 Hey, Aloha everybody and welcome to the Think Tech Hawaii studios for another episode of security matters today. We have Amanda utter with us from VTI security groups. She's an account executives there and I'm really glad she could take some time out to join us in the studio. Well virtually in the studio anyway. Amanda, thanks for coming on today. How you doing? Thanks for having me. I appreciate the opportunity. Doing well. Staying home. Good. Are you staying home? You have kids at home as well? I do. Two kids at home. So we're kind of doing shifts and my husband and I and you have to make it work, right? Yeah, are they getting schooled online as well? No, they're two and four. They're two and four, so they're busy in a whole different way. So we just have to manage that. I need my mommy time. Is that distracting when you're trying to work? I've seen a lot of people have their kids on their lap while they're doing video. All kinds of stuff is really cool. Thankfully, we've managed that pretty well. We take two hour shifts. So I go and I lock myself away in the office and my husband has the kids and then we switch and we kind of plan it around conference calls and meetings and obligations. We figure it out. That's awesome. Good job. Let's let our audience get to know you a little bit. We first met down at security next and we'll talk about that later. Kind of give a bit of your history as much as you care to share and sort of feel about how you end up getting into security and getting associated with VTI security where you are today. Yeah. Well, as far as getting into security, I can't say I think like a lot of people, I didn't know I was going to get into security. And then once I got in, you kind of stay in, right? It's a small world. It's like a family and you just stay in. But I started at VTI about 13 years ago and I went to college for mass communications. So again, nothing security related. I have always been in some form of sales. And so when I started at VTI, I started as an account manager and I started with different accounts than I work with now. Of course, over those 13 years, it's migrated into more national accounts, more enterprise accounts, some more complex accounts, which I love. I love the pace of it. I love the interactions and the relationships and the longer term planning and opportunities to to deal with some more complex issues for customers. So that's where I am at VTI and very active in our local ASIS chapter as well and different, you know, CIA events and things like that, which you and I have talked about. So I think that's really helped to really get visibility and into the industry further and deeper as far as from an overall perspective. So yeah, that's some of my history. So you're not bragging very well on yourself. You're one of our 20 under 40, was it award winners? And I think you were the president of ASIS chapter out there as well. That is true. I was the president of the local ASIS chapter and before that I was the vice chair. And then before that young professional liaison and very active in women's security initiative here locally for ASIS. That's awesome. We put on the event every year and we're very, we have a large attendance and people look forward to that event each year. And so the whole goal is of course to inspire and promote and empower women in the industry. Wow. It is that is it geared your session specifically towards women insecurity that is it that sort of thing, but it's a local ASIS chapter focus. That's awesome. Yeah, correct. It's an alignment within the international women insecurity initiative, but it is a local chapter focus. And we do outreach to different colleges and student organizations because part of the initiative is how do we get more women into the industry? How do you keep them in the industry? How do you help to elevate them and give them the education and inspiration they need to move forward? Yeah, yeah. And that's the thing. I mean, the sort of the messaging that we've had for years was like me, all these old bald guys like sitting around a table like we're the security gurus, like, which is not very appealing to anyone else. You know what I mean? So we, I think we felt too closed up for a long time and it's, I think it's kind of hurt our industry right now when we're competing for a technology workforce. And you know, there's other far, well, technology is fun. There's a lot of fun ways to go play. And you know, security is kind of like, you know, if you don't know about our technology and all the really great things we do to sort of service our customers for tech lives, for tech property. You know, you think we're guards and guns and all that kind of stuff, right? And so are your events, what sort of messaging has resonated, you know, when you put those on? Yeah. So the events, we don't want to focus on the technical aspects as much of the industry. We focus more on more of how do it's, it's maybe tactful self promotion at work. It's leadership skills. It's learning more of the business and how to, you know, communication business challenges for women. But it's all a positive tone. And so it's just really with the goal of to inspire we keep, we don't, we don't look at any product specific content in those events, you know, it's really just around how can we help bring women together in a community, and help them to give them the tools that they need to advance really in their careers. But in this case, it's in the security industry and how do we highlight any, any women that are in the industry now who have helped to pave the way we have a panel discussion and we have, we'll bring in a keynote, but it's around how can we learn from other women, how can we learn from experiences and take things away to apply to our own lives, and kind of bring that into what does that look like in our work life integration as well. Right. So, Sure. And that foundational stuff is kind of missing for a lot of people was there if they're younger and just getting into the workforce or been out of college for a little while, trying to find a career path. They haven't often gotten due date due day. I'm sure you probably get feedback. Do they have they come across some of that empowerment from other women in other places before or for some time for some of them is it