ADT Commercial Leans Into Experience to Achieve Excellence
Honoring its venerable roots to inform its future helped ADT Commercial earn an SSI 2021 Installer of the Year runner-up nod.
The arc of ADT’s historical timeline is nothing short of venerable. The company has been serving a varied clientele for more than 146 years. After splitting from its parent company in 2012, ADT (NYSE: ADT) emerged as a separate company initially focused on home and small business security.
In 2016, ADT merged with Protection 1, building upon its commercial capabilities and customer-focused approach with more than 25 strategic acquisitions. The eventual forming of ADT Commercial would be founded on decades of experience serving commercial and national account clients.
Dan Bresingham, executive vice president of ADT Commercial, explains as the company reflects on the past year and toward its future, the integrator will continue to invest in and explore ways in which to build upon its service and more completely respond to the security needs of customers.
“This has taken form in our M&A strategy, as we aim to grow our geographic footprint and strengthen our capacity to serve mid-market, national and large-scale commercial customers across the country,” he continues.
As customer needs have continued to evolve in response to the coronavirus pandemic, ADT Commercial has been prepared to pivot to the technologies end users are seeking out to protect their businesses and offer up its integration expertise to apply them seamlessly.
“We recently dove into the Electronic Article Surveillance market through our strategic alliance with WG Security Products, offering retailers with another critical option in EAS providers,” says Bresingham. “Our highly experienced, dedicated EAS team is focused on making a true impact on retailers’ loss prevention programs and continuing to step up as a premier, holistic retail security provider in the industry.”
Bresingham also invokes a dedication to remaining on the cutting edge of the industry as leaders focused on emerging technologies that respond to the pulse of the industry. This has included the integrator’s investment in and research into Percepta’s ethical AI technology, which aims to respond to emerging concerns surrounding the use of facial recognition technologies and is designed to anonymize individuals’ demographic features — including race, gender and age — by analyzing existing security camera feeds to detect shoplifting incidents in real-time.
On top of identifying new technologies to solve new challenges, the integrator has introduced new recruiting programs to address the industry talent shortage. Consistently identifying ways in which ADT Commercial can appeal to and hire top-level talent, provide them with premier training opportunities and retain them as lifelong employees for the organization is absolutely critical to its success, Bresingham explains.
That organizational effort has included the formation of a “Technician Career Path” program, which clearly lays out a titling structure, showing the proficiencies necessary — whether through the achievement of specific certifications or number of years of experience — to reach different title levels.
They’re also given opportunities to work towards specialization status in certain areas and thereby engage with other segments of our business, including commercial and enterprise installation and service, system testing and inspection, sprinkler installation and service, and banking installation and service.
The integrator also offers a comprehensive training and development program for all new hires, technician-specific courses, and opportunities for continued education for employees across the organization that encourage a culture of growth and upward mobility from the onset.
Beyond technician training, Michael Keen, vice president, product & talent, explains the company provides comprehensive continued development and educational opportunities for all employees and especially for those employees who are customer-facing.
“[There is also] a premium emphasis on industry-validated accomplishments by directly tying certain achievements to align with promoted job titles and benefits,” Keen adds. “We’ve found that this serves to encourage employees to expand their knowledge base and skillsets, showing them a path toward a successful, sustainable career within our organization.”
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