The team at Acadian Total Security is no stranger to winning Installer of the Year honors in SSI’s Sales and Marketing (SAMMY) Awards, racking up four of them in the past eight years, but that doesn’t mean they’re any less appreciative or eager to add another one.
Acadian was named SAMMY Installer of the Year in 2019 (Midsize Company), 2021 (Large Company), 2022 and for the fourth time this year, an honor Acadian Total Security vice president Brandon Niles doesn’t take for granted or take lightly.
“This is one of the biggest things that our team puts a lot of energy into every year,” he says. “We love just being nominated. There are so many great companies that are affiliated with this program, with this award. So, to win it four times in eight years is pretty amazing, to be quite honest.”
“We take a lot of pride in winning this award. When we don’t win, we get very disappointed. I guess it’s not reasonable to expect to win every year, but our team puts so much work in and we care so much about what we do, that maybe it’s not unreasonable to think we should win every year,” says Niles.
Juggling Different Models
Niles describes Lafayette, La.-based Acadian Total Security as “a little bit of a hybrid company,” noting it takes on both large projects that span the entire country and regional alarm installations more commonly associated with small security integrators.
Acadian Total Security is a division of Acadian Ambulance Service, which marked its 50th anniversary in 2021. They started primarily with medical alert-related installations, expanded into monitoring and then moved into retail security in 2014. The company also has a fleet tracking division.
“We definitely have our hands in a lot of different aspects of the physical security industry,” says Niles, noting the company has shifted from about 70 percent residential work five years ago to closer to a 50-50 residential/commercial split these days.
“It’s a lot of work, to be quite honest with you,” says Niles. “I don’t know that we quite have it completely figured out yet, but we are continually evolving.”
Despite its track record of racking up hardware, Acadian knows there is always room for improvement. The company is in the process of unifying its support team and technicians, a strategic move that brings together the best elements of its previous structure.
Niles notes that this year-long transition includes comprehensive training to establish a tiered setup, resulting in enhanced service for Acadian clients.
By breaking down internal silos, the company is unlocking greater collaborative efficiency and intentionally building clearer, more robust career growth pathways to retain and empower its top talent.
What Makes Acadian Total Security Stand Out?
As much of a cliché as it might be to say Acadian Total Security stands out from the crowd because of its culture, Niles truly believes that is the company’s differentiator.
“When evaluating our team, we look closely at our core values and have hired exceptionally high-caliber people,” he says. “I think the fact that we are owned by Acadian Ambulance Service, there’s a mindset and a mission that comes with being affiliated with them that’s really been pushed down to our company.”
“When you look at what we do differently, the professionalism and the number of checks and balances that we build into everything we do, we go above and beyond to make sure we’re delivering a great customer experience and keeping them ultimately safe with whatever product they’re choosing from us,” says Niles.
Niles credits some of Acadian Total Security’s success with its willingness to listen to some of the people and companies that have paved the way for them in the security industry. That includes membership in both the Electronic Security Association and The Monitoring Association, he says.
“Much of our success comes from our willingness to listen and learn from other companies,” says Niles.
Why Employee Ownership Matters
Acadian Total Security recently became 100 percent employee-owned, another way in which it distinguishes itself from other security industry peers and competitors. That extra level of connection shows up in many ways, says Niles.
“You definitely see a lot of that, where you’re getting ideas from the front line a little bit more freely than what you probably would at other companies because they’re invested in what they’re doing,” he says.
Niles also notes that Acadian employees, who become fully vested as owners at their six-year anniversary, are significantly less likely to look for employment elsewhere.
“We all know in the security industry, finding experienced techs and sales reps is incredibly difficult to do,” he says. But being able to keep those experienced employees allows us to continue to really separate ourselves from some of the competitors.”
Acadian is still looking for new and unique ways to ensure younger, less experienced employees stick around during those first six years, says Niles. Some recent initiatives include a training program and promotional track that has them looking forward.
“We focus on helping employees hone their skills and identifying candidates who match our company culture from the start—a lesson we’ve learned the hard way over the last decade,” says Niles.
Acadian has continued to tweak its hiring process to ensure the employees it brings in are fits for the company culture, but obviously that process isn’t foolproof, says Niles.
“There’s a lot of people that can perform well in an interview, but you get them in and they don’t necessarily fit those core values or fit your corporate culture,” he says. “And as you know, as much as they bring to the table, if they’re creating other issues, you have to be willing to step away from some of that talent.”
“We’ve sort of honed in on what that employee profile looks like from a hiring perspective and taken some other steps to make that experience a little bit better for them,” says Niles.
Embracing New Technology
Acadian Total Security is “sometimes too fast” in embracing new technology, says Niles, an attribute company leadership continues to tweak. They don’t want to become passive or turn into followers, but they need to be more deliberate at times, he says.
“The hardest part is ensuring you can provide the same customer experience with newer technology when everyone learns and trains differently,” says Niles. “Getting your employees to that same level is a very, very time-intensive process.”
“There seems like there’s been so much new technology coming into the security space, especially the last three to five years, that you could almost be training non-stop to the point where they’re not in the field producing,” he says.
One of the biggest challenges is “trying to find that right technology for what we’re trying to do without taking on too much,” says Niles, pointing the finger at himself for sometimes being a bit too eager to implement the newest technology at Acadian.
“I get a little excited when I find something and with AI this, AI that, AI everywhere, it’s easy to find the new shiny object and want to chase that,” he says. “But we’ve created a process in our leadership team where we vet new products out pretty thoroughly.”
