Mark Williams, AMAG Director of Sales EMEA, Discusses Unique Capabilities, Strategic Relationships and Success Stories

“In The Boardroom” On SecuritySolutionsWatch.com

NEW YORK, NY, USA, July 25, 2022 /EINPresswire.com/ -- AMAG Technology is a market leader in physical access control, identity management and integrated security solutions that ensure the safety and security of your people, assets and buildings today and into the future. We are delighted to chat with Mark Williams, AMAG's Director of Sales - EMEA, about the Company's unique capabilities, strategic relationships with Suprema and Zenitel, and recent success stories.

Connect with Mark Williams on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-williams-92147223/

SecuritySolutionsWatch.com: Thank you for joining us today, Mark. It’s truly a pleasure to speak with an expert who has 25 years of experience in the security space. You have witnessed, and have been an important part of, an amazing transformation in our industry. Before drilling down into the capabilities of AMAG Technology and your role as Director of Sales – EMEA, please tell us about more about your background.

Mark Williams: Having graduated from Brunel University in London with a BSc in Economics, I spent my formative years in the industry working for DAQ Electronics in New Jersey helping them introduce their security management solutions to the US DoD markets crisscrossing the US and visiting numerous Army and Air Force bases and eventually taking that military bred technology into the commercial security space. After leaving the US, I took up a position with one of the UK’s leading independent integrators and spent much of my time there helping the UK nuclear power industry gear up for Y2K compliance with their access control systems. Before joining AMAG, I held various senior positions with Remsdaq Ltd and helped them grow to be the largest supplier of integrated security solutions for UK Critical National Infrastructure. Since joining AMAG in 2015, I have overseen the business double its footprint in EMEA through both channel expansion and new business growth.

SecuritySolutionsWatch.com: AMAG is arguably part of the largest security company in the world with a track record of success and achievements, in every vertical, that is second to none. One will read on AMAG.com (https://www.amag.com/) that, “Since 1971, AMAG has delivered best-in-class access control software and hardware, pioneering the magnetic stripe card reader in the mid-90s and growing into an enterprise-class security system provider.” What is your perspective Mark, on AMAG’s unique capabilities? In other words, why AMAG?

Mark Williams: AMAG is unique for several reasons. Not only does it design and develop its own hardware and software (and it was Steve Jobs who said that those who are serious about their software should design their own hardware), AMAG also manufactures its own products in its own state-of-the-art manufacturing facility. This means that not only does it not rely on third-party sourcing of its hardware, it is not reliant on the use of giant manufacturing facilities that make mobile phones one day and access control panels the next.

SecuritySolutionsWatch.com: One will read on AMAG.com (https://www.amag.com/) , that, “Access Control determines who can go where and when, notifies you of who is in the building and their location. It can also provide valuable data to help an organization meet compliance requirements, and when integrated with video, identity management or visitor management, deliver a unified platform that is easy to operate, mitigates risk and automates processes. Instant lock-down capabilities let you change the level of security in the event of an emergency, putting control in the user’s hands. Please give us an overview, Mark, of AMAG Technology solutions (https://www.amag.com/solutions) .

Mark Williams: I think lots of people think of AMAG as an access control manufacturer… and it’s true that’s a very important part of what we do, but AMAG is uniquely positioned to allow customers to reduce cost, mitigate risk and increase compliance by process automation and efficiencies afforded by its identity and visitor management solutions, along with its incident management and command and control solutions. Fewer administrators, front of house self check-in, more efficient operation in the control room and single pane of glass operation all drive cost savings, whilst making end users more secure and compliant.

SecuritySolutionsWatch.com: Supply chain issues, especially during this pandemic and the war in Ukraine, have been a disruptive factor in getting jobs done on time and on budget. How is AMAG coping with this issue?

Mark Williams: Sourcing components is a challenge for everyone in the industry, but one of the ways AMAG has been able to mitigate lead time issues with its own products is to actually make small design changes to its products to make use of components that are readily available. AMAG had the foresight to purchase a large number of these components to keep our manufacturing facilities well stocked and in full operation. Our president was quick thinking and willing to invest heavily in an early solution. This sort of action is only possible when you own the entire supply chain process through to manufacturing.

SecuritySolutionsWatch.com: We understand that your target markets include not only EMEA but India, Scandinavia and the Middle East as well. Care to elaborate?

Mark Williams: AMAG has always been very strong in the Scandinavian market, but its largest recent growth has been in the GCC countries of the Middle East with Saudi Arabia becoming its biggest export market. Signs of big growth potential exist in both India and Africa where AMAG’s Symmetry products are already sold.

SecuritySolutionsWatch.com: Any success stories or testimonials you’d like to mention?

