AMAG Technology’s Kyle Gordon – ‘It’s a noisy and chaotic industry right now, and it’s really exciting’

YARMOUTH, Maine – A star of the access control sector of the security industry, AMAG Technology is changing and evolving to address the demands of the future. One of those changes has been naming Kyle Gordon the EVP of global sales, marketing, and commercial excellence.

Gordon accepted his new role in August of this year, and Security Systems News (SSN) was able to speak with him about his winding path through the industry and about what comes next for security.

SSN: Mr. Gordon, could you tell us more about yourself and your journey from Stanley Security, to Securitas, to AMAG?

GORDON: I am a self-described security brat having learned the industry from my father. I started in an entry-level role right out of school with Stanley Security in Upstate New York, which is where I am from. I was fortunate enough to work in roles at a regional and national level, as well as in vertical sales and general leadership. At Stanley, I also worked at the parent company, Black and Decker, where I was responsible for business development and sponsorship initiatives, which is where I learned about the marketing side of the business. When Stanley was acquired by Securitas and formed Securitas Technology, I was given the responsibility of leading the sales team for our enterprise and regional channels.

What I am most passionate about is having the opportunity to improve the experience for our customers, who are our channel partners. Having lived on the other side of that, there is a lot of opportunity for us as an organization to do just that.

Earlier this summer I was fortunate to have a conversation with the President of AMAG Technology, David Sullivan about AMAG and learned his vision for the organization and where he wants to take it. I spent a good amount of time with David to learn about his history and experience and exactly how he planned to execute his vision. After many questions, my excitement grew. There are so many things this company does well, and the potential is enormous. I couldn’t help but be excited to be given the opportunity to lead the commercial aspects of this organization, and I am so incredibly happy that I took the opportunity.

SSN: Could you give us your perspective on the security industry, current trends, and maybe which way you see the wind blowing in the future?

GORDON: It’s a noisy and chaotic industry right now, and it’s really exciting. It’s an evolving landscape based on the technology being leveraged and enhancing end-user safety and security programs. One of the things the industry needs to respond to is the ability to be more proactive in our support of our resellers and end users. From a technology standpoint, the idea of leveraging data has been buzz-worthy for a least a decade, but now we are finally starting to see applications where end users are proactively using data to help run their organizations. Making data actionable and monetizing it is on trend.

Looking at the overall security space from an activity standpoint with the mergers and acquisition sales and divestitures, there is a lot of interest in the security space and a lot of companies are making big bets on either entering or claiming their spot. While it is interesting to discuss and easy to get caught up in the activity, and you certainly need to be aware of it, at the same time you need to make sure that you are laser-focused on your own approach, what your strategy is and what you are looking to achieve.

The less sexy but more important discussion is about how you are going to support your customers who are implementing these trends. Yes, you can introduce a new technology, but if your dealer isn’t fully trained on how to support that new technology or isn’t fully trained on how to properly position or support that technology, then that trend fails. Companies need to build exciting strategic support strategies that will allow trends to flourish or thrive.

SSN: What is it about AMAG that attracted you to the role?

GORDON: AMAG Technology is an incredible company with an impressive customer base and really extraordinary solutions. The quality of our solutions is evident by the fact that we support panels that we deployed three decades ago. Making our own hardware that has stood the test of time through multiple iterations of changes speaks to the quality of our organization and the potential for incredible growth. I couldn’t be more excited to be part of AMAG.

Obviously, AMAG is a household brand within our space; but what I didn’t know until I started to have some in-depth conversations was the robustness of our solutions and most importantly the quality of our people. What’s resonated with me and continues to do so from day one is the passion that AMAG employees have for what they do daily. That has stood the test of time.

SSN: You are part of AMAG President David Sullivan’s new leadership team, how is AMAG changing as a company and what is your role in those developments?

GORDON: We are working feverishly every day to be an organization that makes decisions with our customers at the center of those decisions and that is something that David reiterates on a conversation-by-conversation basis. Every conversation I have with David, he brings it back to the customer experience which is what makes this journey most exciting.

My role in this change is to facilitate enhancements to our process and structure and build an elite customer experience. From a commercial standpoint, our responsibility is to create an elite customer experience with our channel partners, end users and consultants. We are working on that every day. We are doing that by having conversations internally, but more importantly externally with our customers on how we can make that better.

SSN: Is there anything we haven’t covered you’d like our readers to hear about?

GORDON: It’s been a really fun journey. There are a ton of challenges that we uncover every day that we get an opportunity to work through and grow from and I am lucky enough to work with a group of people who are incredibly passionate about seeing our company improve and helping our customers succeed. What an awesome privilege for me.