Technology of any kind changes rapidly. Technical innovations continue and require maintenance staff, system operators, and technicians to keep current on their training in order to not get behind and overwhelmed. With new technical security systems being introduced to the market on a routine basis, it is difficult to stay up to date on the latest and greatest systems. Existing technical security systems are often upgraded which requires recurrent training so the users are familiar and proficient with all the new system features and functions.
In my experience, users often inquire about the cost of training during the initial installation, but fail to consider and budget for the cost of recurrent training. When overlooked, lack of training will result in poor system operation and also will greatly affect the operators morale since they will be tasked with controlling and monitoring systems that they don’t fully comprehend. At that point, the problem magnifies as new employees are hired and the existing staff is tasked with training those individuals with their limited knowledge. Successful technical security operations include recurring training of their staff to mitigate all these possible issues.
Training is sometimes overlooked since it is not something that will necessarily provide a return on investment in the financial sense, at least not at first sight. However, when considerations are made for evaluating the cost of poor operator performance and the many liabilities a company assumes when not properly preparing their employees who are responsible for the security systems, the relatively small cost incorporating an adequate training program is quickly justified. My advice is to implement this plan as part of the cost of ownership of new technical security systems at the same time the system is purchased and installed to eliminate future difficulties in getting approval for these expenditures.
Integrators often offer initial training upon installing a new technical security system, but the provided training is not always sufficient. It is important to consider an integration firm’s level of expertise with their proposed solutions prior to accepting their proposal in order to ensure they will properly support the system and the operators after the installation. Simply asking the integration company’s customer about these issues goes a long way in making the best choices regarding your provider. Expert integrators like Orion Security Solutions make themselves available for initial and recurring training to provide their customers with the proper knowledge and skills they need.
Please join us here at The O next Wednesday for more valuable insight into technical security.
