Traditionally all security companies have the same problem. There are serious peaks and valleys in their workload depending on the amount of service requests they receive. For them to make money their service men need to be busy. This results them prioritizing their workload and often taking longer for low priority jobs than anyone would like. Typically, if your system crashes, they will be there as soon as possible. If you are looking to have minor repair, it may take some time or depending on their work load it may be quick.
I would suggest that before you change security companies you explore how you can make the relationship with them better. Performance metrics are essential with this. If you keep records of when service calls are placed and when the issue is resolved, you have hard data to talk with the company about. The level of severity for service calls should be made clear, if the problem is critical, it should be stated as such. A priority system like service needed, now, today, this week or this month would be helpful for them. Another useful metrics would be mean time between failure for the components of the system. For example, if you had ten new cameras installed on the same date some years ago and suddenly two of them fail, you probably will have the others fail soon. An annual audit of your full system is also suggested. Once you have a plan in place for all the data that you will be collecting you should buy you service vendor lunch and go over the plan with them. If you have service goals let them know and see if they can meet these goals. If they can not meet these goals, or if you still feel uncomfortable with them. You now can have conversations with other security companies and see what level of performance, they can provide for you. It is important to have the measures in place so it is clear the level of performance they are actually providing for you
There is value to having one vendor working on your cameras and access control system. This would allow for better system integration; service men would know the entire system not separate parts and it would give you a little more leverage with the company.
I hope this is helpful
Chris Provan
AAM Security PN Chair