Netwatch Group adding 100 new jobs to U.S. operations

WASHINGTON—Netwatch Group, a proactive video monitoring company, was founded by David Walsh and Niall Kelly after a vicious assault to their friend, who received a call that an alarm had gone off at his business when he was not there. The friend drove out to his site, only to be met face to face by an intruder. This incident prompted Walsh and Kelly to figure out a better way to protect people and property.

The company's original tagline was “creating a fearless environment,” a mission that is still a cornerstone of the business. Since that day, the company has grown into a workforce across six U.S. locations — New Jersey, Boston, Atlanta, California, Dallas and Houston. And, the growth hasn't stopped. In fact, earlier in March, Netwatch Group, announced it was expanding operations in the United States, which will add 100 new roles that will need to be filled across the entire operation, including sales, engineering, project management and finance.

“Netwatch has ambitious plans to drive growth and increase market share across its U.S. operations,” David Walsh, CEO, Netwatch Group, told SSN. “These plans are fueled by a strong market demand for its proprietary technology in proactive video monitoring, an industry in its infancy in the U.S. Growth will be achieved through strategic partnerships (PSA, Convergint) and through its own select dealer network (NMC).”

The announcement was made at an Enterprise Ireland business event in which Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar expressed his pleasure in Netwatch's expansion. “Netwatch is an innovation-led company which has illustrated how jobs created in Ireland can in turn lead to job creation in multiple locations across the U.S.,” he said in a press release.

This expansion is being driven by the demand for Netwatch's proprietary technologies that allow real-time intervention during an attempted security breach. When asked what Netwatch is looking for in a future employee, Walsh said: “We look for ambitions people with a positive, can-do attitude, who will go above and beyond the call of duty for customers and colleagues alike. Another key attribute we look for is integrity. We live by the motto 'we never hide' and a key to this is having employees who do the right thing all the time, even when no one is looking.”

As new roles are being filled, Netwatch's in-house R&D team in Ireland is developing new solutions built on Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML). “When the company was founded over 13 years ago, the focus was primarily on the service that we could offer the customer,” Walsh explained. “The ambition was always to have our own in-house R&D department and 10 years ago that dream came to fruition through our Netwatch Visual Labs in which we have built a data bank of knowledge over the years and each day we improve our technology based on that learning. We protect that learning vigorously so we will likely continue to develop in-house; however, we do work with some global partners on certain, unique projects.”

The traditional alarm market is changing, and dealers are constantly seeking ways to differentiate as consumers demand additional services such as video content analytics (VCA), Video Surveillance as a Service (VSaas) and self-monitoring apps, which additionally increase end user retention and dealers' profits. “The channel partners are excited to be able to go to market with a security solution that allows for real-time intervention,” said Walsh. “The technology filters out nuisance alarms and sends an alert into our Communication Hub within seconds of a real event occurring. The Intervention Specialist then goes live to the scene and issues a verbal warning, warding off the would-be offender before any damage is done.”