified senior consultants.
In the security market he has worked in Colombian companies such as Comware, Alarmas Ultra, Integra Security Systems (formerly ITI) and Tecnología Integral, and for 12 years he has been the head of Insetrón, where in addition to offering advice prior to the purchase of security equipment, training is also given to users on security-related issues. This has earned Cortés certification as an instructor by the Latin American Security Association, ALAS.
But what led you to become interested in the world of security and integration? The answer is simple and dates back to 1988 when he worked as a maintenance engineer for AUTOMATIC TELLERS (ATM's) at Diebold Colombia: "an ATM is money abandoned on the street inside a safe, with sensors and control elements that allow automatically and safely to dispense tickets, after using an excellent communications network to confirm the balance. What is the result? Total electronic integration under an excellent and efficient security concept". Thus began his career in this exciting world in which, according to him, his friend Ciro Richardson was a fundamental piece. His time in several companies in the sector led him to create several companies, but the definitive step was made in 1995 when he founded Insetrón to design, advise and offer the integration of solutions for smart buildings.
Safety and sequins: good combination
For Cortés, his workday starts at seven in the morning and ends, almost always, around 8:00 p.m. Generally, work appointments are left for the afternoon hours, and he declares himself an amateur and great consumer of technological artifacts... Ah, he also points out that he does not imagine life without the Internet, although he says that in this type of business personal interaction is essential to create trust with customers.
Although it sounds paradoxical and incompatible, Cortés dedicates his weekends to an events company that he has in association with his wife, Diana Quintero, with whom he married in 1995 and with whom he has a three-year-old son, Carlos Eduardo.
"Together with Diana, we have a social events company, called Bodas & Eventos Integrales, therefore I alternate my teaching and consulting engineer activity, with that of organizing events on weekends; that is, we never rest, however we have a lot of fun. There the terminology and activities shift towards sequins, vintage cars and a dedicated customer service attitude."
On a personal level, Cortés is a lover of tropical music and rock in Spanish, although he also enjoys other artistic expressions. In addition, he likes to meet with his family and friends to play cards and in football he is a fan of the Bogota club of Millonarios, the team that in Colombia has won the most titles: 13.
Electronic security consulting
It is important in this space to highlight the work done by consulting engineers within the processes of electronic security or building automation. While their presence is of paramount importance when executing a security project, on some occasions there are some aspects of their work that are overlooked. Cortés also referred to this pointing out that "the consultant is responsible for supporting and advising the owner of a project when he decides that he will invest in security, control and communications. In the same way that an architect is sent to make a plan and on it the electrical, hydraulic, mechanical, structural studies must be made, among others. The Electronic Engineer, an expert in building automation, is responsible for the study and design of the entire electronic security, automation, control and communications system, prior to its construction."
In that same sense and when carrying out advisory, supervision, management, audit and training tasks, he is responsible for closing the cycle within the project and becomes an expert who knows the market, the needs of users and serves, in turn, as a feedback to manufacturers.
In this same line, the professional of the month offered some opinions regarding the importance of consulting and the added values obtained by a building that has had an adequate process of study, implementation and installation of security and automation systems. "Some builders have already understood that if a serious study is carried out on their project (residential, industrial or commercial), they obtain added values that facilitate the sale of it and generate confidence in their customers. Many multinationals seek international standards that are only achieved in high-tech buildings, which have been designed and advised by experts," said Cortés.
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A professional in his sauce
Talking about his work is something that Germán Cortés is passionate about; he goes into detail when talking about his craft and his working group of which he is deeply proud.
"I am lucky to have the group of professionals who have worked with me. They have always been architects and engineers who have a special taste for automation, security and communications. Therefore I have never felt that they are my subordinates, they are my co-workers, with whom I share my experience and they share their own, enriching us continuously. Of course someone has to put their chest in the problems and sign the checks," Cortes added.
Similarly, when asked about the five success factors of his company, he defined them as "interest in knowledge, perseverance, ethics, compliance, innovation and responsibility for our actions."
Throughout two decades of work within the electronic security market, there are many anecdotes that have accompanied him along the way; This is how he described two of the ones he remembers the most: "At the beginning of my career, when everything was trial and error, I remember how crime insisted on making us understand that no matter how hard we tried, they always had a way to make everything seem vulnerable. I learned little by little to think like them and that has taught me that we should not leave any opportunity to chance. We must never forget that electronic systems for security, have a logical and natural enemy, they are not simple equipment that detects, they are tools to prevent an attack or make it so difficult that the criminal desists ... after all, they like the easy life."
The other anecdote, although unfortunate at the time, left him with a great life experience. "At one time, I was supervising a written proposal to submit us to a public tender. He always reviewed all the documents; however, a confusion caused a necessary certificate to be forgotten and we were practically discarded. I will not be able to forget the gesture of my secretary, when she took the document we needed from her desk along with others and told us 'I had them ready for more than a week'. I've always known that engineers are a bit messy. From that moment I learned that everything must be done well in advance and that there is nothing more valuable than the people you surround yourself with, especially an efficient secretary."
Industry in the region
In the opinion of our professional of the month, the panorama of the security market in Latin America is not entirely clear in the medium term, as long as the unions and countries do not work hand in hand on the issue of regulations. This assertion was made when considering the emergence of new integrators and distribution companies that offer products at a very low cost from the most diverse markets. "Companies with experience and knowledge see their profits threatened by having to lower prices in order to enter the unbridled competition of the lowest price, absurd from every point of view in this market. That is, we sell security services, not cardboard boxes with computers inside," Cortés said.
In his opinion "the simplest way is to adopt standards that already exist with proven success in American and European markets. Put in waist to the importing companies, which consider that this is only to sell equipment. Properly train engineers, technicians, and sales personnel, so that we speak the same language and learn to recognize toy products from professional products."
