Device Management: A Win-Win for Integrators and Customers

As security systems grow more complex and interconnected, the ability to manage devices securely and efficiently has become a critical differentiator for systems integrators. Connected devices are now the norm, and modern device management platforms enable integrators to remotely calibrate, update, and monitor the health of devices throughout their entire lifecycle.

By ensuring uptime across multiple locations and safeguarding devices against emerging cyber threats, remote management practices can enhance customer satisfaction while also delivering additional – and recurring – revenue opportunities. 

Modern device management solutions create a win-win situation for integrators and their customers, creating value in three key areas: efficiency, consistency, and lifecycle management. By streamlining activities like maintenance, patch management, and firmware updates while enhancing cross-functional collaboration with IT and security departments, today’s device management capabilities allow integrators to enhance operational efficiency while strengthening customer relationships and improving scalability.

That’s a real differentiator in today’s increasing digital security landscape, and it underscores the important role device management will play in the future of the industry.

Improving Efficiency and Saving Time

Efficiency matters for integrators, especially when managing long-term customer relationships. Those relationships don’t end after installation – integrators also help customers manage their security solutions throughout the entire product lifecycle.

Traditionally, this has been a high-touch undertaking, with integrators making regular site visits to their customers’ locations to assess performance, perform maintenance, apply patches, update software, and perform other necessary elements of product management. That can take a lot of time, especially for customers with multiple locations or a large number of devices in use. For integrators, time is money – and the longer device maintenance takes to perform, the less money they ultimately make.

Modern device management practices are significantly reducing that time investment, serving as an effective force multiplier and allowing integrators to service their customers in a fraction of the time. Today’s solutions allow integrators to manage devices remotely, which means they can push patches and updates directly from the device management platform instead of traveling to customer locations to apply them manually.

Better still, integrators can now create templates that allow changes to be pushed to multiple devices simultaneously. This makes it possible to onboard new cameras, configure IP addresses, update software, and perform other critical functions in bulk. Hundreds of devices can now be updated in minutes – something that would previously have taken hours (or even days).

Device management solutions also provide substantial visibility and documentation advantages. Integrators can now see real-time information for each device within the system, allowing them to easily identify which have pending updates or maintenance needs. Modern solutions can also automate tasks like finding the right software updates for a given device model and queuing them for download, further speeding the patching process. This level of improved efficiency allows integrators to sell more maintenance contracts, enhancing customer service while also providing additional recurring revenue.

Consistency Is a Critical Element of Security

Templates aren’t just good for configuring multiple devices at the same time; they are also a critical way to establish consistency across wide-ranging security systems.

Any significant deployment likely requires multiple technicians, and different technicians often have their own preferred way of approaching certain tasks. That doesn’t necessarily mean one approach is “right” or “wrong,” but it can cause problems down the line if similar devices are configured in inconsistent ways. By creating a template ahead of time, integrators can ensure that settings and configurations remain consistent across all devices in the system – no matter how many technicians are working the job.

That level of consistency also makes it easier to work with IT and security teams. For example, if there are cybersecurity policies that need to be enforced across all devices on the network, integrators can add that cyber policy to the device template.

By working with IT and security departments to understand their specific requirements, integrators can ensure the appropriate settings are activated ahead of time. Best of all, integrators can easily make any necessary changes should the needs of the organization evolve over time, remotely pushing those changes to all affected devices. This makes it easier than ever for organizations to adhere to both internal policies and regulatory requirements.

These capabilities also enhance scalability in a meaningful way, enabling integrators to manage more devices without becoming bogged down in tedious and time-consuming configuration challenges. Because it is now possible to manage multiple sites – even those with dozens or hundreds of devices – through a single device management tool, customers no longer need to worry about their security deployment becoming too cumbersome and difficult to manage. Instead, integrators now have real-time visibility into every device in use throughout the entire organization, allowing them to view security deployments in a more holistic way.

Adding new devices is a simple process, and both customers and integrators can proceed with confidence that each new deployment will be consistent with those that came before.

Managing the Device Lifecycle Is Easier Than Ever

Even the best devices don’t last forever. Needs change, priorities shift, and technology inevitably advances. That means organizations – and the integrators that work with them –need a plan that covers the entire product lifecycle from beginning to end.

It is clear how device management streamlines the maintenance and patching process, but lifecycle management is about more than product updates. When done correctly, it can help organizations navigate both the end-of-support and end-of-life stages for each of their products, enabling them to plan ahead to avoid unnecessary service outages, cybersecurity vulnerabilities, and other challenges.

Today’s device management solutions can provide customers with important information when a particular model is entering the end-of-life stage. This means that the product in question will no longer be manufactured, making it difficult to replace when the current stock depletes. Integrators can approach their customers with this information and ask if they would like to purchase additional devices to ensure that they have additional stock available in the short term.

When it comes to long-term planning, device management solutions can automatically identify the manufacturer’s intended replacement for the discontinued product, allowing integrators to present their customers with informed recommendations.

This becomes even more pressing during the “end-of-support” stage. Since product updates often include bug fixes and cybersecurity patches designed to address known vulnerabilities, products that are no longer receiving regular updates can become vulnerable to attack in a hurry. While open-platform solutions may continue to receive open-source updates from the community, this is far from a guarantee. Once a product enters end-of-life, integrators should be preparing their customers for the end-of-support stage, with a plan to replace potentially vulnerable devices. Device management tools can help by recommending replacement products and automatically configuring them to align with existing settings and preferences, significantly easing the transition process.

Modern Device Management Solutions Benefit Everyone

Device management has traditionally been a challenge for integrators, necessitating frequent site visits, individualized attention, and time-consuming manual processes. But modern device management tools have changed the game, allowing integrators to install, calibrate, maintain, and replace devices with relative ease – all while ensuring customers get the most out of their security solutions.

The ability to remotely manage and update cameras and other devices allows integrators to oversee significant security deployments, while advancements in automation ensure consistency across even the most sprawling networks.

For integrators, device management tools improve efficiency and visibility while enhancing customer satisfaction and creating new opportunities for recurring revenue. For customers, they provide valuable peace of mind that their security solutions are protected, updated, and working as intended. That’s the definition of a win-win scenario, and it underscores just how much value modern device management capabilities have added to today’s security ecosystem.