How I Use My System: Megan MacDonald

Megan MacDonald, VP of marketing for My Alarm Center, has been with the company for two years now. She manages marketing and communications for all of the company's brands “including our regional branches, our B2B brand, as well as LivSecure, which is our dropship, Do-It-Yourself product.” Security Systems News spoke with MacDonald in December about her home alarm system.

What kind of system do you have?

I have a Qolsys system, which I actually put in during our testing for LivSecure. LivSecure uses the Qolsys panel, Alarm.com, and we integrate with Rapid Response Monitoring.

Why this particular setup?

There were personal and professional benefits for adding a Qolsys system to my home. Certainly, the professional benefits were: I got to experience first-hand what our consumers, or prospective consumers, would experience when they have the product shipped to them. … Personally, for me, we actually own two homes, and when we're not in a location, the convenience of being able to access what's happening in the home and control what's happening in the home … is certainly well worth it.

What is one aspect of your security system that you wouldn't want to live without?

I think [it would be] control from the smartphone, absolutely, and the connectivity that we have through the app to see—not necessarily visually, [because we don't use cameras]—the activity of what's happening in the home.

Where do you see security going next? What are some big trends?

I think that the core of security will remain the same, as far as giving customers the peace of mind that they're looking for. I think that the definition, though, of peace of mind will—and already has, and will continue to—evolve. … Peace of mind was: if there's a burglar in my home, a monitoring center will be called. I think, taking that one step further, more systems will continue to include life safety devices, such as smoke, carbon monoxide [detectors].