Dealer focus is driving force behind unified leadership structure at Netwatch, NMC

LAKE FOREST, Calif.—Netwatch Group CEO Kurt Takahashi says a new streamlined leadership structure that further unifies Netwatch and National Monitoring Center (NMC) will be a win-win for their dealers and partners. 

The announcement came following the departure of NMC co-founder and President Woodie Andrawos, who was named as CEO of ORR Protection on June 16. Takahashi now has direct oversight over Netwatch operations in the U.S. and Ireland, as well as NMC. 

“We worked very closely together, and he was great at running NMC, so I understood what was happening in the business,” Takahashi said of Andrawos. “Now I just have a little bit more active role, and we've got a great management team - many of whom have been with Woodie for 20 years.”  

With this unified structure in place, Takahashi sees improved collaboration and performance across the Netwatch and NMC brands, which he says will lead to improved outcomes for partners and dealers.  

“On the Netwatch side, which is strictly video, we have some really good resources around partner-focused services and customer partner success, and the two businesses share some common dealers, so there are a lot of synergies there,” he noted. “I feel like being able to leverage both sets of resources to really focus on the partners and the dealers and the outcomes for them is really critical.”  

Takahashi’s immediate focus is on changing NMC’s approach to dealers through a new organization within NMC called the Partner Success Group. Similar to what Netwatch has, this group – led by NMC veteran Paula Martinez - will be 100% focused on existing dealers and relationships, resulting in improved communication, resolution and technical support, or what Takahashi refers to as the “blocking and tackling” that must be done daily to enhance the partnership between the contract monitoring side and their dealer community.  

“We're going to build a larger team around that that will help us engage with the partners and improve or just continue to enhance that relationship,” he said.  

The second focus for Takahashi is delivering a very simple approach to video services for the dealer that does not need what he terms “upper-end” proactive video monitoring. As a result, a simpler pricing structure is being developed to make it “super easy” for dealers to adopt these monitoring services, he said.  

With this unified structure in place, Takahashi pointed to Todd Shuff, VP of operations at NMC, and Grant Graham, EVP of operations at Netwatch North America, as the go-to catalysts for growth opportunities.  

“I believe those are two of the best operators in the industry,” he siad. “It just brings immediate comfort to the dealers, knowing that we'll be able to leverage both of their expertise to solve problems for customers quickly, but also help enable them to grow their business.”  

Ultimately, Takahashi foresees this organizational restructuring as a way to deliver exceptional value to dealers and partners.  

“I think being able to leverage both organizations, resources and expertise is going to lend itself to a much-improved experience,” he concluded. “That's my goal - to make these changes so that they see that this is a really good thing for them.”