Kick Off ISC with the SAMMYs

The proverbial drum roll will take on added expectancy at this year’s SAMMY Awards when SECURITY SALES & INTEGRATIONbestows its inaugural Installer of the Year honor. SSI has created the award to pay tribute to the multitude of ways installing security contractors must excel if “successful” is to be an applicable portrayal of their business.

A pair of top installer awards will be given at the March 31 SAMMY ceremony, held on the eve of ISC West at the Venetian Resort Hotel Casino in Las Vegas. The award designations are small to midsize company, 300 or fewer employees; and large company, 300+ employees.

SSI received an impressive collection of entries from across North America for the right to be named Installer of the Year. Each company was asked to submit essay-type answers to half-a-dozen judging factors, such as detailing business practices and marketing strategies the company uses to ensure its success, and a description of ways the company contributes to the security industry.

“There are so many facets to running what I would call a ‘model’ security installation business,” says SSI Editor-in-Chief Scott Goldfine, emcee of this year’s SAMMYs. “They all stem from top-flight management that exhibits everything from shrewd business acumen to super sales and marketing to top-drawer customer service to employee enrichment to generosity within the community to furthering industry causes. We decided to establish an award for companies that possess an abundance of such attributes.”

Following are the businesses lauded as finalists: Small to midsize: Atronic Alarms (Lenexa, Kan.); Provident Security Corp. (Vancouver, British Columbia); and The Protection Bureau (Exton, Pa.). Large: ASG Security (Beltsville, Md.), Diebold Security (North Canton, Ohio) and Stanley Convergent Security Solutions (CSS) Inc. (Naperville, Ill.).

With a jam-packed program in store, let’s take a look at some of the other action.

For each of the past 13 years the SAMMY Awards have strived to honor security dealers and systems integrators that demonstrate professionalism in their sales, marketing and installation endeavors. The 2009 installment of the industry’s only awards program like it will be no exception.

“I was delighted to see the high level of professionalism and creativity demonstrated with each entry,” says SAMMYs judge Leslie Stevens, president of Eclipse Marketing of Laguna Niguel, Calif. “It is evident that these companies strive for excellence and are willing to work hard for long-term success.”

Several companies are up for multiple nominations. In addition to being up for Installer of the Year, the Stanley CSS marketing muscle flexed like Arnold Schwarzenegger in his prime to notch a total of seven SAMMY nominations. ASG Security, Provident Security Corp. and SecurTek will each be called as finalists in four categories. And Guardian Protection Services, a perennial victor, will have a shot at three SAMMY trophies.

SSI will profile the 2009 SAMMY winners and finalists in the June issue, while the Installer of the Year and Integrated Installation of the Year case study will be featured in the July edition.

SSI is indebted to the diligent work of our panel of judges. They are: Tom Brigham (Brigham Scully Communications), Jon Daum (Daum Weigle Inc.), Richard Hahn (Richard Hahn & Associates), Jerry Lenander (Syncomm Management Group) and Leslie Stevens (Eclipse Marketing).

To view the 2009 SAMMY Awards finalists, click here. For more information on the SAMMYs, visit www.thesammyawards.com.

Each year the SAMMYs also serve as a grand stage to welcome inductees into the SSI Hall of Fame and to commemorate the winner of the Police Dispatch Quality (PDQ) Award.

The industry stalwarts celebrating their entry into the SSI Hall of Fame in alphabetical order will be: Allen Fritts, president of Honeywell Fire Systems; George Gunning, CEO of USA Alarm Systems; Ken Kirschenbaum, managing partner of Kirschenbaum & Kirschenbaum; George Lippert (deceased), co-founder of the Security Industry Equipment Association (later SIA) and Alarm Installer & Dealer magazine (later SSI); and Mel Mahler, chairman/CEO/owner of ADS Security.

For an up-close look at each of these distinguished professionals, click here.

Now in its fourth year, the PDQ Award was created by the Security Industry Alarm Coalition (SIAC), False Alarm Reduction Association (FARA) and SSI to stem the proliferation of false dispatches. The award recognizes the efforts of installing and monitoring companies that follow established industry practices and join with law enforcement to achieve the highest quality in police dispatch requests.

The PDQ Award judges have completed their entry reviews and named the following finalists: ADT, based in Boca Raton, Fla.; Atronic Alarm of Lenexa, Kan.; Custom Alarm of Rochester, Minn.; and V.I.P. Security Alarms Inc. of Belton, Texas. Both Atronic and Custom are past finalists. Honeywell Security will pay for a representative from the winning company (not yet selected at press time) to make the trip to Las Vegas for the award ceremony.

All told, the 2009 SAMMY Awards will provide another fun and bustling occasion. SSI sincerely hopes you can share in this grand celebration along with so many others who make the electronic security industry their professional home.

The 41st annual International Security Conference (ISC) West in Las Vegas will feature a few new wrinkles that attendees will want to note.

Held April 1-3 at the Sands Expo & Convention Center, event producer Reed Exhibitions for the first time will offer the Integrator’s Solution Center — a dedicated theater setting where integrators can host end-user customers to talk some serious shop. All presenting integrators will be available for one-on-one meetings, plus there will be half-hour presentations detailing security installations around the world.

Also new, the Public Security & Safety Expo will feature exhibitors targeting law enforcement, campus safety, urban and border protection, and all transportation sectors. Prequalified attendees can set up appointments in advance to meet with suppliers. Here again, the end game is to germinate conversation and business opportunity.

“If there is one thread that underlines all of this it is our goal to do an even better job of creating one-to-one connection within the larger ISC event,” says Ed Nichols, industry vice president, ISC events.

ISC, of course, is a major draw for security professionals looking to expand their skills through educational coursework. New for 2009, an enhanced and restructured format to make it easier to identify sessions based on specific job functions and an individual’s unique needs. Heretofore product-centric, all coursework is now categorized based on singular disciplines such as dealer/installer/integrator/technician, central station and IT/IP convergence, among others.

“While that may seem like a minor detail, we feel we left too much for potential registrants to figure out what would be applicable to them,” Nichols says.

Despite what promises to be a sold-out show floor, Nichols says as an indication of tough economic times attendees will immediately notice reduced booth footprints for some of the larger vendors. And there will be a single show floor; no spillover to the lower level, which housed mostly international exhibitors.

“The unintended benefit of the challenge that the economy has posed to us is we have been able to get everybody on the main floor,” Nichols says.

For more information and a complete event schedule, visit www.iscwest.com.

Print | posted on Thursday, March 19, 2009 11:44 AM