Monitoring News
Every month our Managing Director, Steve Kimber, fills us in on the latest monitoring news.
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Below is an archive of the previous year's monthly columns or click here for earlier news columns.
| September 10 | August 10 | July 10 |
| June 10 | May 10 | April 10 |
| March 10 | February 10 | January 10 |
| December 09 | November 09 | October 09 |
| September 09 | ||
| September 08 | August 08 |
Connections
February 2009
Hello Again,
As we move into 2009 against the current economic backdrop with retailers laying off staff and closing high street shops, there is a silver lining in that the employment market has freed up. As employers we are no longer scratching around for staff, paying employment agencies recruitment fees only to have them come back and poach the placement again when they are out of contract period.
Now’s the time to review staffing levels and if necessary bring in some new blood to supplement (or even replace) existing staff, whilst at the same time carrying out a top to tail war on waste to reduce costs and recover debts.
For those installers who are often sub contracted by a main contractor it is vitally important to ensure that you get stage payments by denying site attendance during the contract if they default. Contractors are the first to go under, taking a whole chain of suppliers with them and causing alarm installers severe cash flow problems. So it is essential to tighten up on your credit control and make sure you get that money in.
Similarly it is also important to identify those suppliers without whom you would be unable to trade, if possible make sure you even bring your account right up to date enabling you to slide to your normal credit terms if you go through a rough patch.
It is noticeable that the domestic marketplace is extremely hard out there and that consumers are looking at reducing their outgoings by ceasing maintenance contracts, in addition there are regional installers who are getting into financial difficulty, some going bust, some selling up.
Nationals will also start to feel the pinch as the retail sector starts to shrink and maintenance contracts are lapsed. ARC’s are RVRC’s are also very conscious that they carry an enormous amount of exposure on network rentals that pass through their books, for which credit facilities are in place for their customers, namely the installers.
So 2009 does look as if it is going to be a tough year, with everyone clambering to make sure they get paid. But for those of us who have been through these recession cycles before, it is proven that those who trade wisely are recession proof. The security industry tends to be a leech on society, as the recession bites the crime rate goes up (or the perception does) enabling good sales activity when we start to come out of recession.
So tighten the belt, get the money in, pay your bills and wait it out for the good times to come!
Bye for now,
Steve