Chaos Control
The daunting task of establishing order in monitoring centers is similar to the challenges of the Old Wild West. Today’s business model is changing to use tools of the 21st century and thereby change the ways services are delivered. Modern monitoring consists of countless signals, varied technologies, vendors, and protocols. Multiple sources of content including multi-media (voice, video, social, traditional alarm) need integration. Establishing some order to this ever-changing world is crucial to every central station and our industry in the years to come.
It is refreshing to see The Monitoring Association (formerly the Central Station Alarm Association) step up with the establishment of an Emerging Technologies Standards Committee. While we all struggle to create best practices, we need to solidify the solutions quickly into standards. Building business can only thrive with quality standards.
Uncontrolled dumping of data can lead to business paralysis. Sifting through data and understanding its meaning can impede critical responses. The computer world has similar challenges that are lumped into the “big data” dilemma, but they have the advantage of defining many solutions as “off-line.” The challenge for monitoring centers is to take big data and apply rules for real-time usage.
What are the challenges we face right now? To start, the technology boom is never ending. There are new devices and sensors being developed every day and new technologies in home automation that are transforming the consumer space radically. Smart devices and mobility add additional layers of complexity and the millennial generation is demanding more and better information relevance. Because this landscape is always changing, we are faced not with restricting technology but with establishing order in the chaos. The brilliance of standards allows vendors and monitoring centers to point to bad implementations and force change.
Finally, establishing a standard regarding information means that parameters for creation and use of "big data" becomes more manageable. The collection of geolocation data, non-alarm communications, site data, audio and video, real-time and otherwise are growing exponentially. The integration of all of these disparate platforms are increasing operational demands for a central station. Standards will involve technology, process, and policy, all of which will allow synergies and opportunities for business efficiency and growth.
Get ready! Change is here. Chaos control is mandatory. We thank The Monitoring Association for guiding the way.
Hank Goldberg was a partner in a company creating solutions for the first generation of McCulloh & direct wire systems automation. In the early 1980s, Hank’s new venture, Monitoring Automation Systems (MAS) was the major provider of systems for the first revolution in the central station. Today, Secure Global Solutions provides stages™ software to enable the transition in the next revolution.
