AdaptToSolve (ATS)
Increased sales by 50%
50% of leads from Verkada reps
60 employees
AdaptToSolve (ATS) is a leading security systems integrator in LaGrange, Georgia. The business was founded in 2005 by Doyle Hagler, who still oversees the day-to-day operations as its President. Having grown from just a few employees, ATS has more than 60 staff on its books. It serves the whole state of Georgia with an extensive range of products, including access control, video surveillance, intrusion detection, and intercoms.
Doyle reveals how partnering with Verkada has significantly improved its sales function and led to a change from a maintenance-based to a growth-based model.
The Challenge
Doyle admits that ATS has not been a trail-blazer when adopting cutting-edge technology. Instead, the company has developed a reputation for first-class customer service and a solid product line that has seen customers come back year after year.
That led to reluctance from some of his client base to embrace cloud-based systems. Change can be difficult, a challenge exacerbated by the maintenance-based model that vendors and customers have become accustomed to.
Doyle says he was initially hesitant when he first opened talks with Verkada. “I’ve been in the business for a long time and heard from many businesses claiming they had developed solutions like Verkada. But once we demoed the product and got some hands-on experience, we were excited because it was capable of fulfilling all of the things we’d been told about.”
Verkada’s Solution
“Verkada’s products provide a bridge for customers, so they get the best of both worlds.”
More than satisfied that Verkada could do what others could not, Doyle set about getting the products in front of customers, convinced it would alleviate any concerns they might have over implementing new technology.
“There certainly was some reluctance to move to cloud-based systems,” he says. “But Verkada is a great bridge and provides the best of both worlds because video is stored locally and in the cloud. So even if there’s a network issue, you know your recording is safe.
“Customers like having the information locally while sharing and accessing it from the cloud.”
The Results
“We’ve been with Verkada for 18 months and around 50% of our leads come from their reps”
As a relatively small business, a great part of the appeal of developing a partnership with Verkada was leveraging its vast sales expertise. While the relationship is less than two years old, ATS has seen its sales funnel increase significantly from Verkada leads.
“We’re not a business with a huge workforce,” says Doyle. “Since the Verkada team has joined us, we’ve seen much more activity and fantastic quality prospects. Around 50% of our leads come from Verkada reps.
“We have doubled our business since we partnered with Verkada and they are a large part of how we’ve managed to achieve that. Verkada helps feed the sales pipeline because they have great sales reps and support.”
Total Cost of Ownership
As Doyle alluded previously, many ATS customers had grown used to a maintenance-based relationship. But the package offered by Verkada is shifting attitudes and making budgeting a lot easier over the lifetime of products.
“With the traditional buying methods, it can be challenging to predict downstream costs. With the Verkada suite of products, customers can see all their licensing costs up front and have a long-term hardware warranty.
“Verkada might cost a little bit more upfront, but your downstream costs will be reduced, and you know you’re getting a quality product. It’s so valuable for our customers to accurately predict the Total Cost of Ownership when they buy Verkada.”
Building Trust
Nothing builds trust with a customer base like delivering quality products they can trust. Doyle says the feedback from Verkada customers has been overwhelmingly positive.
“Our customers’ IT teams like the product because it doesn’t have a huge footprint that they must constantly monitor. And then the customers using the product each day love the ease of access and distribution the platform allows them.
“We live in a more integrated world, and people need access to their systems and the ability to share data wherever they are. The Verkada solution is extremely well tailored for that.”
Verkada has also been warmly received at ATS HQ. “Our technicians love Verkada because it is so easy to install. And because it is reliable, we’ve had very few maintenance calls that we’ve had to respond to. It’s been great from a maintenance perspective.”
Spirit of continuous innovation
A vital component of the Verkada platform is the data and analytics it generates for users. Today, data is the lifeblood of any business; used correctly, data can be used to understand how to run a company more efficiently and profitably.
“We’ve been impressed with the analytics,” says Doyle. “Again, I’ve had many companies tell me about their analytics, but Verkada’s analytics are the best we've seen in the market.”
He has also been encouraged by conversations with some of Verkada’s leadership team and the commitment to ongoing innovation.
“Verkada has a high-level management team, but they will answer questions and are receptive to feedback. I spoke to people within product development about multi-sensor cameras because we see much demand for that, and their answer was, ‘We see that too, and we’re working on it.
“It’s great to know that they're continually working on new products for the pipeline.
Scaling together
Having established ATS 17 years ago, Doyle has seen the business grow substantially. His role has changed from being out in the field to focusing on the company's operational and financial success. He says the partnership with Verkada has made that endeavor an easier one.
“I have to worry about the money and the books. Working alongside a business like Verkada that is small enough and young enough to understand where you are when you’re a smaller company is a real positive for us and exciting for me.
“Verkada has grown from a small company as well, so it understands the issues smaller businesses – which many integrators are – have to deal with.”
Looking Ahead
Doyle says he has been impressed with the ease of communication with his Verkada counterparts and their openness to feedback and suggestions.
“We’re excited to continue to grow the company. The executive team is really open and interested in our ideas. They understand our business and ask us, ‘What can we do to help your business grow.’ They’re responsive and have insightful suggestions for us.
“We’ve been able to double sales with the help of Verkada, and we expect revenue growth to continue. We’ve been so impressed with how enthusiastic the people at Verkada are. They’re on the front foot and have so many exciting things happening.”