almost new like wow this is amazing. Thank you. It is. It's new and we found we've been doing this for a number of years that I think we're on our like our ninth event, and the women keep coming back and they're telling other people in their companies and you have large corporations that are knocking down our door to sponsor. You know, they get one of it and they're saying we want to sponsor this we want our name tied to this kind of to your point this is becoming an initiative, not only in our industry but in business right in general. And so these women are I think you're on to something where it's something that it's not like that that leadership, the leadership skills and the communication skills and the ability to, you know, promote yourself and not feel badly about it or whatever it is that stuff isn't talked about. And it kind of goes to what we'll talk about in a little bit here but it's it's beyond the technical side of things that needs to be focused on in order to bridge that gap. Yeah. Yeah. And I mean the hard skills can all be taught right the technology you can learn once you get in the role the tricks to bring your whole self to the road be rewarded for it be willing to share. It's it's all those ideas that we're missing out on if we don't have a different voices in the room you know as I alluded to our industry got, I think, really sort of just top heavy and I'm not sure if it was because it was like exiting law enforcement and are exiting military and I don't I don't know where it's probably the 70s or 80s or how it's got the way it is, but it just it there just wasn't I think, open arms or open invitations to other diverse members of the workforce out there until it seems like these last several years out you guys are if you've been doing this for nine years you're way ahead of the, at least the national curve. Right. Definitely. When we are and so I think a lot of the other chapters have looked to us to say you know what are you doing. We want to look at setting up our own event or organization around women and security initiative. Can we tap into you for some ideas and how did you get that started so yeah to your point we're kind of on the front end of that curve. Yeah. Wow, it's amazing. It is. So how is representation there in the companies around like at VTI and the other companies in Minneapolis and that you know since you've got this sort of little bit of a lead I think on what some of the other you know national organizations have done. Would you say compared to other companies that you run into it are women better represented in the companies there or do you know if you have a sort of visibility on that. I think as far as the I think overall what I can say is the trend I've seen is women are more represented across the board right like there's the attendance has the attendance has grown the number of women from any given organization that's in attendance has grown. I think we have people from all aspects of business from integration from manufacturers from end users whatever it is and the overall the presence continues to grow. So I think we're seeing a curve there which is encouraging overall. Yeah that's excellent. Wow we have this is I think it could be some good data to share with the you know the women's security forum group and see you know some of those successes so we can maybe get some guidance for you guys like what kind of what's going to work what are the what are those hot topics that were I love the mentoring thing you know I've talked to guys and we had this discussion last year the steering committee you know that there's there's a lot of guys like afraid to mentor women like really like what are you afraid of like you need to pass on your your connections in your you know the things that you've learned that you know the people you know the glue that makes you part of the industry you've got to be able to hand that off to other people what does it matter if it's a man or a woman like you've got to do these things are you just going to sit in that desk till you're 90 I mean security people are passionate right so that I know why they keep working but it's like fishing or something I want to retire my wife so that retire any day but she's not going to be okay no border yeah that's not going to happen yeah but I'll say you know the the at this event and just in general what I'm seeing out there is there are so many men who are huge advocates huge mentors of these women and who are totally just completely promoting this sort of event and who are completely on board and so that it's so great to see you have that mixed bag and you know a lot of men I shouldn't say well not a lot but a number of men attend the event yes you know and are really engaged and are actually on the committee to help plan and feel passionately about it you know so it's it's fun yeah it's so good we have as men we have to be taught how to talk as well and how you know how to have these conversations because we can't I've talked about this before none of us can really leave our biases behind this right so if we have them we just need to acknowledge them and that's it's okay to have them and we talk through those you know but it's um I think men are some men I've talked to you are just afraid they'll be they'll be taken wrong or they'll be mistaken and are mistakenly out of context it's like you just you just ask questions about those things and you can work through it you know we want to find this ground where we can all be productive right definitely definitely yeah that's awesome well it's uh we're getting about midway let's uh we'll take a break we'll pay some bills and then we're gonna come back and talk about some good to great stuff we'll be back in one minute with Amanda Utter Aloha I'm Keisha King host of Crossroads in Learning on Think Tech Hawaii on Crossroads in Learning our guests and I discuss all aspects of education here in Hawaii and throughout the country you can join us for stimulating conversations to enrich and liven and educate we are streamed live on Think Tech bi-weekly at 4pm on Mondays thanks so much for watching our show we look forward to seeing you then Aloha Hey Aloha welcome back to Security Matters we're with Amanda Utter today from BTI Security and if you're in the industry across