Organizations rely on Convergint Technologies to provide operational knowledge, improve processes, enhance safety, and support business objectives. Convergint’s Professional Services Group (PSG) understands that sometimes organizations need services that are not offered by manufacturers, are too costly, or have long lead times. The range of Convergint’s services is unlimited, and Convergint colleagues work closely with the customer to design a solution to their specifications and long-term needs.
Convergint’s Director of Professional Services Mohamed Benabdallah leads this innovative group. Here Mohamed shares some of his thoughts on emerging trends and provides insight for security professionals who are looking for answers on how to solve their most pressing security challenges.
Tell us about your professional background and role at Convergint.
I began my career as a coding developer at mid-size companies. I remained within the IT world at Prime Computers in the special solutions department, where we developed automatic diagnostics for all of the hardware produced by the company.
From there, I moved into the security industry at Software House as a developer and later software engineering team lead. My team and I designed the first IP panel in the industry and then designed the next generation of access control. I later worked as a security consultant with QCIC Ltd, for whom I opened an offices in New York City and Boston.
In 2017, I joined Convergint Technologies as the Director of Professional Services to lead the dynamic, experienced team with whom I currently have the privilege of working.
What does Convergint’s Professional Group do?
PSG offers customers services that are unavailable from manufacturers, are too expensive, or have long lead times. These services are delivered by working closely with customers to capture their requirements and their timeline. We have done some complex solutions for customers, such as destination-based elevator integrations, custom applications, custom reports, and special enterprise system designs. We have the ability to leverage both dedicated resources and tap into the available bandwidth of our engineering talent across the rest of the Convergint organization.
How does PSG add business value?
PSG differentiates Convergint amongst its competitors as most other integrators are at the mercy of product manufacturers, who often times have high cost and long lead times for custom solutions. We can deliver these services at a high quality with a quick turnaround to meet the customers’ timeline. This unique capability makes us the preferred service provider for our customers. The range of these services is unlimited and very interactive with the customer’s participation in designing the solution to their specifications.
What types of technology solutions do you work with?
We work with all the access control and video surveillance platforms offered by Convergint, as well as compliments our advanced solutions team to meet custom and complex customer requirements. Some of these solutions include identity management, visitor management, shooter detection, biometric solutions, and reporting applications. We also have several software developers that can custom design solutions and integrations.
What type of client can benefit from Convergint’s PSG?
PSG can help customers with a diverse array of solutions, including:
- Custom Scripting
- HR & Access Control Integration
- Database Management
- Database Storage & Segmentation
- System Audits & Optimization
- Network Design, Maintenance & Monitoring
- Enterprise Upgrades
- Evaluate New Technologies
- Business Continuity Planning
- Catastrophic Recovery Planning
- Remote Management Services
- Service Support: Program, Configure & Train
We can design, advise, and implement unique solutions for the customer.
How does PSG help to reduce complexity for enterprise security?
We have extremely knowledgeable and competent engineers who have worked with enterprise systems for a long time. They bring their experience to resolve the most challenging problems on an enterprise level. Enterprise systems are very complex, and a misconfiguration can create havoc and make the entire system unstable. Our enterprise system engineers will take an analytical approach and implement a solution using their knowledge to make the system easier to use and maintain.
How does PSG help to improve business & security outcomes?
PSG brings a lot of experience satisfying the complex, long-term needs of a customer. With automation tools, PSG delivers consistency across the system, excellent documentation with naming conventions, and error-free delivery of hardware system configurations. We continue to enhance our automation and service tools to make managing an active system simple and more secure as well as stable. By providing services at this level, Convergint separates itself from the competition with a unique and efficient way of delivering the PSG services to our customer across the globe.
What makes us different than the competition?
Convergint is platform-agnostic, meaning we can consult and recommend the best solution for the customer’s needs. Very few security integrators have the resources, the skill set, or the innovation to deliver solutions to large organizations with a global footprint. Convergint has one of the largest technical teams in the industry and an extensive network of PSG colleagues.