Brivo and DD Franchise Group Win ST&D 2008 Innovation Award

by: SecurityInfoWatch.com | , | September 30, 2008

Security Technology & Design magazine on Tuesday honored vendors, end-users and integrators as part of its Innovation Awards ceremony held on the floor of the ASIS show. For the third year, ST&D solicited the "best of the best" among innovative security applications, and this year's crop of entries covered a wide spectrum of vertical markets -- educational institutions dominated the entries, but corporate campuses, city-wide surveillance and high-profile facilities were also represented.

The Innovation Award "Gold Medal" winner, selected by a panel of security industry experts including ST&D editor/publisher Steve Lasky, represents a security application that included multiple technologies to solve some of the unique problems in a low-margin retail environment -- the security upgrade of DD Franchise Group, owner of multiple Dunkin' Donuts franchises in the New Jersey area. Ever Santana, vice president of operations for the DD Franchise group, spearheaded the effort to secure multiple retail outlets and a central baking facility.

The project, submitted by access control provider Brivo, scored high marks with the judges in the three major categories of innovation, collaboration and project scope. "The thought process that came through in this submission was impressive," one of the judges wrote. "A business leader with minimal understanding and use for 'security' actually became a cheerleader for the improvement that was made to his bottom-line business results. The implementation of standards across the organization and their impact on the total operation was very clear."

Wrote another judge: "This was an excellent collaboration between the end-user and the vendor. I was impressed that the security system solutions were tailored to the customer's overall security and business needs. This is where security technology works best and needs to continue to go in the future."

The organization's effort to build security into the overall business plan impressed most of the judges. "In addition to addressing the security issues with their solution they showed great creativity in finding ways to use the system to address several business concerns as well. This is an important area to gain a better Return on Investment (ROI), as well as to make the systems and security a part of the success of the business on a daily basis."

Our second-place finisher is no stranger to Innovation Award success. IQinVision took top honors last year with its Loyola University submission (see the Sept. 2007 issue of Security Technology & Design magazine); and has earned a "Silver Medal" this year with its Montgomery County (Md.) Public Schools submission. The culmination of a six-year security rollout, the installation featured a host of security technology and service providers.

"This is definitely a carefully laid out, enterprise-wide plan for an extremely complex environment," a judge wrote. "What sets this project apart is the clear documentation of the level of involvement of all parties, which has led to effective use of existing systems, efficient upgrades of those resources, and a resultant flexible architecture for the future expansion of services in all facilities and for all constituents."

This year's "Bronze Medal" goes to security integrator Johnson Controls for its work on the security expansion of The Prudential Center in Newark, N.J., home of the National Hockey League's New Jersey Devils, the New Jersey Ironmen indoor soccer team and Seton Hall University's men's basketball team. The arena used the integrator to put together a comprehensive security and building management system.

"Simplifying the installation ensures that the end-user benefits," a judge wrote.

The Silver and Bronze medalists will be featured in the October and November issues of ST&D, respectively.

I find it very exciting to see the depth of collaboration on the all entries we received this year," Lasky says. "Each year it seems the bar is raised. All three of our finalists truly showed how the end user-integrator partnership should work. But I was most struck by our winner from Dunkin' Donuts, since they really approached their problem from both a risk and a business perspective. I think that has been perhaps the most impactful change I have seen when it comes to our readers' strategic security planning -- how can I show value in what we do and at the same time mitigate risk to our organization? Congratulations to the entire team who put this project together and made it a model for others to follow."

The Dunkin' Donuts story appeared on the cover of the September issue of Security Technology & Design. The silver medalists will be featured in the October issue; and the bronze medalists will be featured in the November issue.

For more information on the Security Innovation Award, or to learn about how to enter next year, please contact Steve Lasky at steve.lasky@cygnusb2b.com.

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