2. KNOW YOUR OPTIONS… The security alarm industry continues to evolve at an amazing
pace, with advances in technology and changing needs of customers.
Alarm companies often feel that they must choose between
providing an intimate customer experience or saving
significant capital by outsourcing monitoring.
What if every alarm company could have the best of
both worlds, allowing them to move with the market
and stay competitive?
Five possible solutions for central station
monitoring are included in this guide, with
the pros and cons to each scenario listed in
an easy-to-scan format.
Providing an intimate
customer experience
saving significant capital
by outsourcing monitoring
1
2
OR?
option 1: The in-house central station ........................................................................ 3
The hybrid approach................................................................................................... 4
option 2: The hybrid automation central station......................................................... 5
option 3: the hybrid cloud central station.................................................................. 6
option 4: the hybrid after-hours central station ....................................................... 7
option 5: the totally outsourced central station ....................................................... 8
SUMMARY .................................................................................................................. 10
2

3. option 1: The in-house central station
Many security alarm providers want to maintain full control over the
customer experience. Trusting a third-party central station to take
care of hard-earned, well-nurtured accounts may seem unthinkable.
This scenario keeps security alarm providers directly connected to
their subscribers and free from contracts with outside partners. The
security alarm provider’s success is determined by their own efforts.
Limitations to this scenario include the necessity of continually
investing in and maintaining a sturdy technological foundation,
the resources to maintain and upgrade the technology, as well as
the continued investment in skilled operators.
maintaining full control
PROS:
• full control over management of operators,
including hiring the right people and
customizing training
• full control of the operator-customer experience
• continual access to the business-customer
relationship
• full ownership and control of monitoring
technology
CONS:
• continued replacement and training costs of in-house
operators
• the threat of hourly wage increases
• ongoing investment to maintain and upgrade of
receivers, and other equipment upgrades
• knowledge of and adherence to demanding certification
regulations, including CSAA 5-Diamond Certification
and UL stringent requirements for alarm monitoring
facilities
• expense of a second location with fully redundant
capabilities
Since the customer experience can only exist as far as the
technology can withstand system failures, it’s also critical
that every monitoring center be fully redundant and
resistant to system failures of all kinds.
Security alarm providers must also be vigilant about
meeting stringent certification regulations, including
CSAA 5-Diamond Certification and UL requirements for
alarm monitoring facilities.
Economies of scale come with monitoring more accounts
and very few alarm companies ever reach the scale where
they are able to efficiently use both their alarm monitoring
operators and their technology.
3

4. the hybrid approach to central station monitoring
Great businesses are built on what they
do best. They find their greatest success
in strategically relying on industry-leading
channel partners to direct key portions of their
supply chain.
As the security alarm industry evolves to meet
the changing needs of customers, so do the
abilities of wholesale monitoring centers to
adapt to the unique needs of the security
equipment providers.
Now, instead of a go or no-go approach,
wholesale monitoring centers can provide
hybrid partnership options that allow dealers
to tap into immense technological capabilities
while choosing to keep their in-house operators
or redirect their efforts entirely.
The following pages include several
hybrid scenarios, monitoring options two,
three and four.
PLEASE NOTE:
All hybrid partnership arrangements are
customizable, depending upon the needs of
the alarm provider and the abilities of the
wholesale monitoring center. 4

5. option 2: The hybrid automation central station
For many security alarm providers who run their own
monitoring center, it is difficult to consider making big changes
without the assurance that those changes will have a positive
impact.
To meet this concern, this first hybrid approach allows
businesses to use their own receivers through an on-site server
while simultaneously leveraging the advanced platform and
redundancy of the third-party monitoring partner.
In this scenario, security alarm providers are allowed to retain
their core alarm communication platforms while leveraging their
monitoring partner’s automation platform.
While allowing security alarm providers to retain significant
control over their operations, the cost savings normally
associated with third party monitoring are minimized.
FOR EXAMPLE:
When moving to a wholesale central station partner,
sending alarm traffic to new receivers on new circuits
often signifies the greatest loss of the feeling of control.
This option allows one to keep the receiving end of
signals untouched but leverage the automation platform
and other technologies of a much larger partner.
dip your toes in the water
PROS:
• control over management of the operator-
customer experience and the business
customer relationship
• usage of your own receivers
• power of simultaneously leveraging third-
party automation platform and redundancy
• smaller investment in technology
CONS:
• continued replacement and training costs of
in-house operators
• the threat of hourly wage increases
• investment, maintenance and upgrade of your
own receivers, and other equipment upgrades
• knowledge of and adherence to demanding
certification regulations, including CSAA
5-Diamond Certification and UL stringent
requirements for alarm monitoring facilities
5

6. option 3: The hybrid cloud central station
When a security alarm provider enlists a third-party monitoring
center to be their cloud platform, this automatically provides
redundant capabilities.
Security alarm companies who have their own monitoring center
must be prepared to ensure help to their customers in large-
scale emergency situations.
When a monitoring center goes down because of a system failure
or a large part of the subscriber base experiences some sort of
natural catastrophe, the services of that company face instant
perishability.
To battle this issue, it is a great comfort to lean on a wholesale
monitoring center that has expertise in demand forecasting, and
developed systems for disaster scenarios like hurricanes and
earthquakes.
FOR EXAMPLE:
This monitoring option removes all of the alarm-specific
information technology equipment (mostly receivers and
alarm phone circuits) from the security provider’s site.
The cloud platform allows the security alarm provider
to focus simply on supporting desktops, relying on their
partner’s connectivity for everything else.
get the best cloud infrastructure and service
PROS:
• control over management of the operator-
customer experience and the business
customer relationship
• usage of your own on-site technology
• security of cloud redundancy and assistance
• monitoring center expertise in demand
forecasting and systems for disaster scenarios
• decreased investment in technology
CONS:
• continued replacement and training costs of
in-house operators
• the threat of hourly wage increases
• investment, maintenance and upgrade of your
own receivers, and other equipment upgrades
• knowledge of and adherence to demanding
certification regulations, including CSAA
5-Diamond Certification and UL stringent
requirements for alarm monitoring facilities
6

