In my personal opinion the changes that occurred in 2009 will impact how we do business and what will be important for 2010.  The three major changes that will have the greatest long term impact on the market stating in 2010 is that: 

1.  Software as a Service (SaaS) will become the new normal.
2.  The internet will do for system integrators what the digital dialer did for alarm dealers and;
3.  Video technology will not only grow profits, it will improve the industry’s relationship with first responders.
Each of these areas are important but since so many readers are either in the RMR business or are shifting towards it, I’d like to focus on the third item; video alarms and our industry's relationship with first responders.

The promise of response has always been the value behind monitored alarm systems. The security business model is simple; the security system detects intruders, the monitoring company notifies law enforcement and law enforcement responds to the event. While simple, without the cooperation and support from law enforcement the business model does not work. As an industry we have always been cognizant that if we don’t work to reduce the burden of false dispatches on first responders we put our business and this core business model at risk. You say this is ancient history, but at no time in our industry's history has the pressure on local budgets for response been greater. That is why I think we have to leverage technology and let law enforcement know we are working with them. 

Even when the economy was good, police began limiting response or creating ordinances that put our business model at risk. This issue has been a major concern for over a decade.

With this need to reduce the burden on first responders, increasing the use of verification, especially video verification should be a priority in 2010. Law enforcement is responding positively to this increased level of verification by changing their protocol assigning a higher priority response to video alarms than standard alarms – in essence an eyewitness alarm receives higher priority response than a standard blind alarm signal. This “priority response” is finally an opportunity to bring value back into the security business and build a new partnership with law enforcement that delivers apprehensions and greater efficiency.

There are several vendors and central stations that offer this new generation of affordable video alarm systems that are designed to be cost-effective, even for the residential consumer. They are no longer reserved for the large commercial customers. To be clear; video alarms are not surveillance, although they are often a feature on more sophisticated surveillance systems. They are neither attempting to identify intruders, (although it may happen) nor are they streaming video or even require broadband connections.  Video alarms are simply an incremental step doing what alarm systems have always done, detect and notify. The incremental step means that along with the alarm signal, the central station also receives a short video clip of what caused the alarm.  If there is an intruder visible, the operator confirms that they actually see somebody physically present when they dispatch.  Different video alarm systems may offer additional surveillance features beyond a “video alarm” but surveillance systems are beyond the scope of this article. Video alarms are simple, inexpensive and effective.