this country you know what a great company this is so I think we might get some of the secret sauce of how they got to be so great from Amanda if we can coax it out of her today Amanda thanks for joining us today um you gave a great presentation at Security Next down in New Orleans uh I was sitting next to Marine Carlo we just kept we kept everybody's like oh my gosh this is exactly what we need to hear so um give me a little bit of the genesis of of that talk where it came from and I didn't know if it was something that you did internally or let's talk about sort of the background of how you ended up on that stage that day sure I'll try to sum it up a little bit so I started I was asked to speak at the young professional um the new young professional event at SIA in Minneapolis Oh SIA rise okay Accelerize yep so I spoke on I was approached to speak on exceptional customer service and so I ended up talk I did a talk there on exceptional customer service and then from there that talk led to me going to New Orleans and speaking on broadening it up a little bit talking about exceptional customer service was part of the talk but it's really what bridges that gap from good to great and it's it's exceptional customer service along with a couple other things that really kind of you have this pool of companies that are really good and then you have those companies that are looked at as great and not only the companies but individuals right now what can what can we do as individuals to bridge that gap as well yeah sure exactly and then yeah and and so what was the what was the sort of pushed it did Paul reached out Paul did you see you'd Accelerize Rabusa and say hey you got to come down and talk or did you did you come up with the topic or did he have an idea in mind we kind of collaborated on it to come up with the topic to take what I did at SIA and expand it a little bit further to kind of that overall good to great concept so yeah we just kind of went back and forth I know Paul from the past and that you know 20 under 40 and so you knew that event was coming up and so he's like yeah you know I'm putting together the speaker roster and getting things together so yeah it's good timing let's let's do it that's awesome and so give us a let's let's talk about let's talk about the good companies versus the great ones the good ones they get the they get the let's just say they get the what the 42 to 46 sort of grades on their on their survey monkeys from their customers or whatever right they don't get the 5 0 very much right they might get a 5 0 on a person or 5 0 on a certain service outcome or something but you know by and large they're good you know they're good they're doing good work they're keeping their customers happy what's what's what's the impetus for them to you know what would push them to want to really be great well I think you ultimately you what we have is our reputation right and so your reputation what you have to do in order to maintain that's I mean especially now more than ever that's highlighted right so I think getting back to basics getting just back to the basics of I mean let's face it we're in the industry of technology like we provide technology solutions to fit a need but that's not enough because so does so does the next company we all provide technology technology solution I'd say in my case an integrator so what do we need to do and it's a lot of that how are you delivering those products and what makes you different and it's focusing on it's not rocket science it's focusing on a few things like exceptional customer service and building your brand and being aware of your brand and then how are you how are you managing the work and integrating that into your life and there are some of these overarching concepts that if you focus on those and are consistent with those that's what bridges the gap and I think so many times we can lose sight of it and because they are such simple things but they're not easy to do to implement you know say 80% of the time and be consistent with it but the companies that are when they're when you're practicing that daily that ultimately becomes your identity that's who you are that's what people are talking about when you're not around that's your reputation and so right now right now more than ever that's highlighted and so that's going to show and so I would say if you're getting if you're a 4.2 out of 5 you have got to get back to basics and you have got to start delivering and focusing on these few kind of key key concepts is I this is my habit I should talk about it so my habit is to not ask questions first right I tend to walk in I've been doing this so long I know what you need to do terrible approach obviously right this the questioning of free I myself people don't let me in the room anymore just so we're clear the but the questioning approach to to anything actually to get to know someone first find out what's important to them what makes them tick is that teachable to someone like me that struggles with it you know and in that first thing to want to know about other want to know about what others concerns are instead about what my technology can do to solve your problem yeah you know I think so and I think another way to reframe that to is whether it's asking questions or listening to what it is that they say first or the question they ask you because here's the thing and somebody gave me this example and it couldn't be more right on let's look at like Disney right so here's an example of that somebody in a Disney world asks a Disney world employee what time is the parade and instead of saying 12 o'clock the parades at noon they would say well the parade starts at noon but you'd want to be you know over the hill by that tree by 1130 before it gets too crowded I see you have a couple of young kids and so you want to make sure that you cross the street by 1245 just before the parade is over so you get you know get out of the mass amount of crowds or whatever it is so instead of just saying the parade starts at noon you hear their question but you're able to then anticipate what's what they're really asking what is really going to how can you take it to the next level to give them really what they need because if you say at noon you know they're going okay well now