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TIMM MARTIN SENTINEL SECURITY Insider chats with Timm on how business has changed with COVID-19 and how the outbreak has affected stores across Australia and New Zealand.
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y name is Timm, that’s right two m’s, from Sentinel Security Australia. Most of you will have at some stage met my boss Jason Keane, and like Jason, I have been involved in the self storage industry for the better part of twenty years. I started with Sentinel Storage Security in early February 2020 and like everyone was oblivious to Corona Virus and what the impact would be on our robust and resilient industry. The first few weeks and months were not a panic as such, but they were certainly trying and busy times. After only one month in the role I had to hit the ground running. Very early on, calls started coming through to see how security and technology could play a more significant role in helping with the developing issue of staff and customers distancing from each other where possible. Understanding all the facets of individual businesses, early intervention, and constant contact were the foundations in providing solutions. The types of jobs we have completed during this time have been: l retrofitting unit alarm installation l re-installation of existing infrastructure l the roll-out of some fascinating new technology all designed around helping storage facilities and centres become entirely remote.
INSIDER 114 AUGUST / SEPTEMBER 2020
With the speed with which technology improves, technological leaps will become commonplace and more cost-effective over time. There are solutions out there in the marketplace that some operators would not know about, so in times like these a great relationship with your installer or security team is vital. The first challenge we came across early on was operators in New Zealand who needed to shut down facilities with little notice. They were given minimal warning with even less instruction. For example: a facility had an operating management software system and they needed this to speak to a system that controlled doors and individual alarms. It was a simple case and could be done cost-effectively and efficiently remotely via a secure link. Existing CCTV systems that were cloud-based helped considerably with this process and gave peace of mind to those facilities that were the first cabs off the rank. For facilities without these features, the shutdown process became a little more hands-on but again with a bit of technology these stores and centres managed the process, with access control software and systems linked through some easy and usable public access web-scheduling services. Facilities were able to sign-up online for service (EG: Team-up) for online scheduling and customers were able to pick times themselves in half-hour blocks in which they were able to attend the site to grab what they needed. The beauty of both these style of responses from facilities is that they were still able to deliver a lockdown as instructed by authorities, but also provide a level of service to their existing customers. The facilities that acted quickly
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