Security Sales July 2021 - 33

ou know that studious kid who
aced everything and grew up to
be a Silicon Valley star or surgeon,
that perfectly composed
girl who became homecoming queen and then
a public figure, or that guy who was class president
or captain of the football team and then
a wealthy humanitarian? Whichever way you
spin those archetypes, most everyone admired
them, found them inspiring and aspired to be
more like them. A strong case could be made
that the security alarm industry's version of that
is embodied by Acadian Total Security (ATS).
Founded in Louisiana in 2014 as a division of
Y
Acadian Ambulance Service, ATS' 177 employees
presently serve more than 35,000 customers
through three branches and three monitoring
centers. Having been spun off by an emergency
services business, virtues such as prioritizing
safety, customer care, responsiveness and efficiency
are core elements of the firm's DNA.
Add outstanding leadership, business sense and
community spirit to that and you have one of
the industry's finest operations.
Here are some of ATS' meaningful metrics:
▶ 50% EBITDA growth, 2019-2020 Single-digit
attrition and creation multiple
▶ Added 3,200+ accounts in 2020
▶ Six-year average employee tenure, 11.8 for
managers
▶ Techs averaged 88% on-time arrival
▶ Monitoring centers handled 934,500+
alarm signals
▶ A+ BBB rating, 4.9 stars on Google
Looking past those numbers there are many
other indicators of ATS' high standards, excellence
and achievements. They include working
closely with law enforcement and innovating
to reduce false alarms, a staggering abundance
of involvement giving back to the community
and philanthropic interests, unrivaled support
of their associates that includes an employee
stock ownership program (ESOP).
Making this story even more amazing is how
ATS kept it all together and moving forward
during a tumultuous year unlike any other. The
firm contended with the pandemic, five hurricanes
tearing through its coverage areas, and
the retirement of parent company President
Blane Comeaux and Retail Manager Tim Oubre,
who between them devoted more than 60
years of service to the business.
For these very impressive reasons, Acadian
Total Security was selected as the 2021 SSI
securitysales.com
JULY 2021 Security Sales & Integration 33
Large Installer of the Year. Read on as ATS Senior
Director Brandon Niles, Director of Sales
& Marketing Jason Brown, Director of Operations
Al Lanclos, Finance Manager Angie Lagrange
and Marketing Coordinator Michelle
Trahan share how their organization gets it
done, and done right.
Pandemic Protocols
Brandon Niles: We saw an increase in video
surveillance business due to a lack of security
guards and vacant buildings as more and more
employees were sent home to work. Our national
account business saw substantial growth,
largely because they were in a sector that was
not as affected by COVID as the other segments
of our business. Due to this growth, we
did not have to furlough any of our employees;
in fact, we were able to pivot the job duties of
several employees to focus on upgrading many
of our 3G accounts.
During this time, we also saw an increase in
our Wellness/Connected Care service offering
due to seniors not being able to have visitors.
Lastly, we used this as an opportunity to upgrade
our phone system to enable better communication
for employees working from home.
The pandemic could have been detrimental
to our business, but we responded quickly, acting
within days of the first reports of the virus
occurring in the United States. We were able
to utilize our parent company's stockpile of
computers before the nationwide shortage and
had 75% of our employees working from home
within two days of the lockdown in March
2020. Around that same time, we assisted The
Monitoring Association by reaching out to loThe
pandemic
could have been
detrimental to
our business, but
we responded
quickly.
- Brandon Niles
Acadian Total Security
continues to grow its recurring
monthly revenue and added
more than 3,200 accounts
during 2020 in the three
areas it serves, which includes
Southeast, South Central and
Southwest Louisiana.
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Security Sales July 2021

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