Provident was featured in this month’s Security Sales & Integration Magazine for our SAMMY award that we were awarded at the International Security Conference (ISC West) in Las Vegas back in April.

Provident was recognized for having the best website in the security industry…

Provident was one of only seven companies recognized in this year’s SAMMY awards which are open to every security company in North America. Provident, along with Securtek, were the only two Canadian firms awarded SAMMY’s this year.

On April 1st, Security Sales & Integration Magazine hosted the 13th Annual SAMMY Awards at the International Security Conference in Las Vegas.

Provident won the SAMMY for Best Website.

This was the 6th time that Provident has been nominated, and the 2nd time that we have won a SAMMY. Provident was one of only two Canadian security companies to be awarded.

Our website was designed by Jeff Joseph and took many months of design, planning and filming. We were so pleased with Jeff that we hired him on full-time to join our web development team… where he is working hard along with Ryan and Jerry to ensure that Provident’s IT systems and web development are always getting better.

Jeff did an incredible job (and still is) on the site and we are very proud to have him on the team. Jeff is standing in the middle of the back row in the picture on the right.

We are very pleased to announce that Geoff Coyle has joined the Provident team in the new role of Mobile Operations Manager.

In this role, Geoff will be responsible for all aspects of Provident’s unique guaranteed 5 minute alarm response, patrol and homewatch services.

Geoff was previously at 1-800-Got-Junk where he spent four years in various roles including Corporate Locations Manager, where he was responsible for Got-Junk offices in Canada, the United States, England and Australia. Prior to that role, he was a Senior Business Development Consultant where he worked with Got-Junk Franchise Partners developing their businesses.

Prior to Got-Junk, Geoff was a Manager at Starbucks and before that a Department Manager at Harrods of London.

We are very excited to add someone of Geoff’s calibre to our management team. He brings tremendous experience in leading fast-growing, world-class brands. His expertise in systemization, scalability and training will be a huge asset for Provident.

Welcome aboard Geoff!

This announcement is a little late in coming, but we are very proud to let the world finally know that Sandra Towers officially became a member of the Provident team back in September as our Operations Manager. In this role, Sandra is responsible for both our 24/7 central monitoring station as well as our Installation/Service Teams…. basically all operations as they pertain to the electronic side of our business.

We carried out an extensive search to fill this position… we were looking for someone with experience working in a first class customer service environment. More importantly, we were looking for someone who had been successful leading teams during periods of tremendous growth. Our wait has already been well worth it.

Prior to coming on board at Provident, Sandra was the Sales Operations Manager at Intrawest (owner of Whistler/Blackcomb and more than a dozen other major mountains & resorts) where she oversaw the management of their 160 person centralized call centre. Before that, she was the Staff, Volunteer and Security Manager for the TED Conference in Monterrey, California for two years (TED is the world’s most exclusive annual business conference).

Prior to TED, Sandra was the Director of Operations at Rare Indigo Destination Management for six years where she oversaw all operations for the company in Vancouver, Whistler, Victoria, Tofino, Banff and Jasper.

Sandra brings a wealth of experience managing teams responsible for delivering a first class client experience. She has led teams both large and small and has already proven herself a tremendous addition to our team.

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We just loaded a new video on our website that explains how our BLINK monitoring service works (click on the image above to get to the video).

As I have mentioned in a few previous posts (here and here), we have had tremendous success with the launch of the BLINK network in Vancouver and are receiving alarm signals within a couple of seconds (rather than in almost a minute from traditional alarm systems that are using telephone lines).

In fact, the vast majority of BLINK signals are actually arriving within ONE SECOND… which is faster than we reference in this video.

One of the major points in the video is that the BLINK network does not have a single point of failure. Every installed BLINK radio can communicate with more than a dozen other installed BLINK radios at anytime. There are no towers or central antennas installed in the coverage areas (unlike a cellular phone network)… every single BLINK radio acts as a repeater on the network, creating a virtual web and multiple communication paths for each alarm system.

Jeff Joseph did all of the work on this video, including designing and building every frame of the motion graphics.

Jeff did a great job designing the graphics to explain how the BLINK network works… and explaining why BLINK is so much better than relying on a regular telephone line for alarm signal transmission.

BLINK now has its’ own official logo… thanks to the efforts of Jeff Joseph , who is also responsible for our new website (which still has many more parts to come online over the next few months).

Integration into the website, as well as on thousands of stickers, is coming soon…

The BLINK network build-out is also going very well… and is now a little ahead of schedule. I’ll post an update tomorrow night about where we are at , as I know the hundreds of people now on the waitlist are eager to hear where its at.

After more than a year of searching for options for the impending analog cellular network shutdown, and many months of navigating through the Government regulations regarding radio signal transmission, we are very proud to announce that Provident’s BLINK monitoring service is now on-line and available to Provident clients in Vancouver.

BLINK is the fastest and most secure method of transmitting alarm signals.

Over the past couple of weeks, our team of Alarm Technicians and Installers have been working very hard establishing the BLINK network throughout Vancouver. This included installing both a primary and back-up network and the configuration of more than a dozen boxes of control equipment in our Operations Centre.

