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Major Monitoring delivers on promises

Major Monitoring delivers on promises Under new leadership, the central is relocating, upgrading software

NORTH HOLLYWOOD, Caif.--Todd Lindstrom joined Major Monitoring in February 2005 to lead the company in a new direction in terms of values and business practices. Thanks to the new management team, the third party central advanced to the Bold Technologies' Manitou platform and will relocate to a larger facility in Pasadena, Calif., later this year. "Our strategy is to go local first, go from the inside out," Lindstrom, president and chief executive officer, said. "We have to reestablish our identity as a player in the industry." Lindstrom brought on seasoned personnel to help adjust the company's attitude. In the past, Major Monitoring operators were not trained or certified. "Now our operators are totally trained," Lindstrom said. Together with developing a training manual, the central plans to fold in Central Station Alarm Association Five Diamond Certification as part of training requirements in the next year. Along with the internal upgrade, the central station will have a new location. The central's current facility, while functional, wasn't what the Major Monitoring team hoped for, said Tracy Xie, operations manager. "We want the dealers that we bring in to have the same experience that they have when dealing with high-end clientele," Lindstrom explained. Part of the wow-factor of the new location is that it was once a bank with an 8,000-pound vault door, he added. The larger facility will also accommodate the company's anticipated growth. Lindstrom added that Major Monitoring, "will be able to add quite a few dealers in the near future." The central currently monitors 20,000 accounts, works with more than 100 dealers and targets the small- to medium-sized dealer market. "We feel there is a market for providing an extra level of service that the smaller dealers need in order to compete with the larger players of the market," Lindstrom said. When asked about expansion to other states, Lindstrom said, "Down the road, whether we buy a central station or set up some kind of partnership with somebody, we will have a second central, so that we are completely redundant. I would like to have that somewhere on the East Coast." Keeping in line with Major Monitoring's mission, the company wanted to make sure the upgrade was successful before actively recruiting dealers. "We want to give our dealers an opportunity to still keep getting their revenue stream," Xie said. With the upgrade, dealers have more services, such as web access to view accounts. "The dealer can see right away what has actually happened with the account when they get the signal. A lot of times [dealers] do not have to call us if they can figure out it is a customer's error right away," Brendan Burrows, central station manager said. The system displays a raw data code from the transmitter right on the screen so operators can better help customers, he explained. Currently Major Monitoring trains dealers on what the new system offers. "Once the dealers know the advantages to the system, they can expand their market and ours at the same time," Lindstrom said. "It's really important that our reputation drives our business."

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