“It came from me probably pushing a little too hard in past experiences and the team learning from that and holding me more accountable to making sure we’re being smart about what we’re bringing to the table,” says Niles.
Acadian Total Security typically looks for new products in the third quarter of the year, implements them in the fourth quarter and rolls them out by the first quarter, he says.
“We don’t want it to be where we’re always implementing new technology all year-round,” says Niles.
Acadian Total Security vice president Brandon Niles has responded to employee feedback by making sure to be more visible. (Photo courtesy of Acadian Total Security)
Culture Reigns Supreme at Acadian Total Security
Acadian Total Security boasts an employee count of about 200 people, a small slice of its parent company’s 6,000 head count.
“We get the resources of being part of a big company but because we’re still sort of small or mid-sized, we can still be nimble and cut through the red tape to deliver for our customer,” says Niles.
“We always want to maintain this tight-knit family type of culture, but as you get bigger, as you expand into multiple markets, ensuring that you can do that at those branch levels becomes a lot more difficult to do,” he says. “We do our best and I think we do a pretty good job.”
Acadian Total Security has an employee engagement committee that hosts bonding events and also sends out pulse surveys to employees every two weeks, says Niles. The survey talks about employee engagement and satisfaction and leaves room for comments.
“We consistently hear from about 30 to 35 percent of our employees,” says Niles. “While you mostly hear from those who are either highly satisfied or deeply frustrated, balancing that feedback is challenging. Ultimately, gathering more input has been an excellent process for us.”
Acadian also hosts quarterly town hall meetings to go with the company’s quarterly updates, says Niles, and that’s been generating “a lot of great feedback.
“We hear that they want to maintain a family-oriented culture while understanding that things must change,” he says. “We are trying to find innovative ways to balance both needs.”
“I wish I could tell you we had the secret sauce for that right now,” says Niles. I think that’s just going to be one of those things that’s constantly evolving as we continue to grow, and our employment force continues to grow with it.”
Among the things Niles has learned from the surveys and town halls is that it was time to replace employees’ chairs.
“You hear from four or five people and you realize, ‘okay, we need to go get new chairs,’” he says with a laugh. “That was a nice win.”
Some employees also mentioned that they weren’t seeing the leadership team enough so Niles and other Acadian executives have made a point to walk around their offices more often and talk to employees more regularly.
“We’ve made a more of a conscious effort,” says Niles, noting he sets aside 30 minutes a day to call remote employees or walking around the office “having fun conversations” with those who are in the office.
To improve employee engagement, Acadian introduced small perks like a break room cornhole set, weekly coffee outings for small groups, and occasional catered lunches. “Greater availability, frequent conversation, and connecting with our employees on a personal level help bridge the gap,” Niles says.
The Perfect Acadian Employee
Acadian Total Security has added a cultural piece to its interview guides, says Niles, in the hopes of making it easier to find the right fit for its job openings more quickly and more consistently.
“It differs depending on the position, but for the most part, they are centered around identifying this person’s level of caring,” he says. “With everything we do, we’re caring about people at the end of the day.”
“You might be a great salesperson, but if you don’t care about what we deliver and how it benefits the client, then A, I don’t know if you can truly be great at sales, and B, you’re just not a fit for our mission,” says Niles.
“I want to hire the smartest and most talented people, but ultimately, the most important qualities are a true passion for the work and an ability to collaborate,” he says. “We cannot win on an individual level; we must win as a team and maintaining that dynamic is challenging.” Niles says he can usually tell pretty quickly if a new employee isn’t the right fit.
“I generally think you can identify within the first week,” he says.
What’s Next for Acadian Total Security?
Aside from clearing room on the mantel for another SAMMY Award as Installer of the Year, what else can we expect from Acadian Total Security in the future? Niles offers a cagey answer to that one to avoid giving too much of a heads-up to the competition.
“I think it’s safe to say CCTV has been booming here the last couple of years,” he says. “We’ve got a very large presence in the video monitoring space and it’s really been one of our main ways of driving a lot of RMR.”
Another area where you can expect Acadian to make inroads is with artificial intelligence-related security solutions, says Niles.
“A system that keeps you safe and secure at night but helps you run your business better during the day is a no-brainer when you’re selling it to a client based on the ROI side,” he says.
“I think we’re just scratching the surface with both,” says Niles. “We have great systems for keeping you secure but upcoming advancements will drastically improve business, safety and operational analytics to help owners run their businesses more effectively.
“Everything is very centered around cameras and analytics and what that can drive,” he says.
Finding the Right Partners
As with most awards, Acadian Total Security didn’t earn the 2026 Installer of the Year award without some help, of course.
Jac Schmidt, the district manager at Wesco International, has seen the distributor’s relationship with Acadian Total Security grow over more than 15 years as a client, dating back well before Wesco acquired Anixter in 2020.
“They are just an amazing organization to work with because, even prior to Brandon, everything they based their business on was ethics, morals and fairness,” says Schmidt.
“It made it real simple for us to conduct business with them because we had the same concept, the same philosophy,” he says.
Wesco’s relationship with Acadian Total Security goes beyond being a business “alliance,” says Schmidt.
“We actually want to be of value to them because we value their business,” he says. “We try to bring them opportunities. We try to help them be more profitable in other ways where we can help.”
Wesco has helped Acadian continue to achieve its vision of growing nationally over the years by bringing new product sets to them that appeal to enterprise customers, says Schmidt.
“They already had the vision of expanding,” he says. “We just partnered with them to help that vision come to reality.”
