Introducing the Inaugural Winners of SSI’s 2021 Supplier Stellar Service Awards
In a trust-essential industry like security where positive word of mouth is vital, manufacturers, distributors and central stations must have their channel partners’ backs. According to their dealer/integrator customers, see which vendors best exemplify those virtues in SSI’s 2021 Supplier Stellar Service Awards.
It’s often been said that installing security systems dealers and integrators are in the peace of mind business — delivering customers solutions to ease the psychological burden of unprotected people or assets.
That’s all well and good, but then who helps those companies shoulder the load and lessen the mental anguish of operating in a highly competitive field that can be urgent, mission-critical and involve life-and-death consequences? The enterprises that supply, serve and support them, that’s who; the best of which deserve accolades for the essential roles they play.
That’s why this year Security Sales & Integration launched an important new program to recognize the security industry’s top performing products manufacturers, wholesale distributors and third-party central monitoring stations.
SSI’s Supplier Stellar Service Awards salute those companies that set themselves apart from the thousands of competitors to deliver the highest levels of service and support to the installing dealer and integrator community.
With voting tabulated from SSI’s readership, the Stellar Service Awards honors suppliers for outstanding efforts across a range of 28 total support/service areas, with 31 winning companies named. As in the Olympics, for each category achievements were recognized by gold, silver and bronze designations.
The top vote-getters among the manufacturers were Resideo and Alarm.com with eight total “medals,” ADI topped the distributors with six and COPS captured the most among central stations with five.
Disagree with any of the choices? Then be sure to cast your votes next time around during 2022. SSI applauds the roster of 2021 Stellar Service companies, whose quotes and images show and tell what sets them apart from the pack as trustworthy supplier partners.
Manufacturer Categories
Customer Service
GOLD: Openpath
Openpath, a Motorola Solutions company, was founded with the mission to enhance safety and security in the modern workplace while reducing friction for end users. Fueled by the frustration of our own experiences as users — toting around a gaggle of different keycards to access different doors in our work environments — we wanted to transform the access control industry by leveraging Cloud, mobile and edge-computing technologies. This allowed us to constantly focus on the user experience of our customers across every part of the business, from engineering and product design to marketing, sales and customer support. — James Segil, Vice President, Access Control at Motorola Solutions
SILVER: Resideo
BRONZE: Alarm.com
Technical Support
GOLD: Eagle Eye Networks
At Eagle Eye Networks, we are committed to supporting our customers with courteous, professional and personal service. We don’t have call queues or phone trees. When a customer calls they get a live person, a highly trained technician who takes as much time as necessary to resolve problems, answer questions and provide education to our customers. Instead of relying on call scripts, we provide high level and ongoing education for our techs. They’re not only experts on our system, they’re also knowledgeable about networking, and the requirements for thousands of cameras the Eagle Eye Cloud VMS supports. Lastly, we create and maintain a positive culture and supportive environment for our tech support team members. — Dean Drako, CEO & Founder, Eagle Eye Networks
SILVER: Alarm.com
BRONZE: Brivo
Lead Generation
GOLD: Alarm.com
Alarm.com leverages sophisticated targeting to drive quality leads to our partners. Through continuous optimization, we work closely to monitor results and ensure we are targeting prospective customers that have intent to consider and purchase. We tap into user research to inform key decision points along the journey and continuously optimize based on these insights and learnings, providing our partners with more quantity and quality leads. — Kathleen Coney, Director, Consumer & Brand Marketing, Alarm.com
SILVER: Resideo
BRONZE: Nice | HySecurity
Nice | HySecurity distinguishes itself from competitors because we keep customers at the center of everything we do, and that starts at the very beginning when a lead is first received. From there, we rely heavily on the expertise of the amazing incredibly dedicated and talented people on our team who understand that as technology advances, it is the human factor that must remain as a central focus. Our success in lead generation and follow-through is because we do not view our efforts as B2B or B2C, but B2H – Business to Human. — Mark Burson, Vice President of Marketing & Product Management, Nice North America
