Bold surpasses recent target for new hires

Bold Technologies, a central station software provider based here, has hired 14 people in the last eight months, company president Chuck Speck told me, more than doubling its standard rate of five or six new employees per year.

“Most of [the employee growth] is spurred by bringing new customers on,” Speck said. Bold added staff to its new fulfillment department, which works on implementation with new customers, he said.

The fulfillment department was started out of continual customer growth, Speck said. “We've put on about 60 new central stations a year … [for] around 8 years. You have to grow your infrastructure to support that kind of growth.”

Bold will soon reach a total of 61 employees, Speck said, already surpassing the company's one-year goal of 60, set in January. Seven of these employees were added in the last five weeks, and only two of the newest 14 hires were replacements, Speck said.

“The industry is changing enough that there are new needs in the industry,” Speck said. He cited cybersecurity and home automation as examples.

“Cybersecurity is now one of our newest forays,” Speck said, mentioning Manitou's integration with WebProtectMe, announced at ISC West 2015. It allows central stations to monitor Internet activity for residential customers, alerting them if users such as children access unauthorized sites or chat rooms with known predators.

The WebProtectMe integration has been submitted for an ESX Innovation Award, Speck said.

Bold addresses home automation through partnering with White Rabbit Electronics, a home automation company founded by Speck and Rod Coles, Bold's CEO. Through integrating Manitou with White Rabbit's Smart Hub, linking the platform with the company's entire line of products. “Bold's integration with White Rabbit is one that we're very excited about,” Speck said.