Pro One, BellSouth expand alliance

LAWRENCE, Kan.--John Pumpelly, Protection One's newly appointed vice president of alliance relationships, wasted little time in forging an expanded relationship between his former employer BellSouth and new boss, Protection One. In October, Protection One announced that BellSouth will market its security services in the portfolio of services Pro One offers homeowners in planned communities. This new arrangement expands upon a five-year-old relationship that began in 2001, when the two companies formed BellSouth Security Services from Protection One, which provides security services in the BellSouth region. "In the [new construction] business, it's highly competitive. The goal is to be considered for every job. [This agreement] helps us get that," Pumpelly said. "And, BellSouth gets a consistent product that they know and trust." Todd Smith, BellSouth spokesman, said the company one year ago launched a new business unit focused on marketing and selling to planned communities called BellSouth Community Technologies. The group has its own sales force and marketing organization and is headed by Phil Jacobs, president of Community Technologies. BellSouth found through its growing real estate development business in the southeast that the decision about who would provide certain services was decided while a community was still in the development stage. The developer typically buys "services and wraps in all the providers as a package to residents or, for rental tenants, in homeowner's fees," Smith explained. BellSouth realized, Smith said, that security services would complement its core voice, high speed Internet and video offerings. Pumpelly called the Pro One-BellSouth partnership a "living and breathing entity" and "the most successful marketing relationship in the security industry and the only one with a Bell operating company."