 Hi, and welcome back to the Connect Hawaii studios, I'm Andrew's security guy with another episode of Security Matters Hawaii. We are streaming live today, we've got Colin Fair on the line, he's remote, I wish he was back in Hawaii with me, but he's in Austin, Texas, he works for night security systems. Now Colin, thank you so much for joining us today. It's a pleasure to be here, Andrew, thank you for having me. Don't worry man, I know you're a busy gal over there. So this is like a post ISC West episode man, I mean I got my brain strained up there last week, so I hope you can kind of carry the show today because I'm still like wah, wah, wah. So you know how those shows are right, it's ridiculous. Yes. I tell you what, let's start by going ahead and giving, let's give our audience a little bit of sort of your history as much as you kind of want to share about you know your development in the industry and how you ended up you know where you're at today. Fantastic. Yeah, so going through college and everything else, I need to make some spare money in doing so. Someone said hey there's a contract company to do high speed internet through Time Warner so I started being that cable technician with Ilm late 1990s and then after that I kind of spun into security industry sort of working within the field, moved into supervisor overseeing projects from supervisor to project management to program engineering to a senior project manager and as I kept on developing within the career path I think he said it was the best. No one really goes to school or have the fortune to actually want to go into the security just kind of fall into it but once when I got into the security field I just started loving what I did and that drove my passion for learning more about the products and learning more about how to best implement utilize and actually make sure that there's a seamless system that we provide for the clients. So from programming to project management to service sort of being a service manager then moved into operations management and then now here I'm currently out for an account executive doing sales making sure that really understand what the customer needs so therefore our team can actually implement it. Awesome. Now that's different. So let me ask you a question because Time Warner did some security stuff in different parts of the country years ago did you touch on security when you were also doing cable installs because that's a there was always that triple play you know video internet and security sort of offering or TV I guess was actually the triple play or audio but were they doing security for you back then or was that just more like a landing cable and the cable modem and internet type of thing? It was a ladder it's actually doing the high speed internet only so this is the first breakthrough of high speed internet part of the cable modem for high speed internet we're utilizing directional antennas transceivers with on the roofs of houses which I did a little bit of work with Sprint for that and then Time Warner came in and said hey we can actually we already have a cabling in lines directly to your house so let's go ahead and utilize a cable infrastructure for Python and high speed internet and then I think about five years later that's when the security came into play. So you mentioned service and ops you've had a sort of one of those broad ranging you know history experiences in our industry and I know you said you did some service but then in operations did you get the companies give you like sort of training for ops I know there's a CSPM or was it more like hey you know what you're doing so you can handle operations or how that sort of work because it does many things as you mentioned fall to us in the industry you know they're like oh here try this hat you know and if you're good at it then you get that hat and another one usually. Very good question unfortunately we didn't really get a per se direct training and I have to go out there and actually find out what works what worked for myself utilize in school for trying to further my career and then in addition to that actually looking at PMP classes looking at the coursework and in addition to that is just more or less having a working with peers or having a mentor to really guide me and help me and then as well support for my team and colleagues make sure that we're effectively communicating so therefore we know what's what's happening and how to how to move forward within any kind of new position or new role that you take on yeah you mentioned communication which is a big thing I I see such a but I think we've had this I think those of us who knew well that communication was a big part of how to do this because we in our industry have to interpret sort of what the customer wants which they don't always know what they need to accomplish that but what is it that they want to get done and then you know we have to interpret that technically out to the operating to deliver it right so there's a that role in the middle and now you've you sort of gone from that operational delivery side which I think sort of the bigger side of the funnel you've come up into what some would call the dark side of sales so tell me how that tell me how that transition for you where you were you always interested in getting up or did you just see that as a natural extension of that same explanation that you've always done so yeah I was always interested in sales I worked closely with our sales team and always talked to a lot of people saying that every day everyone's selling if you have a friend you've already sold yourself you sold your abilities to make a friendship make a connection and actually move that and that into a next level of someone actually likes me and so if you could do that then I believe you can really be a sales person and then after that I was always challenged with sales people new into the industry and everything else had a vision of what they wanted to sell but not a vision of what the customer really needed or what would complement them and their business and so I really honed into that and wanted to do better for our customers and make sure