Problems of selection, training and retraining of personnel in the TSB market.

Question for discussion
The so-called specifics of the TSB industry have long been commonplace. In your opinion, does it imply any special approaches to building a business in general, to organizing sales, design, installation? If so, are there any requirements for personnel due to these specific features?

Andron FEDOTOV:
Undoubtedly, the specifics of our industry, like many others, impose their own characteristics on any process, be it sales, design or installation. And the requirements for personnel are often special: many specialists are sometimes required to have knowledge in at least two specialties. Sales specialists must know at least economic and radio engineering specialties, and designers and installers must know construction and radio engineering. Unfortunately, in our country there are no special educational institutions that would train personnel specifically in our field. There are separate faculties of universities, but they only train perimeter specialists. But what about video surveillance, IP video surveillance, signal transmission? It is no secret that the security field has made a significant step forward in recent years. Educational institutions that train broad-based specialists in security systems would be very useful.

Sergey STASENKO:
The security market is mainly a b2b market, which largely determines the main approaches to doing business. But, of course, there are industry specifics that impose additional requirements and restrictions. First of all, this is the relative poverty of the industry — the annual market volume is less than the annual turnover of just one raw materials or telecommunications company. As a result, there are not so many companies that can afford to keep high-level hired top managers on staff.
The second important point is the high technology of the manufactured and offered products and services, a very wide range of equipment and application software — even sales managers of most companies must have a fairly high level of technical knowledge.

Question for discussion
There are two main approaches to solving the personnel problem: training your own personnel or buying them. Which approach and for what reasons prevails in the TSB industry?

Andron FEDOTOV:
In my opinion, in many companies a widespread method is training their own personnel. This is caused primarily by the specifics and direction of each company's activities and the lack of generally accepted standards in the industry. Our company often holds special seminars for employees to improve their qualifications, then tests are conducted to check the mastery of the materials. There is a system of rewarding the best. In my opinion, this is correct, because employees are motivated to learn. Such classes are conducted by our own specialists, who have certain experience in TSB, who know the product, as they say, from the inside. We also hold seminars for our partners who sell our equipment, because we can pass on our experience to them.

Tatiana CHERSKAYA:
The TSB industry is a fairly narrow market, the principle and specifics of doing business in it are very different, for this reason we often use the approach of training our own personnel. Our company employs highly qualified specialists who train new employees. At present, this mostly concerns technical personnel (installers, engineers, etc.), as well as the sales service, employees who work directly with clients. At the same time, when searching for and selecting specialists, we certainly pay attention to the general professional training and good technical base of the candidate.

Sergey STASENKO:
Much depends on the company's profile (trade, installation, manufacturer) and the position for which there is a vacancy. It is easier for a manufacturer to train a competent developer. A manager for the sales department can be found on the job market almost ready. Qualified managers, as noted above, are far from all willing to work in our industry — in most cases, they are not satisfied with the financial conditions. And besides, a hired manager who came from another industry has to delve into the specifics of the market for a long time. There are positions for which it is generally very difficult to find a ready-made specialist. For example, a position that many companies call a technical writer (someone who writes documentation for equipment and software). These are generally unique people. They must be good technicians, have an excellent understanding of the products manufactured by the company, and at the same time they must be good with the Russian language.

Question for discussion
Installer level: engineer, technician, electrician? What does the market have in reality?

Andron FEDOTOV:
Of course, any manager would like to have a highly qualified specialist with an engineering or technical education level as an installer, but in reality, an electrician turns out to be the best option. The industry is suffocating from a shortage of real specialists. Often people begin to understand the TSB, so to speak, «in the field», learning from their own mistakes. Unfortunately, such mistakes can cost the client very dearly.

Tatiana CHERSKAYA:
In reality, today the market has specialists who do not have the required level of professional training.
It is for this reason that our company has a training center. We begin training an employee from the moment he starts work and then maintain his level of knowledge, conduct trainings, and introduce him in detail to new lines of equipment. We also use a mentoring system. In addition, great importance is attached to maintaining the loyalty of employees of these specialties to the company in which they work. Since it is the employees of these professions who often do not understand the difference in labor relations in a large corporation or in small organizations. We strive to ensure that our employees feel like members of one big team. That is why we pay great attention to internal training and career growth within the company of employees of these specialties.

Sergey STASENKO:
It all depends on what the installer does. If he lays the wires, then he is most likely an electrician, if he connects, programs and starts the system, then, of course, he is an engineer.
In reality, unfortunately, the level of qualification of fitters often leaves much to be desired. This is due, as it seems to me, to the fact that due to the inconsistency of the volume of orders, not all companies can afford to keep teams of highly qualified fitters on staff and engage subcontracting teams for work. Having a desire to save money, they often engage those «who are cheaper» to do the work, as long as they can distinguish the red wire from the blue one. Hence the corresponding quality of work at the output.

