I try to buy local produce as often as possible. Colorado produce is identified by those stickers that are always impossible to peel off but they have one of my favorite logos: “Colorado Proud. Better for you, better for Colorado.” If I could plant a “Colorado Proud” sticker on every Safe Systems window cling and yard sign, I’d do it. Their organic growth over the last 25 years has distinguished them as Colorado’s largest full-service security company, and I’m proud to know them.

I had an email chat with Larry Halpern, founder and owner of Safe Systems earlier this year about his history, his change to Manitou, and his outlook on the industry.

Jennifer Bruce: Tell me a little bit about the history of Safe Systems.

Larry Halpern: Safe Systems is a first generation, family owned company. I started Safe Systems while I was a college student in 1984. We have grown to be Colorado’s premier security company. We have been listed as one of the fastest growing companies in Boulder County as well as being on the SDM 100 list for the past several years. In fact, we have gone from 99th place ten years ago to 72nd place last year. I would love to say that our growth is because I am such a great guy, but it has a lot to do with the fact that we have put together a fantastic team and we have always been focused on providing excellent customer service and having a great central station.

JB: You are a member of SNA. What has this done for your business?
LH: Being part of SNA has been fantastic for our business. It is like skiing: when I ski with excellent skiers, it brings my talent up a notch; it challenges me. Working with some of the best people in the industry has helped me challenge myself and take our company to the next level. The education, sharing of ideas and support for each other that SNA provides just can not be matched. So what has it done for me? I wouldn’t be where I am today without SNA.

JB: What automation solutions have you used?
LH: We started on ABM (DCC) and it served us well in the early days. As the Pick system was dying, we moved to MAS. Due to changes at MAS and the growth we were having we need to make a change, so we chose to move to the Manitou platform with SedonaOffice. The combination gives us the best of both worlds for our business. Manitou allows us opportunities to expand our services to our clients.

JB: Transitioning to a new platform can be an arduous process and you were very bold, pun intended, to make the switch from MASterMind. What was it about Manitou that allowed you to accept the challenge?
LH: As we are growing our business it is important to us to have a platform that allows us to expand our services to our clients. Bold allows us to not only provide better service to our clients but also to increase our Recurring Monthly Revenue (RMR.) On top of the reasons that we were interested in the move was also the fact that several of my friends in SNA recommended the product to us as well.

JB: What has the feedback been from your staff and subscribers?
LH: I believe the staff is happy with the change. As with any change it is always hard to go from what you know to a new system. The conversion took longer than we expected, however, once it was done I think everyone is very happy with the new system. There is even more excitement for what we can now offer our clients.

JB: What is the goal of Safe Systems and where do you plan to take the business?
LH: We have been continuing to grow our RMR. A few years ago we set a goal of doubling our RMR. We are reaching toward our goal by continuing to add new services to both our existing clients and new clients. We are also actively looking for acquisitions in the market.

JB: You are also a SedonaOffice user. What thoughts do you have on the integration with SedonaOffice?
LH: One of the reasons we selected the combination of SedonaOffice and Bold was for the integration. It is important to us that our service department is able to view alarm history while helping a client. At the same time it is important that our central station staff can view service information while working with clients. It is simply a matter of good customer service. Our first goal with the integration was the customer service. We feel that the second goal is to use the integration to make sure that we are billing our clients for all of the services we are providing.

JB: What type of culture do you see forming in the industry as some of the original players begin to hand things over to new leadership?
LH: I used to see myself as the young guy in the industry, but as you can see by the grey hair that is not the case anymore. Over the past several years I have seen a new younger generation come into the industry. It is exciting, I think we looking at things in a new way. We are getting smarter, using more technology. We are using more information to run our companies.

To learn more about Safe Systems, you can visit their (new!) website at www.safe-systems.com, on Twitter,or find them on Facecbook by searching for Safe Systems.