7. option 4: The hybrid after hours central station
In order to decrease operating costs, security alarm providers
can take advantage of the cloud option mentioned in the Hybrid
Cloud Scenario and also partner with a third-party central station
to monitor their accounts after hours, weekends and holidays.
The hybrid after hours model highlights the value of using a
wholesale central station with the additional resource of trained
operators as your cloud provider instead of ‘cloud’ providers
without operators of their own.
Businesses who take advantage of this option can control
operating costs and still keep their monitoring center, but at
more convenient times. They still have full, unrestricted access
to all of the cloud hosted software and the partnerships that their
third-party station offers.
FOR EXAMPLE:
Business often see an increase in job satisfaction when
operators enjoy holidays and weekends off. But problems
arise when a small central station, unexpectedly loses
one or two alarm monitoring operators. This can cripple
an operation, leaving too few people to handle emergency
alarms. Using a professional monitoring partner in this
hybrid model provides instant access to operators, filling
the immediate need while the security alarm provider
replaces and trains new agents.
take a vacation and enjoy the weekend
PROS:
• control over operations during business hours
• control over management of the operator-
customer experience and the business-
customer relationship
• usage of your own on-site technology
• security of cloud redundancy and assistance
• monitoring center expertise in demand
forecasting and systems for disaster scenarios
• decreased investment in technology
CONS:
• continued replacement and training costs of
in-house operators
• the threat of hourly wage increases
• investment, maintenance and upgrade of your
own receivers, and other equipment upgrades
• knowledge of and adherence to demanding
certification regulations, including CSAA
5-Diamond Certification and UL stringent
requirements for alarm monitoring facilities
7

8. option 5: The totally outsourced central station
As technologies advance (in price and capability) and as the
cost of human operators continues to increase, owning a central
station may not be feasible or desirable for many security alarm
providers.
Fully redundant, geographically dispersed facilities may also be
financially prohibitive to security alarm providers running their
own central stations.
Cost savings for a totally outsourced central station are estimated
at 30-50%.
In additional to substantial savings in operational costs, this op-
tion allows the security alarm provider to focus efforts on their
core business and not on a crucial part of the business that can
be done as well by a trusted partner—just like Amazon uses UPS,
FedEx and USPS to deliver packages.
Completely outsourcing your hard-earned customers requires a
technological fortress and the experts to keep it running smoothly,
and technology experts in the central station monitoring industry
are often hard to find. They are usually groomed into their
positions and have exhaustive practical experience.
No matter what catastrophe befalls the central station, a redundant
and capable system and on-site experts will overcome earthquakes,
trust an industry-leading partner
PROS:
• freedom from management of operators,
including hiring and training
• freedom from the threat of hourly wage
increases
• delegation of the operator-customer experience
• no investment in maintenance and continuous
upgrades of technology systems
• access to fully redundant, geographically
redundant facilities
• delegation of certification regulations,
including CSAA 5-Diamond Certification
and UL stringent requirements for alarm
monitoring facilities alarm monitoring facilities
CONS:
• limited access to the business-customer
relationship
• less control of the operator-customer
relationship
8

9. technological failures, and whatever other
catastrophe may come.
A reliable wholesale monitoring company
will also have extensive knowledge of and
adherence to certification regulations, including
CSAA 5-Diamond Certification and UL
requirements.
While technology is an extremely important
aspect of the industry, all of the high-tech
features in the world can’t make up for value
holes in the customer experience.
Success in the customer experience begins
with hiring and continually training intelligent,
capable and kind operators who genuinely
care about the customers they serve.
Expertise in finding, keeping and continually
improving the skills of central station operators
through rigorous training ensures that they
will effectively resolve problems and keep
your customers safe.
9
FOR EXAMPLE:
The southeastern United States was hit hard by Hurricane
Matthew in early October 2016, resulting in massive
flooding, countless water rescues, and local residents
trapped in homes, on top of vehicles, etc.
Security alarm providers with an experienced, outsourced
central station were apprised of preparations for the storm
well before Hurricane Matthew reached their customers.
Preparations included increased operators on the floor
when the storm reached the coast, implementation of
established storm queue procedures, as well as prepared
IT experts standing by to address additional needs.
The combination of skilled operators, fully redundant
facilities and access to state-of-the-art technology and
IT experts kept customers safe.
option 5: continued

10. Which of these five monitoring solutions
discussed in this guide would be the wisest
investment without risking the quality
of your service?
How will you balance your desire for control
with your capacity for growth?
summary
considering the options
10
CENTRAL STATION MONITORING OPTIONS
FULL OUTSOURCE
HYBRID
AUTOMATION HYBRID CLOUD
HYBRID
AFTER HOURSOWN
INVESTMENT REQUIRED
WORK/LIFE BALANCE
LEVEL OF CONTROL
CAPACITY FOR GROWTH
REDUNDANCY
UL/CSAA LISTED
ACCESS TO PARTNER’S
RECEIVER TECHNOLOGY
ACCESS TO STATE-OF-THE-ART
AUTOMATION SYSTEM
MAYBE
NO NO YES YES YES
DIFFICULT POSSIBLE POSSIBLE POSSIBLE YES
YES YES YES YES
MAYBE YES YES YES YES
As you continue your journey of
success, please refer to the graph
below as you consider your current
central station needs and as you
plan for the future.