Partnership allows smooth segue from resi to commercial

CRYSTAL LAKE, Ill.—Partnerships between manufacturers and software development companies can mean bigger profit for residential integrators, according to Mike Simon, managing partner for Connected Technologies.

His company's partnership with ELK Products, for more than five years now, has opened the door for resi integrators to expand into the small- and medium-sized business sector and increase RMR, he told Security Systems News.

Simon, a former dealer and former president of Stand Guard, said that because his company's Connect ONE has a single interface, a business owner can use it, on one remote screen, for both his or her home and the enterprise.

Dealers can promote that to migrate into commercial markets, he said.

“It simplifies the whole operation,” he said.

Said Amy Strickland, ELK's marketing design manager, “For a business owner, it's a seamless experience. You can pull all your information up.”

You can see your home security and your business security at the same time, so when you're fulfilling a residential customer's needs, you can also point out that you can cover the customer's business needs as well, she told SSN.

Restaurants, for example, need to monitor food storage temperature, and that's a prime market for resi dealers to move into, she said.

“Through our partnership, Connect ONE adds valuable features to the ELK M1 Security and Automation control, providing integrators with new opportunities in the commercial market. User management for access control, critical temperature monitoring and logging, as well as detailed event notification, including image capture from cameras, are just a few of the options that are in high demand in commercial applications,” she said.

“You don't have to learn two systems,” she said.

Or even learn more than two systems, Simon said.

“ELK dealers are doing high-end homes. The owners often have multiple homes. We can provide the same interface for all locations and their businesses. It's the same code, it saves time and errors,” he said.