Now that the elections and their TV ads are over with, you might notice that replacing those politicians are ads for interactive home services and monitoring. Homeowners can lock or unlock a front door of their home from a thousand miles away. They can receive and respond to alarms on a smartphone or look in through a camera to make sure Mikey came home from school or Rover is not tearing up the house. They can monitor and manage home appliances ranging from a complex HVAC system to a simple coffee pot.

Each year, it seems as though there are new technologies, new products and services, and new standards with which to cope, not to mention a plethora of new laws and regulations that will affect businesses in the coming year, and 2013 will be no different.

As the 2012 winner of the CSAA’s Central Station Manager of the Year Excellence Award, Amy Becht knows a thing or two about how to manage a central station. Becht, a native of St. Paul, Minn., is the senior central station manager at Vivint Inc., with responsibility for the company’s central station located South St. Paul, Minn.

Making market predictions is never an exact science, even for the experts. However, in the case of the baby boomers, with their sheer numbers, that they will dramatically affect a given consumer market is virtually guaranteed. “Other companies and industries have to pay for projections of the market. The Census Bureau tells us with precision that this segment of the market is growing,” says Stanley Oppenheim, president of Affiliated Monitoring, located in Union, N.J.

Video monitoring: Insurance companies are embracing it; more police departments like it; cities ranging from Chicago and New York to Lancaster, Pa., are doing it; enterprises such as Bank of America and Sonoco have brought it onboard; contract guarding services worldwide see it as a solid way to grow their business model beyond on-site officers; and homeowners use the tool daily.

As the newly installed president of CSAA, I am grateful for all of the exceptional work of our past presidents, boards and committees. However, I also am mindful of the magnitude of issues facing our association and our industry.

Monitoring center employees are a security provider’s most valuable resource for protecting clients’ enterprises, assets, people and customers. That’s why it’s so important for providers to ensure employees are committed to their jobs and motivated to deliver exemplary customer service.

Welcome to this annual special supplement of SDM titled Monitoring TODAY. Whether you operate your own central station or use the services of a third-party monitoring company, this issue contains