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Meeting the skills gap

Recognising the serious training issues we face, companies across the entire industry – installers, suppliers and end-users – should regularly review the training needs of their staff, draw up training plans, budget for their fulfilment and then meet those plans.

The industry will then take current and future developments in its stride and - most importantly - the users and society in general will get the full benefit of all the exciting and powerful technology on offer now and in the future.

The CCTV industry has always been one of rapid change and innovation, constantly challenging the technical and management skills of manufacturers, distributors and installers. Recent developments have polarised the industry into what can be characterised as two separate tiers.

The lower tier, based on supplying and installing smaller systems with a relatively simple specification, characterised by:

* Ease of installation of the latest entry-level 'plug-and-play' devices.

* High number of first time users with little experience of CCTV procurement.

* Strong price competition.

The higher tier of the industry is capable of installing and exploiting the top-end complex systems at the leading edge of the industry, and is characterised by:

* Increasing numbers of complex function products, requiring high skill levels to install.

* Fundamental and rapid changes recently to the basic technology, with digital PC-based technology becoming the norm.

* Sophisticated users with good purchasing practices based on specifications and operational requirements.

* Delivery, service and support requirements (alongside competitive pricing) become major components of the buying decision.

To view the industry in these two tiers is, of course, a simplification. Some companies do not fit the model - such as specialist companies in niche markets delivering high-function systems to inexperienced users.

Any implication that companies in the upper tier are in some way 'better' than those in the lower tier is not intended. Good companies - delivering well designed, well maintained, robust, and cost effective systems - exist across the industry in both tiers and will continue to do so.

So, what is the problem?

When companies used to operating in the lower tier try to move onto upper tier projects without the skills and practices to do so, problems inevitably arise. In making this move, they can literally face 'crossing the chasm'.

The problem happens in two stages. It starts with an inexperienced user wanting to jump into upper tier systems. In itself, this is not a problem - provided the installer has all the skills to design, install, and maintain the system. However, the inexperienced user, unaware of the pitfalls, can select the installer who (though entirely competent in lower tier work) lacks the skills for the upper level system. Predictably, the installation can be fraught with difficulties from design through installation and on to long-term maintenance.

The solution requires an increase in skill levels across both parties involved in the system, and this means training.

In particular, three different types of training are needed:

Purchaser training - too many purchasers, and installers, start with an imprecise statement of what the system is required to do and then jump rapidly to an equipment spec, identifying camera types, numbers, and locations. The fundamental purpose of the system, which involves identifying the risks to be addressed and reduced by the system and specifying the operational requirement, is at best skimmed over and at worst missed. Training can give inexperienced purchasers the skills to select installers qualified to lead them through the process.

Design training - it is very easy to make the mistake of seeing the installation of a security system as a purely technical problem - connecting and powering up a series of devices so that an image from a specific camera appears on a specific screen, which is then recorded by a VCR or DVR. The key test is, are the images fit for the purpose? Are both the live and the recorded images of sufficient quality, frequency, and content to adequately address the risks identified in the operational requirement (for example, using rotakin tests). This is not an issue of hardware competence, but of understanding that the output of the system is the image, and that a system's image quality in all its aspects should be the basis of acceptance testing against the operational requirement.

Installation training - some installers lack the skills in the new technologies, especially digital technology. Traditional companies that have failed to update staff skills can be caught out by the specifics of digital technology. Sometimes this can result in overspend in setting up the system. Also, badly configured systems may pass a cursory acceptance test, yet fail to operate adequately in the longer term.

How seriously will the industry take the need for training? Will it take a few high profile implementation failures to hit the press to stir us into action? There is an alternative.

Recognising the serious training issues we face, companies across the entire industry - installers, suppliers, and end users - should regularly review the training needs of their staff, draw up training plans, budget for their fulfilment and then meet those plans. The industry will then take current and future developments in its stride and - most importantly - the users and society in general will get the full benefit of all the exciting and powerful technology on offer now and in the future.

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