Wholesale Central stations continue to integrate with other technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) — which includes gun detection and facial recognition — and business intelligence tools — which can offer customizable cloud-based solutions for security dealers.

Some companies — like Rapid Response Monitoring — offer central station as a service (CSaaS): a service that the company has expanded to include what it’s calling hosted and hybrid monitoring.

Ahead, SDM spoke with executives from some of wholesale monitoring’s leading companies about the trends and technologies that are shaping the central station landscape.

SDM: Are you offering new types of services for dealers to offer their end user customers (such as hybrid monitoring, video monitoring, etc.)?

Woodie Andrawos, president, NMC, Lake Forest, Calif.:

NMC provides a variety of services that deliver value to the commercial and residential markets, such as alarm verification, environmental monitoring, and fire and life safety monitoring services. When an alarm or sensor is triggered, monitoring staff at NMC’s central stations will verify the authenticity of the alarm before dealers call for dispatch, saving both dealers and end users potential costs from false alarms.

Additionally, NMC dealers that offer our PERS or Netwatch proactive video monitoring services can generate RMR for their business over video verification and intruder alarm monitoring, helping them retain customers for longer and giving them a stable source of monthly income to drive growth.

Chris Brown, CEO, Immix, Tampa, Fla.:

As a platform, Immix has always been about providing a single interface to manage events from multiple disparate technology solutions in the field and enabling the monitoring center to perform an array of managed services for their end customers. Whether pure video solutions or hybrid solutions in conjunction with intrusion or access control systems, Immix is capable of enabling a center to service all customers and their inherent security systems.

Morgan Hertel, vice president of technology & innovation, Rapid Response Monitoring, Syracuse, N.Y.:

Our investment in technology has been a significant differentiator. It has enabled us to offer our central station as a service (CSaaS), which expanded our offerings to include hosted and hybrid monitoring. These options are a great solution for dealers with their own central stations to use without dealing with the high cost of development and upkeep.

Steve Mayer, vice president of operations and administration, Emergency24, Des Plaines, Ill.: Emergency24 has integrated with several new providers to enable a wider breadth of solutions for our integrator and alarm installer partners. These new integrations include Gallagher, Rath Smartview2 and CHeKT talk down package. We continue to partner with Honeywell and Potter on integrations with their respective solutions.

Jim McMullen, president & chief operating officer, COPS Monitoring, Williamstown, N.J.:

While we wouldn’t necessarily categorize these as entirely new services, we see a significant demand for monitored video and personal emergency response systems (PERS)/mobile personal emergency response System (mPERS). Video and PERS represent two of the fastest growing segments in our industry and offer the highest potential for new recurring monthly revenue (RMR) from both new and existing customers.

To meet this demand, we have heavily invested in these areas, even establishing separate specialized monitoring divisions dedicated to supporting our dealers and their customers. In addition to traditional applications, video monitoring has also created a wide range of advanced services, including AI-powered gun detection, facial recognition, sobriety testing for drivers, FAA runway lighting monitoring, interactive proactive and reactive remote fire suppression, and more.

PERS is also expanding far beyond its original purpose of assisting the elderly. mPERS is now being used by students, remote workers, lone workers, and anyone needing protection outside the home or workplace. mPERS is also being deployed in ways that help alert businesses, communities, and neighborhoods to active crimes, enhancing safety and mitigating risks.

With both video and PERS growing so rapidly, we see these segments as key drivers of innovation and growth within the security industry.

SDM: Are you offering new technologies or new software for better operations or better/faster monitoring?

McMullen: If there’s a critical situation that demands immediate human notification and response, we can, have, and will monitor it. Our goal is to ensure that no matter the industry or circumstance, we are here to provide reliable and timely monitoring for any situation that requires it.

COPS Monitoring has been providing wholesale professional monitoring for nearly 50 years, and with that experience, they would be hard-pressed to find a situation we haven’t or don’t currently monitor. We’ve monitored them all, from critical systems like blood storage and wastewater treatment plants to more unique scenarios like fish spawning facilities and poultry farms. We even handled a custom situation where we monitored cows on a highway to prevent potentially deadly incidents.

Mayer: Emergency24 development and engineering continuously enhances our UL listed proprietary automation software. The latest version enables even faster and more comprehensive call handling. We continue to accelerate our dispatching of critical life safety signals through multiple partnerships such as Honeywell CLSS that digitally dispatch directly to PSAPs. This is on top of our municipal monitoring model that has been digitally dispatching for close to a decade.

