Updating the ConsultantRegistry.org website has been a high priority, whirlwind of a project this summer.  In an effort to improve collaboration tools and reference materials available to our members, we spent a lot of time on redesigning the website.

Here are a few of the dozens of the new additions and improvements:

• White Paper / Case Study Directory
  With over 500 manufacturers in the security industry alone, there are literally thousands of technical papers available. After a paper is uploaded to CRO, the entire content is scanned into our database word for word. Members can now search for documents by any word combination, not just by category.
• Improved Resource Pages
  Members can comment on resource pages, highlight pages they like and share pages through email and social networks.
• Discussion Groups
  We recently announced the creation of the ConsultantReady™ Committee headed by Susanne Ruse. This area is the hub for committee discussions, documents, schedule & status reports.
• Member Store
  Consultants, do you have reports or studies you would like to offer for sale? No charge to list, a small portion of each sale goes to support the organization.
• Content Previews
  Much of the content available in our previous website was hidden until members signed in. Member only content is now available for preview by the public. So you know what you are signing up for!
• Better Member Handling
  CRO was originally designed to support consultants & systems designers.  In an effort to reduce spam, between member communication on the old website was highly restrictive. New member handling allows much greater member to member collaboration and information sharing.

Full details on the upgrade are available at:  CRO Website Updates Fall 2010

Please visit the site and let us know what you think.  Membership is still free for consultants and all other industry guests.

***

ConsultantRegistry.Org is a professional organization for independent consultants in the converging space of the Security, IT and Communications industries. CRO is run as a not for profit by a council of its members and operates independently of all product vendors. CRO can be found at http://www.ConsultantRegistry.org.

ConsultantRegistry.Org  is please to announce that Susanne Ruse has agreed to fill the position of Director, Committee Strategic Planning and Development.  “The addition of Susanne to our team is a significant milestone.  We have grown to the point where we are adding members to our board and building committees to manage the organization.” states CRO president, Greg Bernardo.

The Director, Committee Strategic Planning and Development is responsible for communications, organization and structural progress of each committee.  As a developing organization, Susanne’s immediate challenge is to establish the rules and agenda for each committee.

Read more…

As a follow up to our manufacturers’ survey, ConsultantRegistry.org has begun a new survey for Security Systems Integrators.

www.consultantregistry.org/survey Read more…

ConsultantRegistry.Org recently released a survey to Security Industry Manufacturers.  More than 10% of the security industry’s manufacturers have already responded.

www.consultantregistry.org/survey Read more…

ConsultantRegistry.Org is back from a busy week at the ASIS Conference and Tradeshow held in Anaheim, CA this year.  At this year’s show, our main emphasis was to promote the value of the organization to manufacturers, and to meet some of our members.  It was great to meet some of you face to face and hear your input and ideas.  We have plans in the works for our next organizational meeting at ISC West, so stay tuned.

The goal of the trip was to further awareness of the organization and start promoting some of the new initiatives of CRO.  Many manufacturers have agreed to use the new CRO Open ID platform that will roll-out sometime during the month of October.  We received great response to the organization as a long needed resource and a great value for the industry.  It is our design to generate more value for our members and thereby for our advertising sponsors.  By producing greater sponsorship, the organization has more revenue for future CRO projects like Open ID, and the upcoming iPhone application give away of Security Surveyor (stay tuned for this one as well).

Time was tight while we were in Anaheim, so we made good use of our time there. Our meetings literally started in the airport on Sunday and ran non-stop through Wednesday.  A special thanks to the folks at Salient Systems for allowing us to use their meeting space free of charge during the show as a place to meet with our members.

What we observed at the show….

I have to say, the attendance was the lightest we have seen in any of previous years (15 for me and 25 for my business partner).  However, I think most vendors would agree when I say, with this depressed economy, the people who attended had a purpose in being there.

ASIS is one of the two times a year (ISC West being the other) when most of the Security Industries’ vendors demonstrate their new products.  While we did not see anything to shift our design paradigms, there were a couple of notable pieces parts.  Axis had a notable modular camera mounting system that caught our eye.  Pelco’s new Sarix line demonstrated much improved contrasting light sensor technology.  TimeSight Systems was exhibiting a new way of recording video that optimizes the recording and minimizes the storage hardware.

Thinking forward to next year’s ASIS, we noticed that they are changing their dates and venues a bit. Perhaps they are noticing a change in the industry and are beginning to mix things up to promote more interest and attendance.  Next year’s conference is now almost 13 months away, scheduled for mid October.  We are excited that ASIS will be in Dallas next year since it gives CRO an opportunity for greater presence and visibility.  (For those that don’t know, Dallas is home to CRO’s offices.)  Read more…

ConsultantRegistry.Org released a free report today for security product manufacturers.  The report “Market Opportunities for Security Product Manufacturers” is available to all security manufacturers with free membership on the ConsultantRegistry.Org site.

