ShareChoosing A Managed Video Services Provider
The benefits of managed video services are clear and many. An end user can make minimal time and financial commitments to get equal or superior services for security and operational needs. In earlier blogs, I went into more detail about the specific available services and benefits.
When a company makes the decision to outsource one or more managed video services, a critical step is choosing the best service provider. With managed video services, the emphasis is on “service,” and not all providers are created equal. Some might only have a few service options and limited scalability, which might be fine for a smaller organization. However, a large organization may require a multitude of services for its different locations, and may need to have the flexibility to scale a system as needed.
Let’s take a closer look at some of the areas that should be addressed.
Monitoring Center—Some providers may lease or share a monitoring center with other providers. These types of providers typically offer pre-packaged, off-the-shelf managed video services. This scenario can open up issues, such as quality control, lack of monitoring center redundancy and priority hierarchies for emergency situations. That’s why it’s critically important to understand whether a potential service provider owns and operates its own facilities.
Trained Staff—Managed video services require highly trained operators to be effective. A service provider needs to offer documentation of the level of training it provides its operators and system designers. In highly specialized industries, a service provider should have the capability to offer a dedicated team able to provide the degree of services required for the vertical application.
IT Speak—When it comes to hanging something new on the corporate network, nothing calms an IT staff more than dealing with professionals who can speak its language. Early in the relationship, service provider professionals need to establish immediate credibility with IT staff members. The provider should be able to supply documentation and examples of deployments they have completed as well as a solid understanding of IT concerns. A good service provider has a team that can anticipate potential questions IT will ask and then be prepared to answer any and all of those questions. Due to the highly technical nature of IT networks and infrastructures, it is also very important to ask whether a potential provider has network certification from industry vendors, such as Cisco and Microsoft.
Often the vendor can be the critical link between physical security and IT staffs. In a large organization, it is not unusual for these two groups to be isolated from one another and to not clearly understand each other’s objectives, priorities and mandates. A good service provider has professionals trained in both areas and can work through issues for both sides.
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