Matthew Tolkien is the Managing Director at BusinessWatch Group. With offices in Leeds and Peterborough, areas of expertise for the company include integrated technology solutions for fire and security systems and remote monitoring/managed services. Accreditations gained are listed as NSI Gold, NSI Gold Cat2 ARC, BAFE, Constructionline Gold and Cyber Essentials.
What would be a typical project for you?
A typical project for BWG would normally consist of a number of systems be it intruder, access, CCTV, ANPR or fire integrated to a front end or PSIM. We install a lot of high end solutions and products which have been tried and tested but the main factor is wherever possible the systems we provide will have remote connectivity and connected to our ARC (RMS). Our service offering is all about being proactive we want to provide world class service and what I mean by that is we want to know about a failure on our clients site before they do and more importantly we want the ability to diagnose and where possible fix the problem remotely. On average we diagnose and repair 71% of failures remotely and this is increasing every time one of our legacy systems is connected through to us. This is the area we really thrive in as a business and if you were to contact any of our “connected” clients I am sure they would say the same. We have invested and built a robust aftercare service which I would honestly say is one of the best in the industry right now.
Do you have any ‘go to’ technology and manufacturers?
We install a lot of Mirasys and Avigilon servers, and a lot of Avigilon and Axis cameras on CCTV. However the beauty of the Mirasys is you can pretty much pick and choose any ONVIF camera so a lot of our sites have a real mixture of manufacturer cameras based on their functionality, performance and client’s budget.
With regards to intruder alarms we install Texecom and Galaxy for our commercial clients and Orisec and Ajax for our domestic clients. Again the reasoning behind these choices is purely down to the connectivity and what we can do via the software available.
Access control all depends on the integration its normally Paxton, RBH or Brivo again it’s all dependent on the client’s requirements.
We are a Fireclass partner so use this where possible but again depending on client requirements, and the solution and what it is we are protecting we would be happy to install any open protocol solution.
What is the best thing about working in this industry?
The diversity, each day is different. I used to love it when I was on the road in sales as one minute you could be in a high rise block of flats surveying a new fire system and the next meeting you could be surveying for CCTV in a manufacturing site to help with internal theft and or health and safety.
The other good thing about the industry is its people. I’ve met some great people and characters throughout my career and some which will be friends for life.
Read the full interview in the May 2022 edition of PSI magazine