We are collaborating with Potter on integrating new solutions and we’re actively expanding partnerships with multiple solutions for POTS replacements including Honeywell’s newly UL listed Pathway, M2M and POTS in a box solutions. As mentioned previously, we are integrated with Rath Smartview2.0 that offers a highly secure elevator video monitoring solution. This is fully compliant with ADA and state requirements for elevator monitoring.

Brown: Immix has released two new solutions to improve monitoring operations in 2024.

Immix Site Link enables fast and efficient onboarding of sites into Immix for remote video monitoring. The first Site Link partner is Camect. Camect Smart Hub eliminates the need for tedious IT tasks such as port forwarding and firewall settings while adding smart video technology (analytics) to the existing camera system to ensure better detection capability.

Immix AutoPatrol allows monitoring centers to now use AI to perform video guard patrols. This minimizes the time that physical operators are required to conduct such patrols by only raising a patrol to be handled by an operator upon detection of an anomaly, such as scene change, camera offline or detection of a person or vehicle in a restricted zone and more. AutoPatrol creates tremendous cost and operational efficiencies for centers that conduct virtual guard patrols regularly.

Andrawos: We’re investing in a variety of services designed to help our dealer partners run and manage their businesses more effectively. The Nexus business intelligence platform is part of this effort. Nexus is an integrated, customizable cloud-based solution for security dealers, offering access to a suite of business intelligence tools for remote monitoring and management of client alarm and security systems. The platform’s real-time data analytics, customizable reports, and enhanced visualization capabilities provide deep insights into customers’ security, fire and life safety needs, propelling operational efficiency and effectiveness for dealers. NMC dealers report that Nexus’ business management features help to modernize their operations by adding versatility to their operations. This is part of our continuous goal to help them future-proof their businesses by ensuring around the clock access to critical information.

Hertel: This year, we released Triangulum AI, our proprietary mission-critical software system. This platform integrates new tools and features like AVS-01, TMA’s new alarm validation scoring standard to make dispatch for burglary alarms more efficient and safer for the authorities. We are proud to say that Rapid Response was the first and as of this writing the only third-party monitoring center to earn the UL listing for AVS-01. This integration has made a measurable difference in how threat levels and situational awareness is conveyed from the monitoring center to an ECC. TRM AI also incorporates a feature called Dynamic Workflow, intelligent machine learning technology that automatically analyzes alarm data, identifies who to call or notify, and reorders the call list in real time. These programs not only create operational efficiencies, but they also translate into a substantially better experience for the customer.

SDM: Do you offer any new app(s) for dealers? What benefits do they offer?

McMullen: We’re excited to announce the upcoming launch of MPower 2.0, which has been in beta testing for some time as we gather valuable feedback from our dealers. Incorporating their insights has been a top priority, as MPower was built from the ground up by our in-house team of programmers to provide dealers with the tools they need to effectively run their businesses.

MPower 2.0 isn’t just an upgrade — it’s a fully responsive system designed to work seamlessly across desktops, tablets, and smartphones, ensuring dealers have access to their tools wherever they are.

MPower 2.0 also sets the stage for future innovations, such as real-time interactive map visualizations of signals, which will be available at launch. With this new platform, dealers will have enhanced control, insights, and access to a growing suite of tools and widgets that will continue to empower their business operations.

Brown: We have updated the Immix mobile app with new features, including the ability to manually arm and disarm individual alarm points or alarm groups.

Andrawos: This August, NMC introduced NexusTech, the newest addition to the award-winning Nexus business intelligence platform. NexusTech is a mobile app designed to improve how alarm company technicians interact with monitoring centers during servicing, testing, and installation. The app features color-coded testing indicators and customizable confirmations to simplify testing processes, and an improved account page provides detailed site and system information to help field technicians work more effectively. NexusTech’s smart search technology allows technicians to easily find and map client sites, allowing them to quickly find and reach their destinations while on the go in unfamiliar areas.

Hertel: With an on-staff software development team, our dealer-facing applications are constantly evolving and improving. We integrate feedback and make changes based on what our dealers need. We never consider our applications “done,” because there is always a way to improve them with new features.

SDM: Are there any new types of services for dealers and/or their subscribers?

Mayer: Emergency24 is establishing an advance notification for severe weather and other events that may impact dealer accounts.

