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Important Questions About Tegris

Have you ever watched a scene in a movie where all the fire sprinklers in a building activate because someone placed a small flame near a sprinkler? This misrepresentation of how sprinklers work is one of the reasons why people have opposed residential sprinkler mandates. In the same way, there are misunderstandings that people have about Tegris and the service it provides. These are some of the questions we've been asked. (click to expand):

“Who decides who performs the inspections and repairs?”

The property owners are responsible for obtaining an inspector to complete their inspection. Tegris does not make specific recommendations, even if a property owner requests one over the phone. Each letter sent by the fire marshal specifically tells the property owner to find a service provider by whatever means available. The first service provider for them to consider is the one on their inspection tags or old reports. If they don’t have one, then it is suggested for them to go to the phone book or internet. Property owners do have the ability to create a profile on TEGRIS Fire™, and then conduct a search of the contractors who have signed up for a free account and provide the specific service the property owner is looking for. Any contractor can sign up for a free account at TEGRIS Fire™.

“Is Tegris, Inc. is a subsidiary of a fire sprinkler company or service provider?”

Tegris Inc is an independent corporation with no affiliations or subsidiaries. The TEGRIS Fire model was created by two fire sprinkler contractors, Robert & Andrew Moren, who realized the impact the lack of ITM enforcement was having on businesses. They utilized their combined 65 years of experience as service providers to develop a platform that is useful for inspection contractors.

The Morens also own a separate fire sprinkler contracting business that operates in Western Washington. This company has a primary focus on system design and installation, along with a small service division. Recognizing that other local service providers would have privacy concerns, Tegris was established as an independent corporation with separate employees that develop and operate the company. This team established very strict internal and external Privacy Policies that are legally binding, and prohibit giving an unfair or unique advantage to any individual or company. While the Morens maintain shares in both companies, the two independent corporations are owned by different groups of shareholders with very different interests. Tegris is focused on the goal of achieving 100% ITM compliance, and has a national and international outreach, with advocates and team members from all over the continent.

The name Tegris was chosen because it has roots in the word Integrity, which is a key value for the company and is a mandatory trait of every employee. Simply put, there has never been, and will never be, a conflict of interest.

To protect the integrity of the process there are strict requirements in place, both within the Terms & Conditions and within the Service Agreement between the user jurisdiction and Tegris, that forbid Tegris from misusing the data it collects. Most importantly, Tegris has processed thousands of inspection reports since its inception and has done so without violating these privacy requirements.

“Is Tegris just another Electronic Reporting tool?”

Tegris understands there are companies that provide an online tool to submit a report, and provide online visibility of this electronic report afterwards. This DOES NOT HELP COMPLIANCE and are as useful as installing a virtual fax machine. Fire authorities don’t need another way to collect reports. Tegris is unique because it invented the engine that drives ITM compliance. While others only indicate that a report was submitted, Tegris is tracking who’s NOT complying.

“How long does Tegris take to respond to technical support?”

Tegris has online FAQ’s, user guides, and forums where almost every question can be answered immediately. Tegris recently expanded its support team and offers FREE phone support in which it has a 24 hour response policy. Tegris tracks every support request to make sure its achieving its support request goals. Here are the stats over the last 3 months:

Requests responded within 1 hour – [94%]
Requests responded within 2 hours – [97%]
Requests responded within 4 hours – [98%]
Requests responded within 24 hours – [99.5%]

“Are service providers forced to answer all questions on the report?”

The local AHJ adopts a standard form that helps them quickly process a report so they can provide 100% enforcement. Some of their questions are required and some are optional. Tegris simply enables the fire marshal to enforce that standard. If the service provider is more comfortable with their own report, and the fire marshal allows it, they can attach their own report as a .pdf. Tegris also works with 3rd party reporting services to incorporate their form directly into Tegris so it can be submitted to the fire marshal. The goal at Tegris is to simply enable the industry to achieve 100% compliance.

“Is this a precursor to the establishment of one national form that everyone has to follow?”

Tegris has a goal that every property owner fulfills their ITM responsibilities, as defined by the local jurisdiction. There are some required questions that every fire marshal uses to gauge the validity of the fire protection system. These questions are assembled in an easily recognized format that allows the fire marshal to quickly process the information, make decisions, and move on. The rest of the inspection questions can either be filled out OR attached as a .pdf if allowed by the local jurisdiction.

“Will the service providers like this?”