Sales/Marketing Assistance
GOLD: Resideo
SILVER: Hikvision
Our customers and resellers want dedicated support for their security systems that goes beyond the sale to ensure they implement the most efficient and cost-effective systems to meet their specific needs and budgets. In a challenging global supply chain environment, Hikvision aims to make sure that we deliver solutions that combine the best in performance and value, and that our products are on the shelves at distribution partner locations, readily available for purchase. Hikvision also offers a dedicated technical support hotline, in addition to a growing team of sales representatives, sales engineers and distribution managers across the U.S. that are ready to support customers with product purchase decisions, system design challenges, and installation and troubleshooting. — John Xiao, Vice President Marketing, Hikvision USA
BRONZE: Alarm.com
RMR Support Programs
GOLD: Resideo
SILVER: Alarm.com
BRONZE: ProdataKey
At PDK we are partner fanatics! This partner focus keeps us aligned with what is most valuable. With direct feedback from our partners, we are able to quickly adapt and improve. It’s no secret that RMR is extremely important to the future of the security industry. We recognize the necessity of high value; not just to our partners but to their customers as well. Satisfaction on all levels leads to large RMR streams for our partners that will last for many years to come. — Dallan Labrum, Vice President of Sales & Support, ProdataKey
Warranty Policies
GOLD: Napco
Thank you to Security Sales & Integration’s readers for honoring Napco with these three Stellar Service Awards. For decades, we’ve dedicated our business purely to helping security professionals grow their business, by creating the laborsaving and reliable solutions, dealers, integrators and locksmiths today need to succeed. Because they’re professional-grade and built to last, we can stand proudly behind each one for the duration, and appreciate our expanding dealer base out there, supporting us by continuing to use Napco products — trying and training on our new ones with confidence, everyday. — Judy Jones, Vice President of Marketing, Napco Security Technologies
SILVER: DMP
BRONZE: Hanwha Techwin
Shipping Policies (Non-Warranty Related)
GOLD: DSC/JCI
SILVER: Honeywell Security
Honeywell strives to deliver orders when the customer requests their product. Using our strong executional rigor and systems, we can track, process, ship and deliver orders to our customers on time. We also take a continual improvement approach, meaning that we modify and adapt to conditions in order to drive execution and customer satisfaction. Honeywell is honored to receive this recognition from the 2021 SSI Supplier Stellar Service Awards. — John Palm, Director of Integrated Supply Chain Operations, Honeywell Commercial Security
BRONZE: Axis
Dealer/Integrator Website
GOLD: Resideo
SILVER: DMP
In designing our new site, we established a menu specifically for our dealers. This makes it easy for them to quickly find a variety of resources, including DMP News & Updates, our Resource Library, Contact & Support, Training Opportunities, Marketing Support and other quick links to resources they use often. — Lydia Shaulis, Art Director, DMP
BRONZE: Alarm.com
Training Programs
GOLD: Axis
We know integrators require ongoing training to stay up to date on the latest technology, to remain competitive and open up new business opportunities. Our holistic curriculum focuses on sales & business, system design and installation & configuration. In addition to hands-on classroom training at Axis Experience Centers, our instructor-led online learning and webinars can be taken remotely and are self-paced — accommodating every integrator’s schedule and budget. Axis Communications Academy courses are taught by trainers experienced in our latest technology and real-life use cases. Lastly, our program offers integrators an industry-recognized Axis Certified Professional credential that lets their customers know they’re qualified to work with state-of-the-art network technology. — Bob Voner, Educational Services Manager, Axis Communications
SILVER: Napco
BRONZE: Telguard
As cliché as it might sound, we care about our customers. We care enough about our customers’ time and reputation to implement a dealer support system that allows our customers to reach our experts in under a minute, provides customized in-person and virtual training opportunities, and encourages product education as a tool that empowers integrators to become the experts in the eyes of their customers. — Daniel Rosales, Senior Director, Telguard Technical Services
Dealer Program/Incentives
GOLD: Resideo
