IMQ has always been an exhibitor at SICUREZZA and has already confirmed its presence in 2021. From your point of view, where does the security industry stand in terms of certification? Do manufacturers and installers perceive certification as an added value?

Amongst installers, an important distinction must be made: between certification of an installer/maintenance technician, understood as certification of a person's competence, and the certification of companies that provide installation and maintenance services for intruder alarms and video surveillance systems. 

IMQ has two certification schemes to its credit: IMQ AIRVIDEO, for personal skills, and IMQ AIRVIDEO IMPRESE, for the quality of company services. The latter implies that company employs IMQ AIRVIDEO certified personnel.  

The certification of installers' personal skills is attracting increasing interest. From their point of view, they are protecting both the professional sector and consumers, who are increasingly called upon to extricate themselves from on-line product offerings and do-it-yourself installations.   

In this context, certification of installers and/or product and system maintainers in the Security field not only attests to the possession of specific competence requirements, but also guarantees these requirements are maintained over time in relation to technological advances and regulatory updates.  

Interest is also marked by specific and concrete action, in which IMQ has given and is giving an essential contribution, such as the case of the inter-associative round table between AIPS, ANIE SICUREZZA, ASSOSICUREZZA and A.I.P.R.O.S. for the preparation of a UNI standard for the certification of installers of intruder alarms and video surveillance systems, in which IMQ takes part together with other certifying bodies. 

As regards the company certification scheme, which has recently been updated and integrated with the one that relates to individuals, we are in a transitory interest stage, determined by innovations we have introduced in the aforementioned update. In other terms, a certified organization cannot disregard the certified skills of its technical staff. This concept finds natural justification in the close correlation between the quality of the service that a company can provide and the qualifications of the staff involved in its provision.  

Ultimately, while personal certification receives consolidated interest and is undoubtedly perceived as an added value, the same cannot be said for the certification of corporate services. But in IMQ we are confident about the correctness of our vision, both from the professional point of view and from the added value it represents for the market.  

In addition to these certifications, there is also product safety certification. Over the years, voluntary IMQ A certification for equipment and components intended for security systems and installations has become increasingly important for manufacturers, who find it both a tool for growth, by examining in depth the issues related to the performance they wish to guarantee in the certification process, and a means of accessing markets, by certifying the quality of products in comparison with international competitors and qualifying for important competitions.

What is the purpose behind IMQ taking part in SICUREZZA 2021?

We will take part in order to remind the industry chain of the added value and guarantees that safety certification offers and to support companies that are already our customers and which will present IMQ certified products.

We will take part in order to support the sector with our skills during in a period, that of the health emergency, in which security technologies have become increasingly enabling and in which technical products that already existed, but were not particularly common due to privacy issues (such as flow management systems, thermal scanners, etc. have become more widespread).

We will take part in order to offer visitors an opportunity to learn more about the certification of professionals as a tool to add value to their work and to their companies. The world of security is evolving rapidly. Rapid changes require increasingly well-prepared and reliable professionals, and in particular qualified installers who can guarantee, on the one hand, to manufacturers and distributors, the correct use of their products and, on the other hand, to clients, proof of their having resorted to competent professionals who are always up-to-date on new technologies.

Finally, we will take part in order to present the new services that IMQ can offer to companies in the field of cyber-security also, thanks to our consolidated know-how in the field of strategic infrastructures and because of the recent acquisition by IMQ Group of two new companies specialized in this area - IMQ Intuity and IMQ Minded Security.