Find news and information for the executive corporate security director, CSO, facility manager and assets protection manager on issues of policy, products, incidents, risk management, threat assessments and preparedness.
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26 Security Dealer & Integrator / www.SecurityInfoWatch.com April 2017 America's Fastest Growing Security Dealers and Systems Integrators 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 % 53% 39% 43% 35% 49% 35% 34% 5% 4% 16% 7% 16% What are the top vertical markets that you serve? Aviation/ Transpor tation Banking/Financial Corporate (any Of fice-based Facilities) Critical Infrastructure (incl. Utilities and Oil & Gas) Education (K-12, College/University) Gaming/Casinos Government/Municipal Healthcare Industrial (Manufacturing, Warehouses, etc.) Residential Retail Other of our industry," says Bert Bongard, president of Low Voltage Contrac- tors (LVC, No. 17), which purchased J.N. Johnson Fire & Safety in May 2016. "Preparation and then timely action is the key to keep your company moving forward." "One of our main competitors was purchased by a larger company that did not compete directly in our mar- ket," says Mark Cernese, EVP and CFO of e Wire Guys LLC (No. 46) of Pennsylvania. "e integration process has distracted them from effectively competing in the area." "M&A; activity – especially for small and midsize businesses – picked up considerably at the end of 2016, which was a great opportunity for us to quickly add quality customers through tuck-in acquisitions in some of our key markets," says Amy Kothari, CEO of Pennsylvania-based My Alarm Cen- ter (No. 33). "In 2016 there was a lot of economic and political uncertainty combined with small business owners feeling the pressure of rapidly evolving smart home technology. ese factors seemed to drive a number of indepen- dent security alarm company owners to pull the trigger and cash out or, in some cases, partner with us to take some risk out of the future." Here are the most active dealer/ integrators in the mergers/acquisi- tions area in the past three years (as reported in our Fast50 surveys): • Convergint Technologies (No. 10): 13 • ADS Security (No. 49): 11 • Select Security (No. 47): 6 • Red Hawk Fire & Security (No. 45): 3 • SafeStreetsUSA (No. 2): 2 • Advanced Cabling Systems (No. 32): 2 e impact of vendor and distributor M&A;/consolidation was also felt among the Fast50 – both positive and nega- tive. "Vendor consolidation and M&A; will benefit us in the long run," says Dan O'Sullivan, CEO of Georgia-based GC&E; Systems Group (No. 5). "It will likely result in improved quality, bet- ter use of evolving technologies, faster response to changing market condi- tions, greater manufacturing capability and availability of product in a shorter period of time." "M&A; makes it hard for us to get leg- acy equipment for customers that can- not afford to purchase an entire system," says Tony Marquis, president and CEO of Louisiana-based Homeland Safety Systems (No. 30). "Many manufactur- ers consider their products end of life during these mergers." "It is interesting when you wake up one morning and realize that two of your vendors – once fierce competitors – are now one and the same," says Brian Valenza, CEO of New York's Virsig LLC (No. 22). "Some complain that mergers remove vendors from the pool, but there are so many vendors that there will always be multiple merchants to make purchases from. Change is inevitable, but dealing with that change is critical." Says David Troost, director of sales for Synergy Florida (No. 29): "We have noticed some vendors purchasing niche, industry-specific products to keep cli- ents from moving purchases away from their catalog/portfolio of brands. As of now we have not been affected, but in the future we could be." The Hunt for Talent Continues It has become a common refrain in our annual Fast50 – recruiting and retention of good employees is a major challenge for the security industry.