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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40 Security Dealer & Integrator / www.SecurityInfoWatch.com April 2017 America's Fastest Growing Security Dealers and Systems Integrators ADT in Transition Many a security dealer has found success being a partner with ADT: "e biggest plus, of course, is the name," Gaylord says. However, ADT itself has undergone quite the transformation as of late. Not only did three of its biggest individ- ual dealers merge to create SafeStreets USA in January 2016, ADT itself was acquired by Apollo Global Manage- ment – which brought the recently combined Protection 1 and ASG Secu- rity to the table – just one month later. e combined security company, oper- ating under the ADT name, created a behemoth security company, which also had to go through its own leader- ship transition. Tim Whall, President and CEO of Protection 1, became CEO of the combined business. "We are really encouraged by the focus of the new management at ADT," Gaylord says. "Tim Whall has come in and his focus is on opera- tional excellence and the customer experience – which again, has always been a focus for us." Gaylord adds that Whall has put a large focus on back-end operations and service – things like eliminating caller hold times and expediting ser- vice and maintenance of systems. While the Protection 1/ADT merger has opened up opportunities for ADT on the commercial side, Gaylord says SafeStreets USA will maintain its laser focus on the residential market. "Our focus has been and probably will con- tinue in the near future to be on the residential market." Leveraging Residential Trends e rise of the smart home has paralleled the rise of residential security companies in the Fast50; in fact, 2017 marks the second year in a row with a major home security dealer occupying one of the top two spots (NorthStar Home was the top-ranked company last year). While Gaylord admits the new tech- nologies and capabilities have given residential security sales a boost, he takes a more conservative line when it comes to what is actually driving cus- tomer growth. "I think (home auto- mation and smart home technology) is seen as the 'fun thing' – it is more entertaining, and certainly from a security company standpoint, that stuff has a little more sizzle to it," he says. "But security is still pulling that wagon. "When people come to us, they want home security," Gaylord stresses. "ey ask about remote control of their system, we show them the (ADT) Pulse app – where you can turn the system off and on, view cam- eras, and control locks and thermo- stats. It is all very cool and functional, but again people want security as the basis for everything." Gaylord says that one of the advan- tages of working with ADT is that SafeStreets as a whole can focus more on the sales and back-end services instead of worrying about the latest gadgets coming out of the CES show. "ADT's got their team busy making decisions as to what equipment fits best with their system and how to roll it out, what it should look like, and how they will interact," he says. "at is a huge benefit for us." Back in June of 2014, SafeStreets USA announced it had brought on its 500,000th ADT customer. Gaylord obviously hopes to continue the success of his predecessors at SafeStreets. "I can't lay claim to any magical solution other than waking up every day and working as hard as we can," he says. ■ SafeStreets USA hosts hands-on training at its Garner, N.C., corporate office for members of its dealer program.