Mark Williams: Yes, while we have several large customers throughout EMEA, DPD Netherlands (https://www.amag.com/dpd-netherlands), the largest player in the European parcel-shipping market, recently installed a Symmetry system. Due to the scope of DPD's operations, streamlining and centralizing its security across all facilities would be a significant undertaking. AMAG was identified as the only manufacturer that could offer a comprehensive solution with its Symmetry Security Management System. Symmetry helped them streamline their operations and meet TAPA compliance requirements.

ACI Worldwide (https://www.amag.com/aci-worldwide) is a global software company that provides real-time payment solutions to corporations and 19 of the world’s top 20 banks along with thousands of merchants. ACI needed an open platform and to meet many compliance standards (PCI, ISO, GDPR plus others). The company standardized on Symmetry for its 36 global locations, including locations in India and Ireland. They are using the almost the full suite of Symmetry products (https://www.amag.com/solutions). ACI Worldwide Director, Corporate Security, Safety and DC Facilities Jeff Chubb said, “If we’re going to have a relationship, I look for the long term rather than just buying a product; I look for what we’re going to do in the future, what we’re trying to accomplish, and I look for that partner to help us put that in place.”

SecuritySolutionsWatch.com: We understand that Suprema (https://www.supremainc.com/en/about/news-detail.asp?iBOARD_CONT_NO=635) and Zenitel (http://www.zenitel.com/) are important strategic partners. Please tell us more about their value added to the AMAG value proposition.

Mark Williams: Zenitel is our oldest technology integration partner and AMAG resells these best of breed audio communications products globally. Clear audio communication provides another layer of safety and security that a silent security system cannot. When you add audio and voice information to a situation, you can determine what someone is trying to verbally communicate. Audio can also help detect noises, such as breaking glass that are not within direct view of a video camera. Audio also makes it easier for a security team to work more efficiently when faced with critical events.

With Suprema, we have worked jointly to offer GDPR-compliant biometric solutions for our global clients with biometric templates on the card rather than stored on servers. We are also working on the full integration of their latest frictionless facial recognition technology into our Symmetry Security Management system and will be launching that later this year. This integration offers our customers two-factor authentication to access doors which is essential for high security areas and facilities.

SecuritySolutionsWatch.com: Can we talk about security industry trends for a moment? Accidents and disasters don’t make appointments, seconds matter during a security event and it’s a never-ending battle to make the best possible decisions from the tons of available data being collected via surveillance, drones, body worn cameras, and other sources. Your thoughts Mark about how Big Data, AI and Machine Learning are part of the solution?

Mark Williams: Access control systems have always been great repositories of big data…every time you swipe your card or present your phone at a door, you are creating data. But very little has ever been done to analyze that data…until now. AMAG has developed a machine learning algorithm that learns what normal behavior is for an access control system… it learns when you usually arrive at the office, which door you enter the facility via and where you go next. So if you suddenly start arriving earlier and going to different locations, which you may still be allowed access to, the system will recognize that as “abnormal behavior.” There may be perfectly genuine reasons for the observed behavior, but the AMAG solution provides you with that insight… it gives you an early warning of potentially nefarious activity so you can make a better, more informed decision.

SecuritySolutionsWatch.com: Can we turn to cybersecurity? The bad guys are unfortunately getting smarter all the time and the statistics regarding the number of cybersecurity incidents are quite alarming. Please fill us in about AMAG cybersecurity capabilities.

Mark Williams: Barely a week goes by that we don’t hear of yet another cyber attack in the news. AMAG takes this very seriously and publishes its own “hardening guides” for its Symmetry Security Management System. It supports advanced encryption algorithms to its panels and readers and subjects its products to third-party Penetration testing on a recurring basis to try to ensure that we are one step ahead of the bitcoin bandits.

SecuritySolutionsWatch.com: IFSEC 2022 (https://www.ifsecglobal.com/ifsec-international-security-event) in the UK recently ended but GSX (https://www.gsx.org/) and ISC East (https://www.isceast.com/) are around the corner. Where will we find AMAG in during the remainder of 2022 and 2023?

Mark Williams: You will see us at GSX and then in 2023, we will return to Intersec Dubai (https://intersec.ae.messefrankfurt.com/dubai/en.html, ISC West (https://www.iscwest.com/) in Las Vegas and then IFSEC in London (https://www.ifsecglobal.com/ifsec-international-security-event/) .

SecuritySolutionsWatch.com: Thank you for again for joining us today Mark! Is there anything else you’d like to talk about?

Mark Williams: I want to reiterate an important message. Not only does AMAG offer a completely open security solution, capable of integrating with numerous technology partners and our competitor’s access control systems, but we are able to deliver the products we manufacture, setting us apart from the competition.

For more information:
www.AMAG.com

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