Page 30 - Security Today, October 2018

Government Solutions
Offering More than Products
DIon’t miss the true nature of the mission
n the security industry, our mission is critical: protect the people, places and things that matter most. To succeed in this mission we must develop the most robust security offerings possible—be they doors and hardware, access control, video
surveillance, or any other security competency that runs the gamut of our industry.
However, to focus on security alone is to miss the true nature of that mission statement. We don’t say “secure” the people, places and things that matter most—we say “protect.”
This, of course, is how we as an industry have evolved to include life safety components that go above and beyond code. It is how we introduced sustainable solutions to our product lines—not just as an offering, but as a critical component of the value chain. It is why we seek to develop partnerships with our customers that last beyond just a sale.
It is thinking about those types of partnerships where I offer a natural extension of our mission statement: to protect everyone, we
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GOVERNMENT SECURITY OCTOBER 2018
By Jeff Huggins
need to engage more creatively with the communities we serve.
This is critical for everyone in security to consider. Whether you’re a manufacturer, integrator, locksmith, dealer, facility manager or other member of the security industry, your brand is dependent on building, maintaining and demonstrating trust. Showing community members who you are—through a genuine involvement in their in- terests—is not just good business, it is also good for our communities,
our societies, and for us as individuals.
To that end I offer a different type of business case study than
what we normally see in the security space: an example of how ASSA ABLOY has partnered with the USO.
Serving Government Sincerely
I was fortunate to have the opportunity to serve in the United States Marine Corps for over 21 years. I retired as a Gunnery Sergeant with substantial deployment time within the Intelligence/Recon- naissance field. That said, military service members and their fami-
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