IN THE BOARDROOM™ with...

Jody Ross
Vice President of Sales
AMAG

In my nearly two decades with AMAG as a sales leader, I’ve spearheaded several sales initiatives including our first Symmetry SR initiative about 10 years ago. Currently, among many responsibilities, I manage and support several large customers who have made the migration to Symmetry SR.

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Andres De Leon
Director of Sales, Latin America and Caribbean
AMAG

Data Centers are a new and critical vertical for us as we have several large customers in this market. We are seeing US/European companies investing in either buying existing data centers or building new ones, and that has expanded into the LatAm region. AMAG’s Symmetry Security Management System offers a single point of entry to all the security software and hardware in each facility, which can be controlled either locally or from a central control center. The objective is to have one screen where you can see all the Cameras, Access Control, Audio, Radars, Visitors and so on, independently of the hardware brands. Our Symmetry system also helps manage compliance requirements, which are different for each country.

AMAG’s Symmetry solutions can operate in nearly all vertical markets. We can help our customers with their security challenges by providing an integrated security solution. We have integrations with over 100 technology partners and are able to provide many options for our customers. We specialize in Finance, Food Plants, Restaurants, Oil & Gas, Healthcare, and Data Centers, but also work in Education, Transportation, commercial/Real Estate, Ports, plus many others.

At this moment we are implementing our Symmetry Security Management platform in one of the top LatAm companies in more than five countries where from a single control center they will manage +150 restaurants, food plants, malls, buildings and other facilities, not only from an access control point of view, but their system will also include audio, video, visitor management along with several technology partner integrations to provide a complete system. Again, our main goal is to be the trusted advisor for our clients who are looking for an open and integrated solution.

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Jeff LeBlanc
Vice President Professional Services
AMAG

AMAG Technology Professional Services specializes in helping companies maximize their investment in their Symmetry Security Management System, allowing them to stretch their budget. Companies can leverage Symmetry to help solve a business or operational challenge, which can also improve efficiencies.

AMAG’s Symmetry product portfolio works together, offering a total solution. Our team helps demonstrate how Symmetry can be used to address a wide range of organizational needs. By providing a unified suite of products and services, AMAG becomes a single-source provider, ensuring that our customers can obtain all the necessary tools and support. Our dedicated support further reinforces the value we bring to our clients who demand streamlined and efficient operations.

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Ryan Howarth
Vice President - Technical Services
AMAG

SecuritySolutionsWatch.com: We had the pleasure of speaking recently with AMAG's new President, David Sullivan and also with Paul Edwards, AMAG's Executive Vice President of Business Technology. In both discussions, AMAG’s customer-first culture was stressed as a top priority. David Sullivan recently said, “Instilling a customer-first culture is at the forefront of my mission as president, and our entire organization continues to work hard to support all of our channel partners to the greatest extent possible." Please share with us, Ryan, how this guiding philosophy of “customer-first” ties into your current role, and the goals for your team, such as lower call-hold times.

Ryan Howarth: For Technical Services, this means examining our internal processes and using metrics to measure several KPIs to see where we need to improve or change. We are also looking at what we can do to add further value to our services with the goal of continuously improving how we support our customers. One such improvement was utilizing technology to bring the team together, allowing us to increase the hours of service that we provide and improving our average call hold times, which today are 1m15s for the year.

Paul Edwards
Executive Vice President of Business Technology
AMAG

Previously, security solutions were on isolated networks, but with the convergence of technologies and the cyber threat, IT is now a key stakeholder in all decisions and the ongoing management of a solution. It is important that the security industry is staying as up-to-date as possible (which can be a challenge) with the latest threats. The homograph attack is an example of how vigilant people need to be, as by using the Latin character "a" is replaced with the Cyrillic character "a" but are actually different, so a user could receive an email or click a link that looks valid, but in fact is a completely different site hosted by the threat actor. We are rolling out a new program internally this year to ensure we provide our staff with meaningful, digestible information on a regular basis which will help protect not only AMAG staff at work but our staff in their personal lives as well. Through this knowledge, our staff will be able to discuss cybersecurity with our partners and customers in a relatable manner and bring in internal subject matter experts as required into conversations.

