West Palm Beach office full in features, mirrors other locations

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - To provide in-house training to its customers and quicker response on service calls, systems integrator Security One Systems relocated to a new office here that is double in size and features a training lab. The location, a 3,000-square-foot facility, of which 1,000 square feet is to warehouse products, now mirrors that of Security One’s other locations in Florida in terms of size and features. It also enabled the company to bring its sales force, which previously worked from home offices, in-house. “It certainly allows our employees a better place to work out of,” said Michael Walton, regional operations manager for Security One, based in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. “We have an office now that’s more in line with our office in the state. We’re able to stock more items, the training facility is enhanced and we can show existing customers products.” The training lab addition allows Security One to provide its end-user customers with “lunch and learn” seminars on topics such as digital video recording or access control. Previously, training for both employees and customers was done from other locations, such as the company’s headquarters or in Orlando, Fla. A few months after Security One moved to a larger office here, the company has nearly doubled its staff to 11 people to keep up with growth in the market. It first opened an office in West Palm Beach approximately three years ago as the company began opening regional offices to better serve Broward, Dade and West Palm Beach counties. Since then Security One has seen its customer base in West Palm Beach double and its sales increase by 30 to 40 percent, according to Steve Crespo, vice president of sales for Security One Systems. As part of the staff addition in West Palm Beach, the systems integrator added a systems engineer who now works from that office on technical and large security project designs. “In the past the guys would travel to headquarters to get together in the engineering department. Now, they’re able to do that in our office in West Palm Beach,” said Crespo. Both Crespo and Walton said the biggest benefit of the expanded office is its location. “It’s centrally located for the Greater Palm Beach County market,” said Crespo. “It’s easily accessible to all major highways so we can get to clients in a timely manner.” Overall the company has installed more than 10,000 commercial security systems in its 13-year history. The company does not service the residential market.