To say that alarm companies have had to adapt to industry changes over the past decade would be an understatement. From the re-entry of cable and telcos into the market, to the proliferation of do-it-yourself and smart home technology, residential and light commercial security integrators have faced a proverbial sea change in their businesses. Add on top of that the need for companies to have better insights into their accounts today via customer relationship management (CRM) tools, it would seem as if large, national players in the space have never had a greater advantage on their smaller competitors.
Despite this, independent alarm companies remain one of the backbones of the industry. and they are gaining increased access to tools to help them remain competitive in the market. AlarmHive, a developer of business management software for the alarm industry, has entered the CRM market looking to offer an alternative to some of the more established companies, such as WeSuite, Sedona Office, ConnectWise, BidMagic and others who have already trailblazed a path in the market.
AlarmHive, which launched earlier this month, is the brainchild of Richard Brimhall, who helped found Alarm Protection (known today as Alder), and his co-founder Trent Whatcott. Working in the back office operations of Alarm Protection for five years, Brimhall says they were always looking for a good business management software, but for one reason or another, nothing quite checked all of the boxes they were looking for in a single platform, which is why he started working on what would eventually become AlarmHive.
“I had been involved with running operations as an independent dealer – we had 50,000 in-house accounts when I left – but also millions of dollars of contract acquisitions,” Brimhall explains. “(For CRM software), we decided to go a custom route with a SaaS company that was hoping to remarket what we helped build. As we went down that path, the software company realized that it was a little too custom, and they backed out. Around that same time, I transitioned away from Alarm Protection to consult for small businesses.”
Instead of becoming a consultant, the software company Brimhall had been working with during his time at Alarm Protection – Agemni – asked him to join the company as a product owner to help with the development of its security CRM module. He worked with Agemni for the past six years until the company was acquired by Think3, which subsequently dropped the security offering; thus, Brimhall went on his own to launch AlarmHive.
“As I learned software for the past six years and understood what independent dealers really demand from it, I knew there was a better way – not just from the product point of view but also from the people point of view,” Brimhall says.
Putting Alarm Companies First
According to Brimhall, the goal of AlarmHive is to provide a software solution that appeals to the mass majority of independent alarm firms, not one that only bridges the gap for a small percentage of the industry. “The idea was to offer a product with a customizable workflow, that is dynamic, fluid and enables an alarm company to run any part of its business and accommodate any vertical within the industry,” he says.
Whatcott adds that the customer experience part of their platform is a significant added benefit. “We go into this knowing that it is not enough just to make software available but that customers have to be taken care of to remain your clients,” Whatcott says. “We have created a group within our team called ‘Hive Leaders,’ and they only have 50 clients at a time that they are assigned to and once a client is onboarded. It is their job to show them the ropes, make sure they get the training and support they need. They have to truly understand that customer’s businesses and how it can best utilize every part of AlarmHive available.”
Beyond understanding how alarm companies operate, Whatcott describes AlarmHive as a “soup-to-nuts” solution that will provide everything an alarm company would need to run the business.
“The minute they are prospecting and the homeowner or business owner says, ‘Yes, I want an alarm system installed,’ it then takes everything from the CRMs so everyone is caught up on how the customer is doing,” Whatcott explains. “It updates the inventory, and it actually pushes information to the next person that will be using it along the line. If any billing takes place, it notifies the billing department, so nothing slips through the cracks.”
Joel Griffin is the Editor-in-Chief of SecurityInfoWatch.com and a veteran security journalist. You can reach him at [email protected].
