InGrid feted in Palm Beach

PALM BEACH, Fla. - Industry veteran Russ Cersosimo and industry newcomer Lou Stilp teamed up at the Feb. 7-9 Barnes Buchanan conference here to tell and show attendees how InGrid Inc.—a new self-installed wireless digital home security system—can make traditional security systems dealers more money. The cost to create your average home security account ranges from $750 to $1,200, Cersosimo said. “The creation cost [estimated at $500 per account] is cut in half with InGrid and the return on investment is significantly higher.” The pre-leveraged ROI per account is around 13-16 percent for a conventional account, he said. By contrast, the pre-leveraged return for InGrid is 23 percent. Cersosimo, chief executive officer of super-regional security company Guardian Protection, is an investor in InGrid, and Guardian Protection is providing monitoring services for InGrid customers. He is not involved in the day-to-operations of InGrid. While Cersosimo gave a presentation about the return on investment of the system, Lou Stilp, chief executive officer of InGrid unpackaged and set up an InGrid system. He then got cell phone numbers from people in the audience (including conference co-host Mike Barnes) to demonstrate how alerts can be sent to the homeowner via text (and email). “We did it for effect,” Cersosimo said. InGrid can be “unpacked, controls set up, the switches powered up and activated and be put online in the time it takes [the average security installer] to take his tools out of his van.” Customers can also opt to install the system themselves.Cersosimo talked about the ease of the InGrid procurement process, saying that all of the customer data is taken at the time the system is ordered, “so when the customer [or installer] activates the panel, that customer information is linked in immediately. When you’re on line, you’re live.” At the event, Stilp announced that two prominent security dealers, Mel Mahler of super-regional ADS and Bruce Scott of Scott Alarms, had signed on to sell InGrid. Cersosimo noted that the penetration of home security systems in this country “teeters around the 20 to 22 percent range.” Part of the reason for the low penetration is because people aren’t that interested in a “home security system.” This is more of a “home management and information system that can tell you in real time about any of the activities in the home … if a liquor cabinet or medicine or gun cabinet is opened … With InGrid, people who have it, love it. People who see it, want it.” SSN