For more than 32 years, I have been part of Resideo’s loyalty program: I spent 21 years participating as a dealer and 11 years helping manage it at Honeywell and now Resideo. Since the beginning, I have been proud to be part of a network of professionals that has such a strong commitment to life safety and protecting the people and property in the communities they serve. At its core, the Resideo Premier Dealer Program is about helping our dealers be as successful as possible. We help facilitate networking and sharing of best practices in an open exchange, and create resources they can implement to help them excel in their markets. — Quentin Gunther, Resideo Premier Security Dealer Program Leader
SILVER: Dahua USA
Dahua Technology provides our partners with comprehensive resources that help them gain a competitive advantage, win more business and better serve their customers. Dahua’s All-Star Partner Program has multiple tiers that provide an array of opportunities and support. With dedicated field support, price discounting, extended warranty, demo purchase program, co-marketing opportunities, project registration, training courses/certificates, dedicated tech support lines, lead sharing and our year-end All-star partner summit, partners at all levels enjoy a wide range of benefits and support for their successes. We built this program and we continue to evolve it with a simple motivation: our partners’ success is our success. — Tim Wang, President and CEO, Dahua Technology USA
BRONZE: Eagle Eye Networks
Dealer Protection Policies
GOLD: Brivo
The Supplier Stellar Service awards Brivo received demonstrate our decades-long commitment to delivering the highest caliber of service and support to our channel partner community of security system integrators and installers. As we continue to grow and make strides in our journey as a global smart building company, this recognition is a testament to the fact that the quality of our partner program policies and technical support remain a priority. — Steve Van Till, Brivo Founder and CEO
SILVER: Napco
Thank you to Security Sales & Integration’s readers for honoring Napco with these three Stellar Service Awards. For decades, we’ve dedicated our business purely to helping security professionals grow their business, by creating the laborsaving and reliable solutions, dealers, integrators and locksmiths today need to succeed. Because they’re professional-grade and built to last, we can stand proudly behind each one for the duration, and appreciate our expanding dealer base out there, supporting us by continuing to use Napco products —trying and training on our new ones with confidence, everyday. — Judy Jones, Vice President of Marketing, Napco Security Technologies
BRONZE: Openpath
Trade Show Presence
GOLD: DMP
The DMP tradeshow booth is unique in that we’ve used the iconic design for more than 20 years. To find DMP on the tradeshow floor, dealers and potential customers know they need only to “look for the lasers.” The black towers of the DMP tradeshow booth have evolved slightly with time, but each year, booth designers and sales reps come by to ask us who designed our booth. The “batman city-scape” continues to visually stand up to newer booth designs among various other companies … and we are gratified to see the DMP booth win an award like this. — Mark Hillenburg, Vice President Marketing, DMP
SILVER: Axis
BRONZE: Hanwha Techwin
Social Media Presence
GOLD: Resideo
SILVER: Alarm.com
Many of our competitors talk AT their audience, while we talk TO our audience. We know what they respond to and what they want to see because we let our analytics and insights drive us to create meaningful content. Whether it’s highlighting our employees, giving a behind-the-scenes look at events we host and attend, or helping our audience learn how to use our products with our Tips & Tricks series, we deliver a variety of valuable content through social media. Our competitors seem to churn out the same type of content, with no variety. We choose to operate differently on social. — Kathleen Coney
BRONZE: Eagle Eye Networks
Co-op Advertising Program
GOLD: Resideo
SILVER: Openpath
BRONZE: Alarm.com
Alarm.com’s co-advertising program is a mutually beneficial opportunity for our partners looking to expand their advertising efforts. By offering co-op funding and co-branded assets, our partners can achieve higher ROI on their advertising campaigns via digital, television, radio and search, resulting in more leads and increased sales. — Nicole Brown, Director, Partner Marketing, Alarm.com
Keep reading for the Distributor and Central Station Categories…
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About the Author
Scott Goldfine
Scott Goldfine is the marketing director for Elite Interactive Solutions. He is the former editor-in-chief and associate publisher of Security Sales & Integration. He can be reached at [email protected].
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