25 Mar 2020
Vanderbilt & ComNet combination ready to take off in 2020 says Sullivan
Last year ACRE brands Vanderbilt and ComNet began to operate in unison. This was part of a strategic move by their parent company to streamline and cement the international divisions of the business. Following on from the initial integration, David Sullivan, ACRE International President, says the alignment is now well-positioned for a successful 2020 partnership.
“No matter what experience I’ve had in the past with integrating businesses, you end up with a few bumps and challenges. And combining Vanderbilt and ComNet under one umbrella was no different. But now that we are through the learning curve, we’re already starting to see better results,” Sullivan states.
We’re seeing better technical support, and are beginning to see a better understanding of the ComNet portfolio on the customer service side. Because of this, the ComNet customers are enjoying something they didn’t have before; in-language customer service and technical support from our various offices around Europe. That’s a significant advantage, and we’ve had a lot of customers come back and say that the supply - and reliability of the supply – has improved significantly.
David Sullivan, President of ACRE International.
In addition, ACRE has installed Iain Deuchars as the General Manager of the ComNet business; a move Sullivan states is already reaping positive effects. With 30 plus years’ experience in the transmissions industry, Deuchars’ knowledge and understanding of the market and the product portfolio on offer, has helped explicitly. The integration of both brands has also deepened each other’s product portfolio, and this has seen more opportunities open up throughout the marketplace.
In 2020, we’re going to see more traction between the two sides of the business. We already have great opportunities that are developing in the Middle East where we are combining both the ComNet portfolio and our access control solutions. We’re finding a lot of traction in India between both portfolios, and I think we’re going to see it in the Nordic region as well. There are spots in our marketplace where we’re seeing a lot of synergies associated with the Vanderbilt and ComNet working together.
David Sullivan, President of ACRE International.
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While the quarter has been a positive one, as President, Sullivan is always looking further down the line and strategizing where the company will be positioned at the end of the year and beyond. One of the big releases he is appetizing for Vanderbilt customers in 2020 is the release of the next phase of SPC Wireless devices.
“The essential thing for our customers right now is their interest in understanding where we are with our Wireless sensors for our intrusion portfolio. It’s been a phased release over the last two years, and the two critical elements to that portfolio are the PIR cam and the Wireless keypad. Those have been a little bit long in getting out, but they’ll be coming out this year. I think that’s going to change people’s interest in our Wireless portfolio radically. It’s probably one of the most significant releases that we’ll be having. Clearly, we’re going to be having a lot of different software releases and upgrades to the systems, but of the most significant, that’s probably the one that people have been waiting for the most,” he concludes.