David Sullivan
President
AMAG

Every aspect of our society seems to be under threat. Things that we once took for granted, including our feeling of security, all seem a distant past. All that you mention has affected our perspective at AMAG, and we consider all threats when we design our business solutions. Certainly, COVID-19 has changed the commercial office environment in how it is safeguarded and managed. Protecting offices has expanded solely from security and people management, to also include additional health and sanitization considerations. Employers, employees, and visitors all desire surroundings that ensure their well-being. As a result, end users are not only seeking systems that protect them by providing physical security, but also solutions that provide tools for health checks, health compliance, and sanitation management. When coupled with the rising numbers of employees who work remotely, building managers and tenants are pursuing systems that maximize their space utilization through reservation solutions that can book meeting rooms, offices, desks, parking spots, catering, and work orders.

Our customers inspire our innovation, and we work to meet their ever-changing needs. It is in these customer requests that we find creative solutions to combat the increasing number of threats found in the current environment.

Mark Williams
Director of Sales – EMEA
AMAG

Access control systems have always been great repositories of big data…every time you swipe your card or present your phone at a door, you are creating data. But very little has ever been done to analyze that data…until now. AMAG has developed a machine learning algorithm that learns what normal behavior is for an access control system… it learns when you usually arrive at the office, which door you enter the facility via and where you go next. So if you suddenly start arriving earlier and going to different locations, which you may still be allowed access to, the system will recognize that as “abnormal behavior.” There may be perfectly genuine reasons for the observed behavior, but the AMAG solution provides you with that insight… it gives you an early warning of potentially nefarious activity so you can make a better, more informed decision.

Fred Nelson
Director of Sales
AMAG

AMAG’s unique value proposition is one of the main reasons I joined the company. There are many companies that offer access control, video or identity management solutions. What makes AMAG unique is that we offer a total solution that is developed in-house. We manufacture our own access control software and hardware, visitor management and identity management systems. Manufacturing our own hardware and software allows us full control over feature enhancing upgrades, ensuring continuity of supply for the long term. Our system is completely scalable, meaning a Symmetry Security Management System can operate in a small business or secure a large company, even with locations around the world.

Another key differentiator is AMAG incorporates an open architecture into its Symmetry solution. Symmetry integrates with ANY technology on the market, including other access control systems. Integrating with other access control systems is important for large enterprise customers who acquire companies and take on the responsibility of managing the new company’s existing access control systems. Integrating with those new systems simplifies the overall security management and lets the company issue one card for all systems. In addition, our support team provides complete support for all third-party products integrated with Symmetry. This is a huge relief for our customers who don’t want to jump around to different manufacturers when they have issues.

Jonathan Moore
Vice President of Product Management
AMAG

AMAG Technology delivers a powerful, unified and open security platform that empowers businesses to effectively secure their facilities, transform their operations and meet compliance. The Symmetry Security Management system encompasses access control, video, identity management, analytics, mobile, intrusion, visitor management, command and control and incident management. Symmetry's scalable, resilient and integrated security solutions provide operational insights and intelligence to improve business today and tomorrow.

AMAG is known for providing enterprise access control hardware and software. Over the last 5 years we have added a range of supporting products that integrate directly with the access control platform, providing a complete physical security solution, capable of managing all aspects of a well rounded security program.

Kim Rahfaldt
Public Relations Manager
AMAG Technology

How to Overcome Airport Security Challenges and Solutions 

No matter the size, airports are responsible for the security of all workers who are employed within their walls, on the tarmac, and grounds. The challenge is ninety percent of those people don’t work for the airport. They work for the airlines, TSA, or different vendors that reside as tenants within the airport.

Airports need to provide a friendly and efficient experience for their tenants. They need to ensure the different employees (identities) are properly vetted and managed throughout their lifecycle. Additional challenges include the use of multiple disparate systems across an airport plus the rules and regulations that must be followed. How can airports provide a high level of customer service for their tenants, meet compliance regulations and ensure the safety and security of everyone? 

Onboarding

The faster an airport can onboard a new employee, the happier the tenant. When a new employee is hired, they get assigned to an airport and need a badge. The onboarding process is usually manual, and requires employees to make multiple trips to their airport to answer questions, get a background check, get fingerprinted, go through training, etc. Most of the time, the onboarding officer has to work in several different systems to complete the onboarding, which is cumbersome and error prone. Airports get pressured to quicken this process, and have an opportunity to show value to their tenants by getting new employees badged and out to work quickly.  By streamlining the onboarding process using an identity management system, the procedures are automated and the airline employee starts work faster. What used to take weeks, now takes days, plus automated processes also free up staff time, saving money.

Airports are highly regulated, and employees need to pass background checks and have a certain level of insurance to work in highly restricted areas like the Security Identification Display Area (SIDA). An identity management system can automate and streamline compliance requirements, ensuring the airport will not fall out of compliance. Built in reporting features provide pre-configured reports to streamline employee audits.