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‘Artificial intelligence has been part of our DNA’ – says Becklar’s Bailey

‘Artificial intelligence has been part of our DNA’ – says Becklar’s Bailey Becklar discusses plans following investment

‘Artificial intelligence has been part of our DNA’ – says Becklar’s Bailey

OGDEN, Utah — An investment by Graham Partners has led to a future full of possibility and opportunities, according to Becklar Enterprise Monitoring President Justin Bailey. 

The announcement by Becklar in December 2024 called the investment “a significant step forward” for the 40+-year-old company that offers fire & security detection, critical event monitoring, live video intervention, remote guarding, personal emergency response systems (PERS), and lone-worker safety. 

Security Systems News (SSN) reached out to Bailey to provide some insights on the next steps for Becklar in the wake of this financial boon. 

SSN: Following the investment news, Becklar disclosed that it plans to leverage that income toward expanding its presence in North America and to enter the European markets. Could you provide some more insight on those plans? 

Bailey: Over the last 4 1/2 years, our partnership with BV (Investment Partners) gave us a lot of great opportunities for expansion - acquiring wholesale monitoring partners and providers throughout North America. That really gave us our presence in Canada, and we expect in the future that more opportunities are going to come that will bring value to partners that we currently monitor for that want to enter new markets. That includes those in other markets, like tangential markets in Europe or perhaps the South Pacific where we can offer our platform and services providing best-in-class enterprise monitoring for fire and burglary, personal health and safety, as well as video. 

SSN: Could you tell me in what ways this partnership will enhance Becklar's ability to innovate and develop new use cases within the connected security industry, and does artificial intelligence play a role in that development? 

Bailey: Our new partner, Graham, has a wealth of experience in industrial technology and industrial services. Monitoring is such a key component of many of the new services that are capable due to connected devices and connected processes, and we anticipate the opportunity to work with them and identify new opportunities and things that can and should be monitored. For us, artificial intelligence has been part of our DNA since way back in 2019 when we pioneered using artificial intelligence in the traditional monitoring space. We will continue to drive investment in AI, as well as use the best technology available to both serve our existing use cases and discover and develop new and exciting use cases from the information, the data and the events that we handle each day. 

SSN: The company stated it is going to continue to operate from Utah with your current leadership team, Will there be any changes to Becklar's operational structure at all as a result of this investment? And what are some of the challenges the company is facing because of this transition? 

Bailey: We have a really fantastic leadership team in place today with all the key roles filled and responsibility shared. I think, uniquely, all of our core leadership team lives and works in the same market which is a huge advantage to us. We're able to make sure we're sharing culture, sharing knowledge, sharing information together, and not spreading across the country. The new partnership really allows us to continue on the path that we're on, just a continuation of the trajectory we've been on with some additional resources to make acquisitions, as well as invest in technology and solutions that we would like to do. 

SSN: How do you envision the collaboration with Graham Partners allowing you to identify and pursue new market opportunities or strategic acquisitions in the safety and security sector? 

Bailey: We see their partnership being key in building relationships across industries where they have deep experience through investments, advisors, and partners that they've worked with over the last few decades that are deeply entrenched in areas like retail, industrial technology, and industrial processes. Even in areas like food service and other businesses that are difficult to crack into and bring new solutions. We’ve already started having conversations with key players, those with deep relationships in these markets, and have been a part of solutioning conferences. We're bringing ideas that are traditional in the monitoring industry and conforming them to be of greater benefit to industries that don't have that deep connection to monitoring and the understanding of the professional monitoring services and solutions that are available. 

Bailey concluded the interview by noting Becklar’s pride in being part of the public security services space. 

“We're just thrilled to be in this industry that does good,” he said. 

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