Just ahead of the International Fire and Security Exhibiton 2019 (IFSEC) Adam Bannister (editor, IFSEC Global) had an interview with Caspar Assmann, Sales Director at TelescopicMast about how the Mobile Security Tower can cut costs up to 70% compared with manned guarding.

Please tell us a bit about TelescopicMast for anyone unfamiliar with the brand?

Caspar Assmann: TelescopicMast is a manufacturer and supplier of mobile steel security boxes. The company was established about 35 years ago and specialised in steel products. But we developed mobile steel security boxes seven years ago. We have since invested considerable resources to develop the product to where it is now.
We’ve mostly operated in the Netherlands and then Belgium so far, where we have thousands of these boxes in use, but it’s still quite an unknown product outside these countries.
Now we’ve started to distribute in the UK, the Scandinavian countries and Germany through about 10 distributors. We launched in the UK at IFSEC in 2017.

Tell us more about your mobile steel security boxes

Within the steel box is a telescopic mast that erects to six metres high. The box is very secure and can also be locked at the top. It’s galvanised steel and near impossible to climb. It’s CE-certificated, so it can be used in projects where a CE certificate is required.

What kind of vertical markets tend to be interested in the boxes?

The construction market, building sites and crowd control are the biggest. At this moment there’s a lot going on with traffic control, building highways, rail transport and other dangerous areas which are still guarded by people. We can help these sectors protect their people and assets with cameras, which cuts costs by up to 70%. It is also more reliable.

How does your business model work in terms of distribution?

It depends on the market we are operating in. In the UK the distribution model is different: we go through resellers. But an important thing is that we operate in the rental market. Our boxes are equipped with power, electrics, lamps and cameras, and then they are mostly rented out for a couple of months.

How hard is it to install?

It’s very easy to put it on the trailer, to transport and set up. It takes five minutes to get everything going.

Are you still developing the product to improve it further?

We are always developing the box as a product. There are some variations on it, depending on the project for which it is used. The markets we target are quite big, so we have to reach out to a lot of companies and let them know who we are and what we do.

What are your plans for reaching those companies at IFSEC?

There are two parts to our plan for IFSEC. We are working with our UK distributors on our booth to inform potential customers about the potential of this box.

We’re also working on international markets like at last year’s IFSEC, when we met visitors from many countries. We want to meet all kinds of people because we’re still relatively unknown. The international market is very important, but we also want to meet our UK distributors and customers.

Will you have a mobile steel security box fully set up on your stand?

Yes. We’re getting the equipment set up by a distributor that is doing our booth. And we’re using different equipment to DVS – we’re including the power supply and everything, so people can see how the box can be equipped. Because that’s still a potential problem for many users: how to add the equipment, how to run the electricity and power supply.

If someone was to ask why they should come to your stand at IFSEC, what would you tell them?

If they come to our stand we can explain how it works, how they can equip it, how they can have a profitable model with the box. We can explain how it’s better than cars being equipped with a telescopic mast, which is often done instead but is quite expensive. Our box is comparatively cheap and a very secure way to conduct video surveillance.

Source:  TelescopicMast: “Our mobile steel security boxes can cut costs by up to 70%”