Question for discussion
The level of the seller: should he thoroughly know what kind of product he is selling? What does the market have in reality?

Andron FEDOTOV:
I believe that a salesperson simply must know his product. In reality, things can be quite different. Many companies are unable to employ good salespeople. In order to reduce costs, many large and medium-sized trading companies use a scheme whereby a salesperson only orders the product the client needs, and consultation is provided, at best, by either their own technical service or the manufacturer's technical support service. This work algorithm is undoubtedly more cost-effective for a trading company, but it has many drawbacks: incorrect selection of equipment, frequent return and replacement of goods, and finding out some of the features of the equipment sometimes drives the end customer and installer crazy. Therefore, it is quite difficult to convince many installers to work with a new product or a new equipment supplier.

Tatiana CHERSKAYA:
Returning again to the fact that the TSB market is quite narrow, therefore, when selecting sellers, we pay primary attention to two points: their success as a seller based on previous work experience and the mandatory presence of a technical education. A good seller must have a technical mindset.
Sellers also undergo training on the company's products, since they must understand the goods they sell and provide full advice on the equipment installed at the client's.

Sergey STASENKO:
Of course, managers do not need to know their product to the level of program source codes or the nomenclature of electronic components of equipment. But they must know the main capabilities of the products being sold, their technical characteristics, distinctive features, conditions of use and compatibility with other applications or equipment. Otherwise, they will not be able to provide the client with a competent and balanced offer that fully satisfies their requirements.
In reality, managers do not always even superficially know what they are selling. This is due to the company's reluctance to spend time and money on regular training of their managers, and high staff turnover. As a result, they sell a batch of contactless readers, and several hundred TouchMemory «tablets» with them.

Question for discussion
Top manager: owner, hired manager, grown up in the company or invited from outside? Market situation?

Andron FEDOTOV:
In my opinion, each company, due to its internal situation, chooses the right employee as a top manager, but the most common type of top manager is the owner or a hired manager, raised in the company. The option of a top manager invited from outside is extremely rare in the industry due to the rather weak level of management in general in our country and the lack of trust of company owners in a person from outside. And then the TSB market has its own unique features, the understanding of which comes only with experience.

Tatiana CHERSKAYA:
A top manager in the TSB market must first of all be a good manager and have a good understanding of management in companies with a heterogeneous staff composition. Since management and decision-making on issues, for example, legal, financial and even sales departments is somewhat different from the management of assembly departments, engineering departments, electricians. We try to grow our own staff, but we also invite hired managers. The situation on the market today is determined again by the narrow profile of the business, so we are considering candidates from related businesses: IT and telecommunications companies.

Sergey STASENKO:
Until recently, the vast majority of companies (especially those formed during the industry's infancy — the 1990s) were led by founding fathers, many of whom either came from government agencies or were former development engineers. As a rule, they had no management education and ran the business as best they could. With the emergence of new companies on the market and the increased competition, it became clear that it was already very difficult to do without professional managers. Therefore, many companies began either to train top managers from their employees, sending them to receive specialized education, or to try to invite hired specialists.

Question for discussion
Does the industry have the strength, resources, and most importantly, the motivation to independently solve personnel problems: industry educational institutions, courses? To what extent do seminars, trainings, etc., regularly held under the auspices of various companies solve the problem?

Andron FEDOTOV:
The industry has more than enough motives to solve personnel problems, but will it have enough strength and resources to do so? The reason for this is the lack of specialized educational institutions. Today, only a few universities graduate small groups of specialists, and there are departmental state courses for advanced training. This is extremely little for the industry. It is necessary to create state and non-state higher educational institutions, and courses for advanced training. One option for solving this problem is to create a certain industry non-profit organization with state and private funding that would deal with issues such as training and placement of young specialists. In any case, success will only be possible if all participants in the security market start thinking together about the future of the industry.
Seminars and trainings held by various companies do not solve the issue of personnel training. It is no secret that an unprepared newcomer has nothing to do with them. They do not teach the basics of theory and work with equipment, they only introduce the capabilities of the equipment, and they are obviously of a hidden advertising nature. Although for more or less prepared specialists, many seminars and trainings can provide a lot of useful information.

Tatiana CHERSKAYA:
Unfortunately, there is currently a shortage of industry-specific educational institutions that train specialists for the TSB industry. In my opinion, the industry has the means and, most importantly, the motives to independently resolve personnel issues. When creating an internal corporate university, it is very important to use the knowledge and experience accumulated in the company. In fact, this is the valuable knowledge that newcomers can gain for further successful work in the company. In addition, it is important to conduct your own training seminars, since external training companies cannot always quickly and competently understand the situation in your corporation.

Sergey STASENKO:
Such organizations as the World Academy of Integrated Security Sciences, the Academy of Security and Law already exist. However, this is not enough.
I think that the emergence of specialized professional educational institutions, relevant faculties in existing universities is a matter of time. But the efforts of market participants alone are not enough here. Serious government support is needed.