HSM's buy increases presence

JUPITER, Fla.--HSM continued along its path to grow its national accounts business--purchasing National Alarm Pro in late July, which added retail players such as J.Crew, The Sports Authority and Bed, Bath and Beyond to its list of clients. The purchase of National Alarm Pro, based in Trumbell, Conn., is another move in HSM's goal to build its national accounts--businesses with more than 150 locations--since GTCR Golder Rauner purchased it from Honeywell in June 2004. Tim Whall, president and chief executive officer of HSM, which provides security to more than 175,000 customers, said the National Alarm Pro deal fit into the organization's goals. "We've focused on national accounts since we got started here and, frankly, the model these guys were working on is similar to what we have," Whall said. Gregg Oxfeld, one of the founders of National Alarm Pro along with Ray Esposito, said HSM's focus on quality service is what makes the two firms compatible. "It's a great opportunity for us because HSM is on the cutting edge and on the forefront of being the number one provider of quality in service in the United States," Oxfeld said. Although most operations will stay the same within the company, the one thing that will change is the way National Alarm Pro services accounts. Before the deal, it used a preferred vendor base of approximately 500 independent alarm companies to service locations. Now, all of that will be handled by HSM. "There is an advantage to having a HSM uniformed technician in a clean HSM vehicle service accounts," Oxfeld said. National Alarm Pro will be transitioned to the HSM name over time, Oxfeld said. He also said he and Esposito will continue on with the company in undetermined roles. National accounts will continue to be a driver for the company, but HSM is also actively focusing on other business segments--it purchased the approximately 8,000 commercial and residential accounts of Sylvester's Security Alarms in July (see related story on page XX.) "With our national accounts, we want to be the provider of choice," Whall said. "To do that, we are gearing our services toward national accounts buyers." Such services HSM is turning toward these clients include online data management system, eDataManager and the soon-to-be-released eVideoManager, which allows clients to view video over the Internet. Additonally, HSM will introduce its National Account Performance Scorecard this fall, which rates the company's performance on five customer interactions. "We're just trying to extend our services to meet what the buyer is asking for," Whall said. "We are giving them information to manage their businesses." The first year of being an independent entity centered on removing HSM from underneath the Honeywell umbrella physically, which included relocating 31 branches to move away from its former parent company. "We have accomplished everything we needed to be 100 percent independent," Whall said. "Now that we have accomplished that, we will look towards acquisitions in the second year, as well as organic growth to move the company forward."