It’s harder and harder to find skilled technicians across the professional security industry. Projects are growing in complexity, labor costs are increasing, systems are highly integrated and retaining technicians is difficult. Failing to address the skills gap can erode margins through increased truck rolls, rework, and inaccurate labor estimates. Training your people is a direct investment in your profitability.

Here are five tips to help your organization cultivate a new generation of security technicians:

1. Prepare Your Team, Protect Margins

If you rely on training on the job, you may find this impacts your projects. From slowed installations to configuration mistakes and truck rolls, you can’t afford these hits to your bottom line. Formalized training equips your people with the skills they need to install right the first time and troubleshoot challenges quicker. It leads to higher quality installations and less rework by reducing your teams’ learning curve. Training can also count toward continuing education requirements, especially important in states that require it.

2. Train Specifically to Skill Level

Make sure training is aligned with your team’s level of expertise and tied to certifications. Entry-level technicians must learn skillsets that more advanced team members will already have. By helping your people grow their skillsets and competency, you build loyalty that leads to better retention—and better work.

3. Invest in Proactive Training

Don’t wait until reworks and service calls get out of hand. Proactive training on complex technologies and integrations like firmware, analytics and video management systems (VMS) can lead to less downtime and fewer escalations. Many states require certifications and continuing education credits (CECs/CEUs) to maintain alarm licenses.

4. Deliver Ecosystem-Level View for Techs

Modern security systems are highly complex solutions that integrate video surveillance, access control, analytics, alarms, sensors, and more, all working together as part of a larger “ecosystem”. This goes beyond device level knowledge. It crosses over to network and software configurations and platform integration. Understanding the ecosystem means faster integrations and user acceptance, quicker go-lives and faster service ticket resolutions.

5. Training that Fits Technician Schedules

Security technician schedules vary from project to project. Some days, they might be on a boom lift, head down in server rooms or taking calls as they travel from site to site. Flexible training brings education to the field. From on-demand modules that can be done in the field from a smartphone or iPad to short virtual refreshers for troubleshooting, and in-person sessions where applicable, so your team can build skills without disrupting active projects.