where should I go where should I sit when should I take my kids across the street so I don't get bombarded by the people when it's over think it through further don't just give them a one word answer and make them ask you next because if you do that you are going to be way ahead of the person behind you and the person that was there before you and they're going to that's immediately going to put them at ease and say that that's going to establish some immediate trust and some immediate credibility that's the quickest thing to do so if you can not take some work and that takes some training of yourself to do that but if you're aware of that and can start trying to practice that that's a skill that will take you that'll take you far yeah that's great advice I am reminds me of the you know yes somebody hey where's this place they go go up two streets take a right yeah oh where's the place yeah exactly tell me where it is yeah exactly like so weird that's good advice how do companies teach that you know internally I know I don't know what you know the experience at DTS been but obviously been there a while must be you know a good great place to work the other folks I've met that I know from the industry that work there great and so is it is this something that you guys practice and teach like when you onboarding people hey here's the here's what our core values are this is the way we enact them or bring them to our customer how do you how do you make that a culture wide sort of practice yeah so I think you hit it cultures huge core values are huge VTI as you know has we speak about our core values we write about the core values are talked about consistently but the thing is is that everybody has to carry those out then in their own way yet still representing the company right and so you can have that's the risk is that you can have you could have an employee that completely poisons the pot because they're not living those core values and then your reputations at risk right so upon hiring you have to I think and VTI is very good about this as far as how they approach interviewing but really making sure that this person is going to fit the culture and it's going to be the right fit for them as well versus focusing on yes they have to have a technical aptitude and they have to you know have depending on what what they're interviewing for technical skills but more importantly I think this is me this is me saying this but is that are they a good fit culturally because they have to be able to live those core values and then how those come out on an individual basis or I'm in sales so on a salesperson basis is different we all might approach our book of businesses a little bit different but our core values remain the same and so that's kind of the glue that holds it together let's talk a little bit about that poisonous person first of all how how long do you tolerate that you know when you see someone runs a foul some core values and offer them a little training how quickly do you need to weed that out because I think a lot of businesses fire too slowly yeah yeah I think so too and I can't take you know I'm I think from my perspective I think you have to weed it out quickly because again especially regardless of a role there and even if they're not external customer facing I think sometimes we discount that well they're not external customer facing so maybe it's not as important I would argue that it still is extremely important because they're they're then poisoning internally right as well yeah they're reaching out and you have valued employees that are now being impacted by this by this poison but certainly also if you have people that are external facing that's a whole another challenge because now that again is the face of they are off face of your company and then and your reputation it all goes back to your reputation and people talk this industry is small business in general is small your name and the name of your company is out there and it's associated with whatever it is you're doing so good I love the I love the insight about the internal customer you know we serve our our clients but we also serve each other and those core values have to have to resonate in you know in both directions right or it's just nobody has a off day you're allowed an off day or an off moment but overall yeah everybody's going to have that but we need we need those values intact so we're getting down near the end give us some if you could take a minute or so and give us the see what do I want to pull from this like the I guess the top line advice that you would have for companies that are sort of struggling you know that they're a good company but they really would like to be great maybe the couple couple couple tasks they could focus on or a couple things that they could do things you think might be helpful for them to do better in our industry. Yeah I think I'm going to go back to basics around focus on that customer experience focus on being accountable and reliable and problem solving for your customers focus on building a brand that is consistent focus on building that around some core pillars and values and make sure that you have the employees that fit that mold and I would say really focus on how you can help support your employees in kind of just that work life integration and that because then you'll have happier employees you're able to be flexible while establishing some sort of means to measure performance and metrics and what people are responsible to do for their jobs but I think really getting back to some of those basics and focusing on being reliable doing what you're going to say you're going to do every time both internally and externally again. And that accountability and being problem solvers for your for your customers and you have to add you have to add value you have to be able you can't be hard to do business with that's the other thing. That's the other thing deliver an exceptional product and product but if you're hard to do business with people will move on and you'll do is custom awesome. Thank you that's that's great advice be easy to do business with me to thank you so much for your time today I really appreciate it. I appreciate it sounds good. All right hello everybody take care out there be safe wash your hands.