that what they would the solution that we're providing was truly what their vision was at the end of the day I am I know that and you also mentioned you know a little bit that that's done for mentorship a little bit of it's done on the job I do think it's interesting that sometimes people knew or to our industry and that are involved with sales or you know business capture don't I think spend the time and it's a lot to learn in all fairness that you know they don't seem to devote a lot of time to understanding the what of our industry is because you know we're very applied and that the features and benefits that are going to create that solution that that customer wanted is takes time to learn give me give me your take on that as you've gone through experience and been with you know different companies and different parts of the country how much how much of this do you think needs to be done on the job I ask because I'm involved with some workforce development programs on behalf of the and as is and everyone's interested in what does it take was to build this industry professionally maybe give me your give me your thoughts on what you've seen and what do you think might help there I definitely just from my personal experience trust me this is nothing set in stone or anything I think every company and every individual has a different way to learn some people we've had fresh out of college and we kind of took film as an intern project and really hopped on the security industry and within six months to the year they're actually up and running offers definitely makes it takes a company to really invest into their employees to really teach them what the company is expected out of them learn about the products in as well is how to sell and actually how to listen at the end of the day a salesperson or anyone I shouldn't feel that should actually listen three times as much as what they're speaking so therefore listen to the customer listen what they're asking and then as well don't worry about if you don't have the answers take the information down jot it and then come back and let the customer know what what the answer is so have a playbook have mentorships and know that it's gonna be a rough ride at the beginning for anyone new however make sure that you have a program and you check in with them constantly and then as well ask them what they need and provide the direction that that that they need yeah I it's interesting you say that I we we've been beneficial or benefited from a lot of folks who've come up you know that started as basic installers and then worked way up to like system engineering and pre-sale system engineering and then into ops of management one of our current operations manager it was you know started that way and he's basically driving all of operations at this point and you mentioned a thing that I think a lot of a lot of ownership maybe doesn't doesn't pay enough attention to and that's investment I I agree with you wholeheartedly you know a year a year or two perhaps is required to just to get your arms around you know you've got the access control information and learning and then you've got the video surveillance learning you got the you know a lot of people might think intrusion simple intrusion can be one of the more complex sort of pieces of our business and then you know you've got intercom and communications and mass-com and even in fire if you get into fire I don't know if you guys do fire but what do you think how long before you really felt you were sort of like a master installer you know did you you were out there in the field and you just they could throw you anything because you know that here's the manual man figure it out you know like that never happens well I believe on this me report right anyways I've never been a master in solar never I bake it until until I make it until I had that knowledge and I think anyone trying to accomplish anything in life it's never you never accomplish it you always get to where you feel very confident in it but with the security industry and everything else that technology changes on a daily basis so just because I know how to install a reader or knew how to do one thing it doesn't mean that the next deployment it's going to be at the same thing so definitely always looking at the manuals and finding out what's different about this product from the last a built or a revision of whenever was out so never been 100% on my installation skills are game but nevertheless I continue to try and continue to pass on that knowledge of what we received together to the greater good yeah I often wonder if it's if people know when they get in I think people walk around and they see security stuff on the walls they see a camera but they they really just may not know everything that went into the how it arrived there and what its field of view is and all that stuff dude are you familiar with any sort of you know training manuals or any do you guys have a program there at night and we will talk about nights more like for you know an installation standards guide you know sales standards guides that that kind of stuff or is it you reduce the internal information of the firm I know we actually have a great process of procedures within place so with any any role that you actually have we have a great playbook for our sales team for operations for service so therefore we make sure that we're training our our employees for delivery of what were our expectations are and then as well what our core values are and as well it's just not with the company the flight that we're caring for the company but it's also the product that we represent as well yeah I love that that playbook idea I think it's really critical for someone understand you know what information it is they have to bring to hand to the next part of the team how do you view that do you have like do you have marketing and then sales and then you know an engineering group and then a deployment group or what's sort of your your handoff she might say for for a project from you know the time someone calls into the time something goes and gets delivered and then you know QC and commissioned at the end