There is no question that having a reliable alarm service or system in place can enhance the overall security of a site. However, many face the dilemma of choosing between self-monitoring and professional alarm services when deciding how to manage their alarm systems. If you’re trying to decide between the two, this article is for you as we dive into the main differences between the two and the benefits they can hold.
- What are professional alarm services?
- How are they different from self-monitoring?
- What to consider when choosing self-monitoring services?
- The benefits of professional security monitoring
- Choosing professional alarm services for your sites
- Remote monitoring with RMS
What are Professional Alarm Services?
Professional alarm services refer to the professional monitoring of an alarm system, such as CCTV, intruder or fire alarms by a dedicated third-party monitoring company. A monitoring company will be able to monitor a site’s systems remotely, from their secure monitoring centre with a team of highly-trained monitoring operatives.
When an alarm is triggered, a signal is sent from the site to the monitoring centre, to which an operative will respond on behalf of the site, whether that be actioning a police call, an audio challenge or calling the fire brigade or other emergency services.
A professional alarm service is usually a more expensive option than a self-monitored alarm system, however, it allows peace of mind of knowing a dedicated team is monitoring a site at all times, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year and that no alarm trigger will ever be missed or not acted upon.
How Are They Different From Self-Monitoring?
When it comes to self-monitoring and self-monitored alarm systems, the site or key holder is fully responsible for responding to any alarm triggers. Even with the most high-tech and advanced alarm systems, there is always an aspect of human intervention at some point, which usually consists of disabling the alarm, checking it is not false and actioning the most appropriate response, such as calling the police.
Self-monitored alarm systems are very common with DIY security systems and use smartphones to issue alerts via notifications, but some companies may choose to self-monitor their more advanced and large-scale alarm systems too. However, there are a few things to consider when choosing the self-monitored route.
What to Consider When Choosing Self-Monitoring Services
If you are considering self-monitoring services for your site(s), then there are a few things to consider, especially when it comes to understanding the associated risks.
Full responsibility to respond
When you choose a self-monitoring alarm system, it’s important to understand that you are fully responsible for responding to any alarm triggers, no matter the time of day. There will not be anyone else looking over your site and therefore whether you are on holiday, onsite or not, or it’s the middle of the night you will need to deal with and respond to the situation whether that be an intrusion, fire or false alarm.
When you are fully responsible for the self-monitored alarm system you are always on call. False alarms can be frequent and therefore you may find you receive a lot of notifications for alarm activations. This is not only frustrating but also disrupts the site and business as well as leads to increased downtime that can be costly.
Challenges in reaching authorities
Contacting the authorities during an emergency can be very stressful and often hard to do quickly when not specifically trained in that area, unlike professional monitoring operatives. In the event of an emergency, the site manager or key holder will need to dial 999 and go through the standard process of reaching the desired authorities, such as the police, ambulance or fire brigade. The UK police grade and prioritise incidents based on the demand for their services and therefore sites will have to wait for a response. However, they do place a higher priority on alerts and incidents raised by professional monitoring centres, because they are considered more legitimate and have already ruled out a false alarm.
The Benefits of Professional Security Monitoring
In the midst of choosing between self-monitoring and professional security monitoring for your site’s alarm systems, it’s a good idea to consider the benefits of having professional security monitoring in place.
Rapid Response
With a professional security monitoring contract in place, the monitoring company can ensure a rapid response to incidents. Not only do they get prioritised by the emergency services, due to being considered legitimate calls that have already been checked for false alarms, but the monitoring operatives have also been specifically trained to respond quickly and calmly to highly stressful events. Sites are therefore much more likely to receive a rapid response to alarm triggers than if the system were self-monitored, thus improving the outcome for the site, whether that be bringing a criminal to justice or minimising damage.
Enhanced Safety
Having professional monitoring in place adds an extra layer of protection to a site, with 24/7 cover, 365 days a year. Sites and key holders do not need to rely on a passer-by or mobile notification to tell them there is a problem with their site, which they then need to respond to. Instead, everything is automated and a monitoring operative can respond, confirm and action a response to an incident in a matter of minutes. This provides enhanced safety to employees, visitors and the site.
Reduced False Alarms
Professional monitoring services can reduce the number of false alarms, decreasing the disruption, downtime and cost of responding to a false alarm for both the site and the emergency services. Fire false alarms have consistently been the largest category of incidents attended by fire and rescue services in the UK, making up approximately 40% of incidents attended in a year.
Choosing Professional Alarm Services for Your Sites
Those who choose to invest in professional alarm services like CCTV alarm monitoring, intruder alarm monitoring, lone worker monitoring or fire alarm monitoring, will all be investing in a solution to improve the overall safety and security of a site, which contributes towards safer working environments. A monitoring contract can help to maximise the positive impacts of a commercial security system or other relevant systems that contribute towards the day-to-day runnings of the site.
Remote Monitoring with RMS
If you’re interested in working with a reliable and NSI Gold-accredited remote monitoring company with a category 2 ARC, then get in touch. We take the time to understand your sites and monitor what matters most to you, whether that’s security or non-security-related.
Speak to the team to find out more or to get a free quote on 0330 002 1149.
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