Purchasing for public organizations like school systems has never been an easy process. In the government and public sphere, transparency is critical, and every taxpayer dollar counts.

The typical purchasing process for many products and solutions has been through an RFQ or RFP (Request for Quotation or Proposal) process. As most familiar with these processes know, these methods can be long and cumbersome in either government or private enterprise. When a solution is needed sooner rather than later, this type of process can hinder making the required investments for critical infrastructure for more secure school campuses in San Antonio and other Texas cities.

In Texas, purchasing co-ops have been developed to streamline the purchasing process. For example, the Houston-Galveston Area Council (H-GAC) has been serving local governments for 40 years with purchasing services. TIPS (The Interlocal Purchasing System) is another purchasing cooperative that started in 2002 out of Region 8 in Texas and has expanded throughout the state and nationally.

Co-ops have helped small and large school districts alike to pool purchasing power and streamline processes. They vet vendors, establish competitively priced blanket contracts for goods and services, and provide valuable and time-saving methods for making purchases.

ASAP Security is proud to have been selected as a key security technology vendor for both TIPS and H-GAC, allowing us to offer our solutions to school districts with minimized friction and the knowledge that that district is getting top value for its designated budget. Read on for examples of solutions you can purchase through the co-op process.

Now more than ever, it’s essential that your home is connected to the outside world. While the world is experiencing shutdowns thanks to COVID-19, many businesses are still up and running, and you may be one of the many workers who are now working from home. Your home needs wireless networking that can handle the increased loads placed on it.

Many schools are shut down, so in addition to the work you may be doing from home for the first time, your children may also be using up tons of bandwidth while attending school digitally.

If you need to wake up and clock in remotely to your job, your internet needs to work first thing in the morning. Our team of experts can use WAN management and a mesh installation to make sure your internet is as reliable as possible. We can troubleshoot and fix your internet before you ever even notice there’s a problem.

It’s unfortunate, but these are challenging times. The current COVID-19 health crisis has prompted many changes in our society that we might not have dreamed about less than two months ago. The nation has coped with many crises in the past, and it will adapt and deal with this one too.

However, we are dealing with new realities. Indeed, there are the realities of staying home and having almost no outside activities available. We are dealing with families having to work, school, exercise, and be entertained at home, which may be challenging and a huge change from busy schedules. But there’s another side, too, with all schools and many businesses closed. And while these closures are temporary, we should be prepared for the potential of other closures and social distancing measures taking place until the virus is eradicated.

When you think about it, many closed places - whether its shops, restaurants, places of worship, or other venues ­– could be targets for theft or vandalism. As we said, these are unfortunate and uncertain times, and sometimes uncertainly breeds unlawful behavior.

But there is a way to protect your River Oaks and Houston area premises with a solution that puts you in control - monitored surveillance. Read on to learn more about it and why this is the right time to consider it.

Working from home is certainly no new phenomenon. Many companies now work entirely remotely without a physical office, and employees may be spread across the country and internationally. But the recent health crisis has thrust millions of professionals and information workers into a home office working environment, forcing companies to adapt quickly.

If you are suddenly working from home, there's a difference between the occasional work from home you may have done before and doing it full time. As a home technology integrator, we have some suggestions to make the transition to work from home more natural and more comfortable. And one of those suggestions doesn't even have a technology component!

If you want to find out more about home office design for a better remote working experience in Houston, keep reading for four great tips.