The Security Industry Could Use Another Round of PPP Funding

The CARES Act has helped fund small businesses through the pandemic outbreak. The small businesses portion of the CARES Act provided small businesses with PPP funding to keep their staff on payroll, even while revenue all but halted. Unfortunately, the funding ran out quickly, and many small businesses were left high and dry. One of the industries that has had trouble securing funding is the security industry.

Security Industry Having Trouble Getting Funding

Security Systems News ran a poll to help uncover just how much trouble the security industry has been having securing funding from the cares act. And the numbers show that it hasn’t been easy for businesses in our industry to do so. Some of the highlights include:

• 84% of participants said they applied for funding, and 77% said they had some trouble applying
• 50% said they received funding, while 47% were still waiting, and 3% were denied for one reason or another

One of the issues is that the plan was rolled out too quickly, so banks were not allotted the proper amount of time to go over the requirements and rules about the funding. This leads to confusion on how to properly allocate funds, and ultimately causes delays.

Another issue is timing. Even for those small businesses that were lucky enough to get approved, the funding may have come too early. According to an CNBC, some employees that have been “furloughed” are reluctant to return to work because they are making more money on unemployment. Some businesses have been using work-arounds to still be able to use the funding properly, even though their employees are reluctant to return to work, and local restriction causes problems for small businesses.

What Can Help

For starters, more funding could certainly ease the minds of many small businesses in the security industry. And while there isn’t a tried-and-true method to get your funding passed through the bank, one respondent to the SSN poll claimed that a good standing relationship with their bank helped make some difference.

But that should not only be applied to funding — keeping good business relationships with other dealers, central stations, and distributors within the security industry can make operating your small business much easier. People want to do business with a company who is communicative and respectful, and that is a two-way street.

Security Monitoring Central Station Needs

If your security monitoring businesses finds itself in a position where staffing is an issue, whether that be from furloughed employees or a COVID-19 outbreak in your central station, AvantGuard can step in and help fulfill staffing needs, so you can keep your central station operational, while we do all the heavy lifting. Check out our hybrid monitoring options, and reach out to get details on linking up with AvantGuard to help support your central station.