CRO President Greg Bernardo states, “CRO released a manufacturer list derived from our ConsultantReady™ Report to streamline information sources for our Consultant Members.  We made this free report to available to manufacturers to encourage their sign up and updating their consultant support contacts. ”

Read more…

ConsultantRegistry.Org announces a major redesign to the integrator listing service.  Just three weeks after the release of the integrator listing service CRO announces that the listing service now offers a new map based location and search with keywords and US/Worldmap for quicker location of integrators and their skills.  Additional improvements include a redesign of the payment and checkout process and the option to list more offices for your organization and your logo graphics for a more professional brand message.

A centralized Integrator listing repository has been missing from the industry for a long time.  System Integrators can now list themselves on ConsultantRegistry.Org.  This listing service allows Consultants, Specifiers and Engineers instant access to a national list of potential bidders for their projects. 

ConsultantRegistry.Org is growing rapidly.  With over 125 Consultants joining from 40 US States and 15 countries since mid February 2009, CRO is now the largest international organization devoted to supporting Consultants in the converging markets of Security, IT and Communications.  

Greg explains, “We made sure that listing fees are reasonable for both small and large Integrators.  As our member numbers climb, the value of this program to both Consultants and Integrators improves dramatically.  With one listing, Integrators can now be seen by an ever increasing number of project Specifiers.”

ConsultantRegistry.Org is a professional organization for independent consultants in the converging space of the Security, IT and Communications industries. CRO is run as a not for profit by a council of its members and operates independently of all product vendors. CRO can be found at http://www.consultantregistry.org.

Building on industry support and acceptance following the May release of the ConsultantReady™ Report, ConsultantRegistry.Org announces the release of a new integrator listing service today.

Greg Bernardo, President of ConsultantRegistry.Org indicates, “Consultants spend precious time and countless hours developing their own lists of potential bidders or are forced to rely entirely on public sources and  bid announcements.  Proactive Systems Integrators sometimes request to be included in Consultants’ bid lists.  However, all these processes break down when the Consultant is from outside of the project area.”

A centralized Integrator listing repository has been missing from the industry for a long time.  System Integrators can now list themselves on ConsultantRegistry.Org.  This listing service allows Consultants, Specifiers and Engineers instant access to a national list of potential bidders for their projects. 

ConsultantRegistry.Org is growing rapidly.  With over 120 Consultants joining from 40 US States and 15 countries since mid February 2009, CRO is now the largest international organization devoted to supporting Consultants in the converging markets of Security, IT and Communications.  

Greg explains, “We made sure that listing fees are reasonable for both small and large Integrators.  As our member numbers climb, the value of this program to both Consultants and Integrators improves dramatically.  With one listing, Integrators can now be seen by an ever increasing number of project Specifiers.”

The addition of this new service required ConsultantRegistry.Org to make improvements to its website.  Improvements include a redesign of their graphics for a more professional brand message and custom programming to ensure the site stays an environment which promotes collaboration between Consultants while protecting against unsolicited communication. 

Read more…

ConsultantRegistry.Org released their first edition Summer Newsletter today.

The Newsletter is accessible from the CRO website at http://www.consultantregistry.org

ConsultantRegistry.Org is the only organization that supports the independent consultant in the converging markets of Security, IT, and Communication exclusively.

ConsultantRegistry.Org released the first full release of the ConsultantReady™ Report today. The report is part of an initiative within ConsultantRegistry.Org and its member board to encourage effective communication by educating vendors on how to best communicate with consultants.  This report ranks 246 security manufacturers’ “readiness” and identifies tools useful to consultants.

In the preliminary report released in April 2009, 55 Vendors were previewed and 5% demonstrated scores of 50% or greater over industry average.  The current full report based on review of 246 vendors,  shows only 1.6% acheived scores 50% or greater.

To learn more about the ConsultantReady™ Initiative please visit http://www.consultantregistry.org/page/view/consultantready.  Confirmed Consultants and Vendors have access to the full report and confirmed Consultants have direct access to the realtime Online ConsultantReady™ Database.

ConsultantRegistry.Org is operated as a not for profit organization and uses its revenues to build membership and promote their members’ capabilities in the converging Security, IT and Communications markets. The organization operates on member subscriptions, sponsoring by vendors and service providers, and the generous free support from its member council.  CRO can be found at http://www.consultantregistry.org.