good question so actually night actually pride themselves on the night round table and it's make sure that the customer is carried throughout the whole process so the sales executive we actually go out and we meet with the customer get to understand what they're talking about really dive into deep questions so therefore we can make sure that we understand their company goals their employees goals their personal goals and then as well as how that complements within their environment once when we get that information we actually take that to a design team who actually creates a solution for I say create the build materials go for work and everything from the information that we work hand-in-hand together with make sure that we capture everything that the customer wants and as well it's done through a design engineering solution once whenever we execute the project and everything else we have dedicated operations team that's there within the project make sure that everything goes seamlessly throughout the course of the project and then after that it gets turned over to our service department that is dedicated just for make sure the customer has a representative on standby in case if they ever have an issue that is awesome so nice security sounds like they got it dialed in we're gonna take a break and pay some bills we're gonna be back in about one minute with calling fair of night security system hi I'm Rusty Komori host of beyond the lines on think tech Hawaii my show is based on my book also titled beyond the lines and it's about creating a superior culture of excellence leadership and finding greatness I interview guests who are successful in business sports and life which is sure to inspire you in finding your greatness join me every Monday as we go beyond the lines at 11 a.m. Aloha Aloha this is Winston Welch I am your host of out and about where every other week Mondays at 3 we explore a variety of topics in our city state nation and world and events organizations the people that fuel them it's a really interesting show we welcome you to tune in and we welcome your suggestions for shows you got a lot of them out there and we have an awesome studio here where we can get your ideas out as well so I look forward to you tuning in every other week where we've got some great guests and great topics you're gonna learn a lot you're gonna come away inspired like I do so I'll see you every other week here at 3 o'clock on Monday afternoon Aloha hey welcome back to security matters Hawaii we're talking with Colin fair of night security system Colin thanks again for being here today want to get into nice security now you guys are well known in the industry you're pretty big is your footprint in outside of Texas or is it Texas based give us a give us a sense of how large the operations are there and or the markets that you guys work in or the markets that you specialize in fantastic so night we're definitely a Texas based company however we are a national company and going global we have a lot of customers that are just driving us to expand further and further right now we have offices within Dallas he's in Austin and San Antonio a lot of satellite offices throughout the state of Texas as well but then we have great net partners and through PSA and other channels that we work closely with outside of Texas and as well we complement their services and business within Texas so therefore if you're looking for a partner in Texas definitely give a shout nice and do you specialize you guys do just surveillance access video fire without what all services do you provide primarily we're a security company however we also do we have our FL so we do work on fire systems but our our main specialty is security access control intrusion intercom so that is detection yeah so in Texas is like huge I've been obviously I've been to Dallas and Houston and San Antonio and I mean every market possible is probably there you guys work like in the Muni government DOD and commercial you know banking all that or where do you where do you I guess where you do you have a sector that's heavier for you or are you across all sectors the equally or how's that going down there we're definitely across all sectors equally I would say so yeah we don't deal with a lot of different verticals whether it's a higher ed K312 a lot of state work like ISD we have 8a that therefore we're working with a lot of or we're trying to get into federal contracts so I mean we have just a vast array of our offerings as well customers that we're working with and we're always looking for anyone that's looking to have a great security partnership always looking to make sure that we have a mutual fit for each other wow yeah and you mentioned PSA security network which you know Christine my wife is on the board of PSA we're you know longtime PSA members that's that's been great that national deployment program and you mentioned maybe going global so do you have some other partners that can help take the operation that you're doing for some of your clients outside of the continental United States that's awesome yeah so mainly we're actually working with a lot of the manufacturers so therefore working close with them on who they prefer whenever we have the opportunities outside the continental United States so therefore we make sure that not only that they're recommended by just one person we properly bet them out we love to have a face-to-face with them and make sure that their facilities have standards and that we trust them within the customer and as well to make sure that they're going to execute for our offerings that we're providing our customer yeah I think that that same level of assurance we get from PSA where we can kind of talk no owner to owner and always have that comfort that you know when we're sharing a project you know on behalf of a customer who has you know offices or operations in a place where you know we're not present I can offer a firm and know that that president from on down will treat that customer you know the same way that we would hear and that brings us a whole lot of comfort do you do you have an idea of how much of that sort of partnering