Tyco Global Accounts: Leveraging cooperation for customers

BOCA RATON, Fla.—Since its inception five years ago, Tyco Integrated Global Accounts has morphed from a sales-focused organization to a program that offers “complete operational management,” says Renae Leary, senior director, global accounts.
 


And how will the pending split between ADT and Tyco Integrated Security affect this group? Leary said her group will not be affected by that split. However, the creation of Tyco Integrated Security brought together the security and fire (SimplexGrinnell) businesses for the first time, and that's nothing but good news for global customers.
 


“We're one organization, one enterprise,” she said. "The group has been charged to operate boundary-less to do the best for the customer. … That's a new message.”
 
Ultimately there will be even more coordination between fire and security for global account customers, Leary said. “We'll leverage relationships, [more] technology, and our internal systems,” she said. “It takes a lot of coordinating, but we're well down that track.”
 


From a procurement and services perspective, the combination is attractive to end users, she said.
 
During the past several years, advancements in IP security technology have given global organizations the opportunity to standardize access control and video systems across a global enterprise.
 
“We manage the whole life cycle [of the security and fire operation] for the customer,” Leary said. “We help them establish global security standards, develop work plans.”

Work plans encompass planning for all unique requirements in different locations, so for example, an installation in France may mandate certain protocols in accordance with national privacy laws. “We get the documentation so we can roll it out globally."


Leary said the “heart of the program” is the Tyco Global Center of Excellence. With personnel fluent in 14 languages, “master-qualified engineers who know multiple systems [and are certified] at the highest level … [the staff at the center] create standards for customers and review and manage the design process,” she said.



The team, which includes nearly 50 full-time dedicated staff people as well as employees in countries around the world, manages the security systems while they're being designed and installed and for the long term.
 
New offerings for end users include a Global Service Platform that allows Tyco to support customers from a central point. “They can log in to a service portal or call in a service request from anywhere in the world,” Leary said.

Tyco is also now offering security audits to global account customers, which are conducted remotely at a predetermined frequency to ensure that all devices are functioning properly. “And again, if something's not working or a camera is out of focus … it's taken care of,” she said. Tyco will also program and commission all systems from the Center of Excellence.
 
Many more features will be added to the global security platform, Leary said. These are the kinds of features that security directors and their procurement folks appreciate, she added. It gives them “more control, standardization, reduces the number of suppliers … and as a result, lots of cost savings.”