Each show is unique, because each region is unique. To prepare for GSX, we sat down with the regional Southeast Manager, Dan Gardner to discuss the show, our products, and his industry expertise. Smarter Security will be at GSX booth #4143 showcasing Fastlane turnstiles®, Door Detective®, SmarterMount, and ReconaSense. Come say hi at the Georgia World Congress Center!
What are you excited about at GSX 2022?
I’m excited for the same few things I’m typically pumped for every year. See clients and integrators I don’t see often that I may only get to see once or twice a year. Getting to connect and see each other in person is super important. You get to show people the product. Usually, you only get to talk about a product like ours due to its size but being able to show it off is a lot of fun. Normally, when we can see people, we don’t get to discuss and demo products at the same time- getting the chance to show them the new developments and products is not only important but a lot of fun. Sometimes, people buy our product without seeing it.
When people see our product for the first time, what is their reaction?
They get excited. They find there are a lot of capabilities and features they weren’t aware of and didn’t think were even possible within a turnstile. They expect to be able to badge in with credentials but tailgating and sidegating consistently amaze people the first time they see it in action. People in the past have thought they could beat turnstiles by going side-by-side, and that’s not true anymore with us. There’s no way to beat them, sidegating is a unique feature for Fastlane turnstiles and I’ve never encountered a competitor that can do it. This is particularly helpful in highly populated areas or areas that require wider lanes to prevent people from sneaking in together.
If you could tell end-users and integrators alike one thing, what would it be?
Currently, I focus a lot on how labor shortages affect the organizational flow, safety, and efficiency. All the rippling effects from 2020 continue to be ongoing and now we’re seeing a labor drought, minimum wages rising, and businesses continue to be unable to keep seats filled in entry-level roles. Our ROI and automation with Fastlane turnstiles enter with features like locking brakes, pressure sensor tops, sidegating, and tailgating can allow you to put something there without requiring someone to stand guard and watch over entries or lobbies. This allows you to move your staff to more customer-facing roles where you can greet people or actively roam larger areas for surveillance. Allowing machines to do machine-like jobs and people to perform people-facing jobs can help alleviate labor shortages and allows a direct return in ROI both in staffing and budget. Many physical security applications don’t show a direct ROI, whereas with Fastlane turnstiles we can directly calculate budget savings and pressure alleviation in the short and long term. Not only do you have a more secure facility, but it has a direct and tangible return. Turnstiles aren’t cheap, but premium turnstiles provide direct solutions through elevated technology to benefit the entire organization. If you’re looking from a security perspective, you can shift a stationary guard to be mobile and cover more space. Automated and linear tasks such as checking people in or tracking IDs can be left to the turnstiles.
You obviously can’t do that with all turnstiles though, right?
No, not at all. The two things, in my opinion, that make Smarter Security and Fastlane the most unique are:
Reliability- Optical turnstiles installed for 20+ is nearly unheard of, except for us. I’ve never heard of another turnstile brand working that long, it’s truly amazing. There are multiple sites we have where turnstiles have been in flooded lobbies and still turned on and functioned afterward.
Flexibility & Customization– When someone has a vision in mind, we’re the ones they call. We carry so many shapes, colors, and customizations. We are a shining star for rip and replace locations as we can bring our conduit to multiple places to match the footprint of the former turnstile installation. Other manufacturers have made the slimmest cabinet possible to try and still try to make the cabinet do everything, which severely limits capability.
If you’re considering buying a car but you have a list of specific needs and you’re comparing two companies, the one that makes motorcycles, planes, trucks, and cars whereas compared to the one that only makes luxury cars, you’ll get the most features and attention to detail and functionality that specializes in the specific type of vehicle you’re looking for. Other competitors do the same by trying to sell too many different physical security devices at once, making them a master of none.
Where does Door Detective fit in?
Door Detective is extremely unique. It fits a unique market need for detection and security that hasn’t been taken care of or nurtured before. It takes care of areas with space limitations where a turnstile doesn’t fit and is additionally low-cost. It gives your access control a way of verification itself while providing insights such as population management and current employee location. Any place with moderate to high security should use Door Detective as a requirement. It is also great for population counting, energy efficiency use, tailgating detection, and access convenience, it doesn’t have to be installed exclusively for security purposes.
Future-Proof Your Lobby
With Smarter Security, we enable you to focus on constructing standards for the future. Shift your security, building management, and overall aesthetic with intelligent entrance control that is highly customizable and flawlessly integrated with access control systems, biometrics, and other 3rd party readers.
Questions about our technical capabilities, customizations, or looking to meet with Dan or any of the rest of our team at GSX? Contact us and we will get back to you shortly.