Our experience is that most do. Yes, there were growing pains as this new model of enforcement and compliance was first rolled out. But there are now service providers who have seen incredible revenue growth, and have hired new inspectors, as a result of the increased work load produced by Tegris. They've reported that they're finally getting the repair work that's been needed for years on deficient fire safety systems. Contractors simply want to see the proof first. We can show that.

However, there are individuals that have honest reservations about the concept of a 3rd party ITM compliance tool.

Here are some of the concerns they've shared.

We don’t like things crammed down our throat.

Tegris agrees, and offers resources to support and train every single service provider in a "Tegris Jurisdiction" so they can learn about the new process and provide input about the challenges they're facing. The goal is to enable them to capture the benefits of 100% compliance. The only thing Tegris wants providers to experience is less cost and more revenue.

Change is difficult. I already have processes in place that keep me alive.

Tegris does not want to change the way service providers operate. Most contractors already have effective processes in place that are important to them. THEY might not need help, but the fire marshal DOES. Tegris helps organize the information in a way the fire marshal can quickly process. For service providers that DO need help in improving their business, Tegris offers a larger number of free optional tools as part of its compliance platform, including customer tracking and invoicing, data management, inspection reminders and scheduling, and fully paperless inspection reporting from a web enabled device.

Is there any benefit to this concept?

The fire safety industry has been living with low compliance for so long that the current 20-30% compliance existing in the market feels like 90% to them. The actual compliance percentage shocks everyone, including fire marshals, but there’s no arguing with the facts. In one major jurisdiction, Tegris put every major service provider in the room with the fire marshal and let them figure out what % of systems were currently getting inspected. The group was stunned when they calculated that only 10% of the systems were being regularly inspected.

Their calculations were in line with the data Tegris receives. Some of the Tegris AHJ’s have been using the system for almost two years. In one these jurisdictions, compliance was tracked from 20% at the beginning of the program to almost 85% a year later.

The testimony matches the results too. Tegris and our AHJ partners receive phone calls from service providers who share their stories about repair jobs finally being performed 3 years after a deficiency was discovered, hiring new inspectors just to handle the added workload in a single jurisdiction, and being able to accomplish 2 extra inspections per day. These success stories come straight from Tegris users.

Tegris isn't a 'concept', it's a working model. And the benefits are staggering. Email us to receive a copy of our case study for more information.

Service Providers are working on such small margins that any fee will hurt.

This has everything to do with VALUE. Businesses don’t mind fees and costs if they provide REAL value. The fire safety industry is used to paying government fees that don’t produce obvious value. In fact, most fees are collected into a general fund and distributed per the government's budget. This budget typically has little or no allowance for fire prevention. Therefore, service providers don't benefit from these fees and thus naturally resist them.

The cost to submit a report in Tegris is different. It is not a fee that gets lost in a bureaucratic budget. Instead, the funds collected are used to enforce properties towards 100% compliance. The funds directly pay for tracking properties and sending several non-compliance letters. The VALUE is that the service industry is starting to realize 100% of the potential market.

Any smart business wants control of a cost, and enforcement keeps service providers in business. Tegris enables providers to pay for enforcement which assures it will be there to keep their business thriving despite the economy. Otherwise, as the fire prevention budget decreases, so will enforcement, and in the end their customers will leave too. The fire safety industry can’t wait for budgets to get better, it needs to control it now.

Tegris has a Service Provider Cost Model spreadsheet that can be downloaded for personal use. This spreadsheet routinely shows that users of Tegris will save over 30% on the cost of their inspections. There’s less labor, less hardware, and less software costs. There are more inspections, more repairs, and increased efficiency.

Are my customer lists in jeopardy?

Tegris fully understands this concern. For some service providers the most valuable thing they have is their customer list. Because of this Tegris puts a tremendous amount of focus on securing private information of all users. Access to any specific property requires permission and a code from the property owner. This access is tracked and listed in a complete log called a "Property Journal". Users are able to add and view journal entries based on their specific access type.

A fire marshal has visibility to the public information as well as which providers are working in their jurisdiction. Service providers have visibility to all of their previous work from their own secured account. No provider has a "magic button" that allows them to print off all the properties in a jurisdiction. In addition, Tegris has strict privacy policies in place that restrict the transfer of private information. Violation, or attempted violation, of these policies will result in the loss of access to the platform by the offending user.

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Important Questions About Tegris