business you guys have going on it you know in a percentage basis is it a third or a half or five percent or you know in your experience anyway I know you've been doing sales there for a while yeah so I'd say right now it's about five percent every day it's growing I just not heard of booking them right when our leaving the office this afternoon another huge deployment that we're going to be doing so every day we're picking up new customers and customers are looking for the service service that we actually provide at the end of the day because it's one thing to stand up a system but it's a second thing to go back and actually service it and make sure that these these systems that we deploy let's face it they're not cheap and that they need a continue to have service and they also need to be monitored to make sure that whenever you need them they're there with insecurity there's never a second chance yeah life cycle management is a piece of business that I think a lot of I've run into situations where systems have just been sort of installed and then left abandoned there was no service program or service plan offered by the integrator and you know we end up you know that you find a system that's not been patched for years so that that service components huge so I can understand you guys have carved out a niche in service which I think is critical what other sort of things do you think the industry is missing or in your expense do you run across that our industry is not doing that it needs to be doing you know life cycle management I think be a number one you know but what what kind of you know because the industry is growing and changing so what in your estimation what do you think some of the challenges we have our today like for legacy equipment and then you know going forward in the future I'd say that the biggest thing is and a lot of customers actually think that they just now purchase this phenomenal system so they think that a system is self-feeling or that it's going to let them know when or they have an issue and that it's going to be easily resolved I mean it's kind of like your PC you get a PC and what I already have a bug on it there's something that's wrong at the end of the day we're dealing with electronics so therefore it's critical that our industry needs to know that we need to make alerts and we need to make people aware of that we have a system failure or potential to fail so therefore we can take corrective action before it becomes a critical a critical issue for that customer we need to make sure that at the end date that products and products that we provided in that were that were servicing are always working or that we at least know that whenever they're soon to fail so therefore we can actually make sure that we get them working and finally finally manner yeah and then I think you know there's been some new tools that wrote out recently for at least monitoring SNMP and some of these things you know we've we get a lot of systems that have to be offline from the land right so they're not they're not exposed to the internet which is kind of good but it also creates some other issues that we need to do for monitoring so I can appreciate that you know you keep your customers you know system health in mind because the last thing they want is they've had an incident is to find out something wasn't working we've also I think been through that experience in the end of you know looking forward are you guys getting much much concerned for like the cyber hygiene or cyber assurance of your systems are you seeing any requirements from your customer at certain industries for a higher level of cyber assurance related to the system either the products you're putting in or even for your own your company you know how you guys are certified or the cyber hygiene of your firm for instance in the federal we have the NIST 800-171 I don't know if you're starting to run up against people asking like for your system security plan associated with that or or things like that we're seeing it contractually on like healthcare and financial sector and then from the federal government we're seeing no compliance you know type of quest how's that going or is that a is that a big thing in Texas yet I just don't know no it definitely is and I think anyone that has any appliances that they have to abide by that's a number one question is how our all the technology that we utilize how is it how does it work within their plant standards and those are one of those things then asking the right questions and being drilling into those questions find out really what kind of appliances that they have and then as well within the network side and make sure that our systems that we're deploying can actually run on their network and that we're not going to have any blockage or that the technicians and the systems actually going to work from one location to the next make sure that we don't have any interruptions within the ultimate solution that we're providing awesome we've got about a minute left Colin give us maybe give our audience some final advice maybe maybe night's tagline whatever whatever you see whatever you want to share in our last minute and then we'll close up fantastic I'll just say that if you are looking for a phenomenal company that actually looks at your system health and monitoring think about night security one of the main things that we do is we look at our system health we have our nice entry that does nothing but help monitoring so it's a 24-7 sock that monitors any potential threats or failures of your system and we're notified before that threat comes in and we're actually able to resolve a remote and resolve it if not if it's within our coverage area within the greater state of Texas will be out there at the same day if it's caught in before lunchtime if not we'll be out there the following morning if it's out if it's past noon however nevertheless we're spending across the United States so definitely think of us and let us know how we can support and help you awesome thanks so much Colin fair with night security if you're gonna put a system in people monitor it because security matters thank you