New Systems Depot president Scott Hay says distributor is 'on the rise'

HICKORY, N.C.—The Systems Depot in August named Scott Hay president of the distribution company.

Hay said that there are “big players in the market, the ADIs, Tri-Eds and Anixters, and they do a really great job servicing a particular group of clients.” While The Systems Depot may not be a giant player now, but it's a distribution company, Hay said, that's “on the rise. We are up and coming. We want to focus on being a solution provider for customers. … We're here to be a partner with their business.”  

In the industry for 20 years, Hay has served as Protection 1's operations manager for North and South Carolina; director of installation for Iverify, and he was founder and owner of Custom Automation and Security in Dallas, N.C.

That background has provided him with “a feel for what dealers want and how they function, … [insight that will] allow me to make decisions here about the best way to distribute.”

Founded in 1996, in Winter Park, Fla., The Systems Depot has locations in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, West Virginia and California.

Look for the distributor to expand into other areas and aggressively recruit dealers, Hay said. “We have [broader] national aspirations. We want to be the top security distributor in the U.S.,” he said.

The company has new infrastructure to support those goals: It recently completed building a new National Technical Sales Center here in Hickory, and Hay is in the process of staffing the center with sales professionals.

Hay's growth strategy is different from the larger nationals, he said. “We offer 'Depot Express' service from all of our hubs, [delivering] directly to dealers' job sites or offices.”  The strategy is “more grassroots … putting feet on the street [and doing business with] our customers face to face,” he said.