Acadian Monitoring goes mobile

LAFAYETTE, La.—Powered by the launch of a mobile app that helps technicians, Acadian Monitoring Services, based here, saw its dealer base grow substantially in 2013, Kristin Hebert, dealer and vendor relations at the company, told Security Systems News.  

Dealers regard the app as a boon, he said, because it allows technicians to operate more efficiently while doing installations. “It really helped dealers a lot,” Hebert said, “Now their technicians aren't waiting on hold, and it gave them the power to speed up jobs and fit more of them in each day.”

Hebert described the positive impact of the app, which was introduced this past spring, as “instantaneous,” despite the fact that some dealers, prior to the launch, were hesitant about the change.

“We had over 100 users sign on within the first two weeks,” he said. “By the end of the month we had over 200 users sign on.”

The app helped attract some new dealers, Hebert said. In 2013, Acadian added “about 30” dealers to its network—17 of which were outside their strongholds of Louisiana, where the company has two central stations in Lafayette and Baton Rouge, and Chicago, where it has a third. 

Though there was strong organic growth within the existing base, Hebert said the new accounts played a large role in the roughly 10,000 traditional alarm accounts Acadian added this year. The company also added 70,000 PERS accounts in the past year, a space in which Acadian has been active since 1992. 

Acadian has made strides with another mobile-based initiative. The company has successfully sold mobile PERS units, a device that tends to be more broadly marketed than basic PERS units, Hebert said. 

While Hebert acknowledged that mobile PERS units have their share of naysayers, PERS units in general have been a mainstay at Acadian for while—they were the product offering that “got us into the business,” he said. 

Besides developing strong partnerships with LogicMark, a traditional PERS manufacturer, and MobileHelp, a mobile PERS manufacturer, there are several factors, according to Hebert, that make Acadian well-equipped to understand the PERS space—and thrive in it. 

“We have direct integration into our automation software with our PERS products,” Hebert said. “That way we're not counting on a middleman to gather data for us. It's coming directly into our software.”