Red Hawk, HSM Reveal Marching Orders

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Consolidation has become fast and furious on the installation and monitoring side of the industry. Two of the most prominent transactions have been UTC’s acquisition of Red Hawk and Stanley Works’ purchase of HSM Electronic Protection Services. To see how these companies are being assimilated by their new owners, I spoke with Antonio Cintra, president of Security Services Americas for UTC, and Tim Whall, COO of Stanley Convergent Security Solutions U.S. Systems Integration & Monitoring.

What changes will we see with Red Hawk?
Cintra: We have combined our U.S. integration businesses, including Chubb Security, Initial [Electronics] and Red Hawk, into one brand, one unique company. The name of that brand is Red Hawk. To be a national player of any relevance, I think it is important to have one common brand, one common service philosophy and one common culture.

What markets are you focusing on?
Cintra: Red Hawk has very strong brand recognition, particularly in the financial institution market where we are No. 2 in the United States. We are looking to replicate the success we have in that vertical market to others such as education, hospitality, hospitals, retail and others.

What is your key to success?
Cintra: We believe it is more about service than products. That’s why 30 percent of our business model is RMR. Selling and installing systems and then going away may be OK for most, but we believe what differentiates us is maintaining a high level of service for our customers.

How do you deliver that service level?
Cintra: We are fundamentally changing the way we operate internally. For example, our field personnel have handheld devices that enable us to dispatch service technicians across the U.S. so the most qualified personnel are dispatched for a particular service need. We are focused on maximizing our internal productivity so we can translate that to the customer in the form of optimal pricing and service.

A few months post-sale, what’s new with HSM?
Whall: We have spent several months bringing Stanley’s North American operations together with all the acquisitions they had previously done to combine it with the recent acquisition of HSM into one platform. It’s been a chance to learn about the customer base from both sides and take a look at cross-selling opportunities. From integrated systems and convergent technologies all the way down to basic commercial systems, it has really developed our portfolio of what we can sell.

How far are you into integrating the companies?
Whall: The branches are almost all co-located and we are up to 56 locations as a result of the combined entity. We have one set of leaders, with each of the branches having its own district head. The organizational structure has been taken care of and the processes have been outlined. So we are actually operating as one and we will probably start looking at future acquisitions. Although organic growth had been our focus with HSM, Stanley is very interested in the security space and I think you will see many more acquisitions as we move forward.

What markets are you focusing on?
Whall: We have created a specialized sales team selling into the SCIF [Sensitive Compartmented Information Facilities] market. Certainly national accounts remain a strong market for us. And with Stanley in the fold, we see a couple of new verticals in education and correctional facilities. Our services have diversified quite a bit since we joined up with Stanley.

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About the Author

Scott Goldfine

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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].