New leadership brings new approach to CSAA education

SONOMA, Calif.—At its first annual meeting with new leaders Jay Hauhn and Pam Petrow, the CSAA agenda included educational topics that directly affect central station business operations and products, such as the Affordable Care Act.

CSAA executive director Hauhn told Security Systems News that he and Petrow “saw this meeting as a bellwether event for the association, where we were going to present a vision for where we hoped to take the association.”

Part of this vision, Hauhn said, is to improve education at meetings. “Instead of having the same speakers every year, just giving you an update on what's changed in the last 12 month, we threw away the old agendas, and started from scratch.”

Hauhn said he and Petrow wanted the educational program to address issues that “have a real, meaningful impact on our members' businesses.”

“One of the major concerns that all Americans have, and of course our members that own and operate businesses, is health care, and the impact of the Affordable Care Act,” Hauhn said. Petrow moderated a session on the ACA and how businesses should approach health care. This session most benefited the small- to medium-sized businesses in attendance, Hauhn said.

This year's meeting drew the highest attendance since 2007, he said.

CSAA will focus more on government relations, he said. It plans to stress the importance of standards within the industry and work closely with SIA and ESA on government initiatives.

At the meeting, an educational session about the future of the central station looked at changing cellular communications—like the 2G sunset, the ASAP to PSAP program and the Internet of Things.

“The real value that the Internet of Things is going to provide to end users is situational awareness and the ability to monitor the ever-growing list of things that are connected,” Hauhn said.

While traditional monitoring focuses on life safety, IoT monitoring provides information about what's happening in a home or business, he said.

Perceptions of DIY systems are changing, Hauhn said, “Two years ago, DIY installation pretty much scared everyone. Now, if it's done right, DIY is not necessarily a bad thing.”

Next year's annual meeting will take place on Marco Island, Fla., at a larger property to accommodate more attendees.