Security conference comes to Athlone for the first time
A major security conference bringing together the best businesses in the industry in Ireland took place in Athlone last week.
The conference, which took place on October 14 and 15, saw 80 people from 45 companies under the Matrix Buying Group come together to discuss the latest innovations and developments in the industry.
Martin Tuohy, Director of FT Security Solutions in Athlone, which has been operational for twelve years, and Secretary of Matrix Group said that this is the first conference of its kind to take place in Athlone and the midlands since the pandemic began.
He explained that he and the other businesses in the group find meeting in person to discuss the changes affecting the industry highly beneficial.
"We normally meet three times a year, but we haven't met in person since January 2020," Martin said. "I've been involved with Matrix we've been able to move the conference to Athlone for a few years.
"We've been discussing everything from modern standards to certifications and what is required of security companies in 2021, and the security ranges from electronic to intruder-related security and CCTV.
Discussing how the industry was affected by the pandemic, Martin said that because it was regarded as an essential service, businesses in the group were able to remain open.
"We were probably in lockdown for about three weeks for the first lockdown, but after that all security companies were added to the list of essential services," he said. "We were mostly covering our commercial customers at the time because there was a higher risk with businesses not having staff on site."
Declan Greene, Chairman of Matrix Buying Group, said that industry is "very fluid" and discussing and demonstrating the latest innovations in the industry is important to the group's businesses.
"We're a buying group and a co-operative, so we are set up to be able to barter with or trade with suppliers for our smaller group members who would be perhaps wouldn't have the clout if they approached these suppliers themselves," he said.
"It's a very fluid industry. When we started out we had landlines and modems that would ring the police and a tape would be played to alert the Gardaí. That was in the 80s, and now the technology is moving from 3G to 5G security and there aren't any landlines involved anymore."
Martin also believes that Athlone is open for business following the pandemic, and a conference such as this proves it.
"It's definitely more difficult to organise conferences with more rules to follow," he said. "This was a bit of a test case in how we would be able do these events going forward, and it has worked out very well. It shows that Athlone is open for business and that the town can provide a great location for conferences for any industry.
"Athlone was picked because our members come from all over the country, so it is a central location for everyone to be able to get to. The Sheraton and the Hodson Bay Group have welcomed us with open arm and their facilities have really been excellent."