Enrolled dealers will be able to opt-in or opt-out of solutions that will reduce excessive calls to their customers during extreme weather events (e.g. hurricanes, power outages, etc.). The dealer notifications will use our Incident Command and Control System.

Andrawos:We’ve recently revealed NexusVoice, a new AI-driven communication agent designed to improve automation and operational efficiency for dealers. NexusVoice simplifies the alarm system testing process by automating essential functions like testing and setup, allowing NMC operators to focus on responding to alarms. NexusVoice boosts productivity and continues to align with our goal to maintain the high standard of support dealers expect from central stations. This innovation helps dealer technicians manage their workload effectively while NMC continues to provide comprehensive support and assistance.

Hertel: With the new technologies we are adopting, there are dozens of new services and features our partners can look forward to, especially relating to AI and video monitoring. One of which uses AI to detect and mitigate threats to life or property.

We are also integrating software that helps us evaluate performance, from a business perspective so that we can use data to strengthen our services.

SDM: Have there been any improvements in tech support or customer service?

Mayer: Emergency24 is proud to have award-winning customer service at all facets of our company. The personal level of service we provide our integrators and alarm installer customers is embedded in our 57-year history as a family-owned and operated central station. Much like our technology and our operations, we are always searching for ways to provide faster and higher quality customer service delivered by our very tenured team. We track and review these interactions on a weekly basis seeking ways to continuously improve.

Brown:Providing the best possible technical and customer support is paramount to our culture at Immix. We emphasize a white glove approach with all clients and take pride in that. Based on customer feedback from our regular surveys that go out, we are meeting or exceeding the standards we have set for ourselves internally.

Andrawos: NMC goes above and beyond to deliver high-quality customer service and support by quickly answering calls and providing 24/7 coverage through two geo-diverse, fully redundant monitoring centers. We offer our dealer partners unique opportunities to help them generate RMR through services like Netwatch proactive video monitoring (PVM). Additionally, our team supports dealers with various innovative tools and resources, including the Nexus business intelligence portal, an online training academy, and after hours dealer technical support services.

Hertel:10 years ago, the idea of “tech support” was more limited. It mostly consisted of alarm industry veterans with the skills to program just about anything in the field. As technology has become more sophisticated, we have evolved. Our team can support dealers and their customers with more advanced needs including networking, telephony, software, and API concerns.

SDM: Are there any new training classes?

McMullen: We’re strong advocates for training, and we invest considerable time and resources traveling to different cities to connect with our dealers in person. Since ours is a relationship-driven industry, we truly value face-to-face interaction whenever possible. However, we also understand that in-person training doesn’t always fit into everyone’s schedule. That’s why we offer a variety of webinars on topics like new products, services, financing, legal issues, and more — essentially anything that has the potential to help our dealers grow their businesses.

We believe so strongly in training and interaction that we created the Synergy Conference to bring dealers, vendors, and professional monitoring together in a unique interactive format. The Synergy Conference was created with the concept that “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.” Dealers, vendors, and wholesale monitoring companies rely on each other to succeed —- but together, we are exponentially stronger.

This November, we’re hosting our 4th Synergy Conference in Nashville, which will focus on video: how to choose the right products, install and program them, and increase revenue. Attendees will even get a glimpse of a new automated drone video solution. The agenda is still being finalized, but dealers interested in attending can register now at synergyconference.com.

Mayer: In September and October we are kicking off a series of webinars focused on POTS alternatives (#JustSayNotoPOTS) beginning with a live event in Chicago with Honeywell at our headquarters and followed with a webinar in October. More events later in 2024 and into 2025 will cover other alternatives. The decline in service and increase in cost for POTS lines is such a critical element that not enough people are talking about.

Brown: Immix has long maintained an online library of training courses for users of all levels —- operator to IT and system administrator. In addition, we offer our Immix Certification Training where users can become officially certified on the platform.

Andrawos: NMC dealer partners seeking to familiarize their team with security industry knowledge and best practices can begin their eLearning journey with NMC Training Academy (NTA). NTA is an online learning platform designed to accommodate all learning styles and provide access from any location at any time. This helps businesses achieve greater operational efficiency by allowing team members to learn at their own pace, reducing the need for travel and associated costs. The program incorporates gamification to create an engaging experience where dealers can earn badges and certificates upon completion of training modules.