Security Partners goes Bold

LANCASTER, Pa.—On the heels of acquiring its second central station in San Antonio, Texas, Security Partners has integrated automation software from Bold Technologies into its central station here. The move further strengthens the company's redundancy capabilities. 

Mike Bodnar, president of Security Partners, expects Bold's Manitou platform to be fully integrated in its San Antonio facility by the end of the year.

Incorporating a new automation platform was always viewed as a phase within the greater project of acquiring a second central, Mike Bodnar, president of Security Partners, told Security Systems News. In January 2013, when it became clear that the acquisition of Response Center USA would be realized, Security Partners gave Bold Technologies the go-ahead to start the process of integrating the software.

The fit was right for the company's current size and its aspirations, Bodnar said. “[It was ]based upon our need to increase our tech capability and the real need, with the acquisition looming, to be able to put in a similar pipeline and automation platform that would achieve our goals and give us the fluidity between both operations.”

 The redundant package from Bold enables the two stations to share alarm flow and show alarm buffers and queues at both locations, Bodnar said, while allowing operators to answer alarms and conduct follow-up calls from both centrals. The Manitou platform “allows us to distribute alarms to the expertise of the staff handling those alarms for us.”

For Security Partners, this is no small capability. The two central stations possess specific characteristics that make each better suited to take certain types of calls. The San Antonio central, for example, features a large bilingual staff whose proficiency in Spanish might be required for certain calls. The Lancaster, Pa.-based central, on the other hand, currently handles the majority of managed video services, and is therefore better equipped to serve dealers in Security Partners' Advanced Services Division, the company's managed video and access control initiative.
       
With the new automation platform, Bodnar said dealers can expect to have better mobile access to their accounts and their technicians in the field, as well as “greater flexibility with what they see on the portals,” which are all customized.

Security Partners took another step to enhance redundancy capabilities by upgrading its phone automation systems, Bodnar said. The company will incorporate servers from Israeli-based Tadiran at both centrals by Jan. 2014.

Bodnar said that dealers, some of whom have used a different automation platform for the past decade, have responded positively to the improvements. “Change is never easy,” Bodnar said. “But by and large, our dealers recognize the value and appreciate the long-term investment being made to make it a more robust and redundant platform.”