VTI Security expands in Omaha

BURNSVILLE, Minn.—VTI Security, a national commercial integrator based here, is expanding its presence in Omaha, Neb., moving to a larger office and increasing its employee count in the area.

VTI first opened an office in Omaha in 2015, with two employees and an 800 square foot space. Now, the company has about 10 employees in the area and is moving to a recently remodeled 5,000 square-foot facility. The company has been building out the space since late 2016 and signed the lease on the space Oct. 1 this year.

“We've had steady and consistent growth. … In the last roughly five years, we've grown from around $30 million to exceeding $60 million [in annual revenues]. At the same time—doubled the size of our employee population,” Bryan Viau, VTI's chief operating officer, told Security Systems News.

In addition to Omaha, the company has branch offices in Milwaukee; Denver; Colorado Springs, Colo.; Cheyenne, Wy.; Amarillo, Texas; and Dallas. VTI has about 220 total employees across its locations, with the majority based in Minnesota and Denver, Viau said.

The new space in Omaha has “a full warehouse, elevated dock for receiving large items, a lab for the set-up and deployment of test and beta equipment—or a place for our technicians to settle in, a full office space and then a training center—what we call a learning center,” Viau said.

The increased space also shows VTI's commitment to the Omaha market—to both its customers and its employees, Viau said. The build-out “will help our branding and reputation. I think that helps us when people are saying, 'I may have never heard of VTI in Omaha before—tell me about them.'”

The new learning center in Omaha has space for 35 people, he noted, which can be used for manufacturer presentations or VTI University, an educational program for customers.

“We remodeled the Minnesota office a little over two years ago and built a similar training/learning center that seats 85 and two years before that we remodeled our Colorado office [in Denver], and built a learning/training center that seats 50,” Viau said.

VTI aims to include local flavor in the design of each office, such as architecture, while also keeping some elements consistent across the company's branches, including furniture, Viau said.

Viau added that VTI Security will be focused on expanding its presence in the Dallas market. “Our focus [for] the remainder of this year and next year is really to try to introduce ourselves to a broader group of potential customers and introduce them to VTI,” he said.