I spent the first part of 2020 in disbelief like many people. The possibility of a pandemic seemed like science fiction. The fact that COVID19 was reality was bad enough, making matters worse was listening to the fear mongering media and amateur hour politicians. Somehow it seems like the worst is over and yet still today the best practice is what our teachers, grandparents and parents told us since childhood, go wash your hands, don’t put your hands on your face, cover your mouth when you cough, stop biting your fingernails and stop touching everything. Some of our mothers, fathers, or grandparents even encouraged social distancing telling us to stay away from that kid, he is always sick and dirty. Our behaviors, both privately and publicly are forever changed. Is lawful awareness the key to best practice? Do we need signs everywhere to have best practices? We will forevermore be surrounded by best practices with hand sanitizing options, the practice of social distance, and face or mouth covering.
I get it that some have different arguments for what could be best for them individually depending on the category of discussion but as a whole, as a group, best practices generally take the group into account and therefore don’t have much disparity. Best practices for a business could be defined as the systematic prioritization of using methods that are proven to protect the assets and profits of a company. Seems as logical as washing your hands, covering your cough, and keeping your distance from animals and people you don’t know. The difficult part is the practice of making that the priority when the scenario arises. Unfortunately why we put these practices into play is usually determined by our experience of loss and thus historically those form our practices for the future. The philosopher and writer George Santayana wrote “those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”insinuating that humans don’t practice the lessons learned. But can we really prevent a virus by not eating bats or washing our hands? Probably.
What I do know is that businesses in the practice of installing security systems, whether that be a burglary intrusion, access control, surveillance, communication, fiber and or network type of system, make the most profit when they standardize. Not only that they have the happiest customers and the most satisfied employees. Why? Easy answer. The more a technician (fill in the blank here e.g., any employee, sales person, customer service rep, accounts receivable, COO, etc) is familiar with the process of (again fill in the blanks about the job to be done) installing and servicing a specific product the more proficient that technician is with that products inner workings including the technical support phone number, web site for downloads and FAQs, other components needed to interface with the product and how much time needed for programming for proper operation.
So why don’t companies demand standardization? Still an easy answer, just not as gentle. My formulation is two fold. One is the abundance of products on the market that have similar use, and likely priced, that make the choice between one or the other not so apparent. The choice is made innocently by those unaware of the deviation and the cost of it. The second answer is ironic because I think it is greed; everyone wants to make money and get the business regardless of the affiliated brand or type of system. I have observed this throughout my tenure in this industry and as many will agree it is difficult to master 3 much less 5 or more different systems with the same technical staff.
We hope to give you good reason to work with our manufacturers but we also understand if you can’t or you just will not. It is good to have best practices, to have a standard. It is good to be profitable. We understand the cost of doing business and we respect your opinions. Our intent is to be of value, a resource of knowledge, wisdom, and educate the willing to find a profitable future in this industry.
All the best to you and yours!