Re: Commercial Alarm - help

["Bill" <bill190nospam@xxxxxxxxx>]

I would start with your insurance company.

Ask what exactly is required?

Then determine what other requirements you have internally.

I would separate the corporate office from the branch offices.

For your corporate office, might want to separate various things. Have one
company do video, another do card access, etc.

Talk to other businesses about which companies are the best in your area for
each specific thing. May want to talk to your local police department and
ask which companies are known to *not* resolve false alarm problems and
which resolve them quickly. (Best company.)

Then for branch offices, delegate the responsibility. Use the insurance
requirements to specify what must be in the system, and use your experience
(which you will have gained) of finding the best company or companies for
your corporate systems. Then suggest to local managers that they use the
same methods to find the best local companies where they are located.

You will have 10 different managers making selections here. Some will do
well, others will have problems. Over time, learn what the successful
managers did right, then adopt that methodology for the rest of the company.

(In other words - experiment and see what gets the best results so far as
your branches are concerned.)

Might want to try and find out what large businesses like Walmart do. Which
brands of equipment... Companies they use to install/maintain their systems,
etc.

I know it would be nice to have one company do everything, one national
contract for everything, etc. But I think you will do better, quality and
service-wise, going on a component by component basis and city by city
basis.

Also be aware that there are "dual sensor" motion detectors. They use
microwave *and* IR. Microwave by itself is prone to false alarms. IR by
itself is prone to false alarms. But the dual detector requires both to trip
at the same time for an alarm to be triggered and they have solved many
false alarm problems. They are of course more expensive.


"quelquefemme" wrote in message
> Hi all - I am project manager for a fairly sizeable business, and our
> security system has come to be the bane of my existence.  I need help
> coming up with a plan to replace what we have.  Here's the basics
>
> We are moving into a new 80,000 square foot corporate office, and we
> have 10 smaller national offices that are 5,000 to 9,000 square feet
> each.  We currently utilize an ADT motion/access/glass break/camera
> system.  All the fobs for access and alarm control are programmed and
> monitored by our corporate office, and all alarm activity is monitored
> by the corporate office, and cameras are watched occasionally by
> regional managers at the corporate office.
>
> The thing is, we hate ADT, we get terrible service from them, the techs
> are poorly trained, and we have a ridiculous number of false alarms.
>
> We are looking at two options to take the place of our current service
> - the Sonitrol audio system and cameras keeping corporate in control,
> or a traditional motion etc system through individual local companies
> and put more responsibility on the local managers for their alarm
> systems.
>
> I guess what I am looking for is info about Sonitrol, as well as
> experiences with local companies as opposed to ADT.  Or does anyone
> have any other nationwide companies to suggest (not asking for a ton of
> salespeople...I mean companies you used and recommend.)  Thanks so
> much, I really appreciate any info you can share
>