Embracing change in the world of fire

Our diverse partners and team means there is always something on the go in the industries we work in. The CN&CO Festival team is gearing up for the start of the African Insurance Organisation Conference this weekend, hosting hundreds of insurance delegates from around the continent. No sooner does that end and the final touches for the African Insurance Exchange (AIE) gets underway in July. The one and only Kurt “Leb” Solomon is off to his ancestral homeland as part of the first diaspora from South Africa this week while Carel is currently in Mauritius attending a Club Med event.

The one thing all of our clients have in common is the characteristic of pushing forward, embracing change and doing new things for the betterment of the industries they operate in. One such partner is ASIB (who will also be presenting at the AIE), arguably the foremost experts when it comes to fixed fire protection in South Africa.

The company has been privately held as a private business for almost twenty-five years, focusing exclusively on inspections of fire systems and related issues and they have some exciting developments on the horizon, broadening their scope of operation.

Firstly, ASIB will be expanding its educational offering into the world of e-learning, making it more accessible for anyone around the country to access the courses they have on offer. As the need for more fire professionals increases in industry due to the mounting losses coming through claims, the shift to offering courses and training through a combination of digital and physical learning represents the new direction taken by management to embrace technology to yield better results.

Another example of using technology to benefit the industry revolves around real-time video feeds to troubleshoot installations. Whereas ASIB has never restricted where installers work, it recommends that they operate within areas they can adequately service in order to satisfy the clients needs and prevent delays in rectifying any problems. If a sprinkler system starts leaking in Gauteng it doesn’t make sense to wait for an installer to travel from Cape Town to fix the problem many hours or even days later. Technology has matured to allow for consultants in the immediate vicinity to arrive on site and talk through the issues with an installer no matter where the company is situated. This collaboration greatly reduces the challenges to operation for many sprinkler companies nationally and opens up the market significantly.

A final exciting development for ASIB is the decision to host a fire conference later this year in August. Open to anyone, (tickets available here), the conference will see stakeholders from all industries gather to network and be informed of the latest developments in the fire and related industries. The conference is a first for the company and is aimed at ensuring commercial industry at large benefits by being exposed to the latest solutions to challenges in fixed fire protection.

With the fire landscape changing rapidly and industries needing to adjust, it is great to see ASIB adapting with the times and looking for solutions that benefit the entire country. After all, the less fires South Africa has the better the economy will be in the long run so it is important that companies, like ASIB, continuously evolve to meet the challenges presented in their industries.

For any additional information on ASIB why not read our series on the company and learn something new about the fire industry?