Last week, our BLINK system received certification and is now fully operational. Certification involved bringing a mesh-radio specialist in from Kansas City who spent all of last week reviewing our connections, testing signals and working with our Installation, Customer Service and Sales teams… ensuring they are all up to speed on how BLINK works. Most importantly, he ensured that our BLINK system met all relevant ULC regulations.

We are very excited to be able to offer BLINK service in Vancouver, as it offers several very important security features that have been unavailable in BC until now… some of these features include:

1. BLINK eliminates the need for a landline to act as the primary communication method for an alarm… this means that clients can choose to switch to Shaw DIgital Telephone, Rogers Home Phone or any other VoIP provider without creating a risk for alarm signal transmission;
2. BLINK can eliminate the need for your landline to disconnect any active call each time the alarm is used;
3. Because BLINK is a wireless network, it eliminates the threat of telephone lines being cut;
4. BLINK is a very secure mesh radio network… which means that every installed BLINK transceiver acts as a repeater on the network. As a result, there is no single point of failure on the network. It also means that there is no reliance on any third party network provider.
5. Most importantly, BLINK is incredibly fast.
   Because BLINK does not need to dial a number, and is always online,
   signal transmission is up to ten times faster than either a landline or
   cellular back-up. In most cases, that is a difference of almost an
   entire minute… which, when coupled with Provident’s guaranteed five
   minute response, is a really big deal.

We are installing BLINK systems on a priority basis for our existing cellular back-up clients. Within the first 72 hours of sending a note out to those clients, more than 200 had already placed an order…. needless to say, we will be very busy with BLINK for the next little while.

New clients, or existing clients (without cellular) wishing to upgrade to BLINK are being placed on a wait list…. given the nature of how the BLINK network works, we are giving priority based upon both date requested as well as geography.

The reason for geographical preference is because we are upgrading all of our existing cellular clients in tight groups to ensure that the network strength is maximized from Day 1. If a new client has made a request for BLINK and lives in the same area that we are already installing in, we will likely have that unit installed much sooner. The more BLINK units installed in a neighbourhood, the stronger the network becomes.

So… if you are interested, be sure to let us know as soon as possible so that we can get you on the list.

After a ton of work, many meetings, several days of filming and photos… the new and much improved Provident website is finally up at www.providentsecurity.ca

The site features fifteen short videos, five service related ones and ten team member videos. The original idea was to have six videos in total, but the team member footage ended up being so good that we could not condense it into one four minute video… so we made ten individual ones instead. A huge thanks to Greg, Rebecca, Jane, Chuck, Jordan, Ryan, Ryder, Keith, Angus and Sarah!

Several of our clients also agreed to help us out on this project and took time out of their day to be filmed … a big thanks to Tom Gautreau, Thomas Hobbs, Andrea Molnar, Nada Vuksic, Scott Shepherd, Denise Lum, Drew Grimson, Dwayne Stewart and Stew Jordan for being a part of this project.

The site was designed by Jeff Joseph and all of the video footage was filmed in High Definition… Jeff is an incredibly accomplished commercial and film Director (one of his commercials was aired in the U.S. during last years’ Superbowl…. plus his own reel of commercials that he himself has starred in is pretty impressive). The Provident site was his first full scale web site that takes advantage of HD video. I’m sure that there will be more to follow.

There are still a few pages that need a bit of updating… but the site is largely there.

The first Westside Home Security seminar of 2007 is going to be held Wednesday, January 24th, at the Arbutus Club.

We want to make it easy for you to learn more about protecting your home from burglary.

Through an interactive presentation, with lots of pictures, I will show you exactly what burglary looks like on the Westside. More importantly, I will show you some very specific things that you can do (both high and low tech) to reduce your risk.

Whether you are a Provident client or not, you will learn tactics to ensure that you do not become a victim.

My most recent presentation like this was in December for about 35 realtors at a Ubertor Real Estate meetup event that was very well received.

Vancouver Police Constable Ray Gardner, from the Kerrisdale, Oakridge, Marpole Community Policing Office will also be available to answer questions and discuss property crime issues and concerns.

7:00pm – 8:30pm
Wednesday, January 24th, 2007
The Arbutus Club
2001 Nanton Avenue (Nanton and Arbutus)
3rd Floor – Quilchena Terrace

If you are interested in attending, please RSVP. Feel free to let your neighbours and friends know to attend… please just let us know how many people are coming with you so that we can ensure appropriate room set-up and refreshments.

We are pleased to report that Provident was selected by the various stratas at Arbutus Walk (between Arbutus and Yew Street, and 12th and 10th Avenues) to take over security services effective January 1st, 2007.

Last year, the residents at Arbutus Walk developed a community security program in an effort to tackle a growing property crime problem… particularly theft from autos in the underground parkades. The launch of the program was written about in the Courier. We are proud that when a decision was made to change providers, the residents chose Provident to take over.

We look forward to working with all of the residents to help ensure a crime-free neighbourhood.