Feature The Security Matters Interview Read more online at www.securitymattersmagazine.com
Open dialogue
Open platform IP video surveillance software solutions provider
Milestone Systems’ CEO Thomas Jensen began his role at the start of the
COVID-19 outbreak. In conversation with Brian Sims, the seasoned
business executive charts how the company has navigated the pandemic
and also outlines what its core priorities will be going forward
You’re now almost 12 months
into your role as Milestone’s
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CEO during what has been a period
of unprecedented global
challenges due to the COVID-19
pandemic. In your opinion, how
has the latter impacted your vision
for 2021 and beyond?
You’re absolutely right. None of
us have experienced this kind of
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situation before. The last time there was
such a pandemic was back in 1918 with
the Spanish influenza. We’ve all learned
to adapt. We’ve learned that change is
inevitably happening. We knew that up
front. It makes you realise that your plan
is only workable until the next change
comes around the corner.
From Milestone’s point of view, the
pandemic has served as a stress test for
our company culture and our way of
working as a ‘people first’ organisation.
The end result has actually given us a
good deal of comfort and confidence in
the fact that our culture has proven to be
strong and resilient. We can withstand a
crisis within the industry and beyond.
The pandemic has given us an
opportunity to look at our future
strategy. It has also taught us that some
of the things we may have been
reflecting upon for a number of years
previously, including working
methodologies and working
arrangements, can deliver. Video
conferencing and video meetings are
good examples. Video will never replace
people interaction and face-to-face
gatherings, but can enable us to arrange
more flexible working environments.
One truism that the pandemic has
brought to the fore is the importance of
ethics and responsibility in technology,
and particularly so in the security
industry. You will now see us placing a
good deal more focus on this going
forward. We will look diligently upon
the role we’re playing, the role that our
partner community plays and also how
we purposefully govern all of that.
Milestone as a business has
shown great resilience over
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the past 18 months. What
challenges have you faced and
how do you feel that they have
shaped the organisation?
The period has shown us that we
can act in times of crisis.
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Naturally, this crisis has been a global
crisis, not an industry-centric one. As a
company, we’ve managed to withstand
hardship. We’ve worked together in
teams even when we’ve been apart.
The pandemic has shown us that
we’re able to find new business models.
We’ve continued to support our
customers. Many of our partners have
been challenged by the fact that they
could not visit their customers and
enable new installations.
We initiated our Milestone Care
campaign where we’ve looked at how we
can support our customers and partners,
the latter in terms of driving enhanced
service levels even during a pandemic.
We’ve also realised that when you’re a
company with a strong culture and a
strong technology platform, you have
the sturdiness to withstand a crisis. The
COVID-19 situation has confirmed for
us that our open platform philosophy
has been robust in support of our
customers and partners.
The Milestone Integration
Platform Symposium (MIPS)
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is the annual event where the
Milestone Systems community
comes together to share insights,
experience, Best Practice and the
latest innovations. During this
year’s event, you spoke about
Milestone’s technology beyond
security. Can you reveal some
more detail about that?
It’s focused on added value when
it comes to talking about video
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technology as a security product, but
also about the fact that expanded
technology opportunities will give us
new chances to deliver increased value
for customers. We see the rise of 5G and
the cloud. There are new business cases
being built and evidence of technology
being used in new ways.
We’ve learned that we need to be at
the forefront of delivering business
outcomes for our customers. We have to
look at the value we create for customers
rather than just delivering a product.
We’re selling tools, but if we cannot
articulate the value of those tools then
our customers will not extract the
maximum return from them.
We will look at innovation and
towards our partners in terms of
creating use cases that deliver value
beyond the pure security aspect.
You’ve previously spoken
about your passion for
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people and culture within business
management. How has that been
demonstrated under your
leadership at Milestone Systems to
date and how might it manifest
itself in times ahead?
Given that we are a ‘people first’
organisation, it’s not my
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leadership that has driven our results. It’s
One truism that the pandemic has brought to the fore is the
importance of ethics and responsibility in technology, and
particularly so in the security industry. You will now see us
placing a good deal more focus on this going forward
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