Technocom Blog

My First Month at Technocom

Have you ever asked a customer if they’ve enjoyed their experience with the company you work for, and not only do they say yes, but go into a detailed description of why?  Well, I’m excited to say I have! 
During my first two weeks with Technocom, while I was in the field prospecting for new clients, I came across an existing customer.   I asked the simple question “how has everything been while with Technocom?”  I was expecting to hear the traditional “pretty good or just fine.”  From the past I was accustomed to hearing this many times, while working for another company.   To my surprise the customer gave me an in-depth description of their experience and continued on to compliment our technicians and support staff.   This was a great thing to hear after just starting with the company. As each day passes, I become more impressed with how Technocom treats their customers and employees.   

I have enjoyed becoming part of the Technocom family and look forward to many more great experiences.

Written by: Cade Adamson

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Innovative Surveillance

Some projects are simple, and some complex. A few are so complex that you have to make a good judgment call and humbly walk away… The fun projects are the ones that you initially think “this can’t be done” and yet you find a way to make it work successfully and affordable to the client. Here is a scenario for you to help us categorize:

A gated residential cul de sac with 6 homes in the Portland Metro area has recently gone into foreclosure after the builder was unable to make the appropriate terms. The bank, concerned about potential issues with theft, vandalism, or other issues, saw a presentation on an innovative video surveillance product (UGuardU), and realized that it was exactly what they needed.

After visiting the property, we realized that engineering the solution would be daunting to visually see the gated entry and cover all six homes as the bank had required. Since our UGuardU service relies on the internet to stream the video to our off-site server for recording, we also needed to find a way to get all of the cameras to connect to the internet within the neighborhood.

After thoughtful engineering and experience from our previous installs, we were able to setup (3) outdoor rated high definition IP cameras to view all (6) houses (and the gated entry) using only one Comcast broadband internet connection. All three cameras are located on different homes within the neighborhood so we used a wireless bridge mesh network to be able to get signal out to two of the cameras not at the home where the broadband signal is located. The signal works perfectly and the picture looks amazing. More importantly, the bank is happy to know their interests are covered by UGuardU.

For more information on this installation or to receive a quote, please contact Matt Mosley at 503.454.7315, or email sales@uguardu.com

You can also visit www.uguardu.com to see a live demo!

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Do you only need a temporary surveillance solution?

Recently, a local bank called Technocom requesting help.   Apparently, the bank was forced to foreclose on a group of homes in a new housing development due to a builder defaulting on a loan.    The problem was that once these homes were left vacant and unattended, they became targets for vandalism and theft.

The bank needed help to protect its assets while they worked to sell these homes.   However, they didn’t want to sign any long-term security contracts, or have to hire expensive security personnel.   So, they came to Technocom for a solution.  Could we help them?  YES!

Technocom suggested its new UGuardU camera monitoring system on a monthly rental basis.    Renting these easy-to-install systems avoided a long-term commitment, and also allowed the bank the flexibility of upgrading or changing the system, including the number of cameras, at any time!  It was the perfect solution.

Within 36 hours of installing the UGuardU system, the vandalism and theft stopped!  According to the bank, the UGuardU solution saved them thousands of dollars in repairs. As a bonus, since the homes were still in good repair, they started selling just a few weeks later.

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¡Hablamos Espanol! We speak Spanish!

 I thought I’d write a little something to let everyone know that we have two employee’s at Technocom who speak Spanish and we would like to welcome any Spanish speaking people interested in our services to feel free to contact Gilbert Contreras or Marlene Medina Frost.  They can be reached through our main numbers or directly at 503-454-7317 for Gilbert or 253-395-1708 for Marlene.  We look forward to serving the Spanish community.

Este es un aviso que Technocom tiene dos empleados que hablan español.  Nos gustaria invitar a todas las personas que hablan español interesadas en nuestros servicios que hablen con Gilberto Contreras o Marlene Medina Frost.  Se pueden comunicar con ellos pormedio de nuestros telefono  principal o con Gilberto directamente al 503-454-7317 or Marlene al 253-395-1708.  Es nuestro placer brindar nuestros servicios a la comunidad hispana.

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It’s more than just security

I received a call from a Director of Security from a University Campus.  A business loves those unsolicited calls from potential customers asking for more information and wanting to know more about your business solutions.  It makes you feel proud.  
 
Speaking in terms of solutions, we have added a few cool items to our UGuardU server software.  Those items include IP video tracking, motion detection email and sms alerts as well as camera off-line alerts. 
 
However, the tone of our follow up call changed, we were informed that there has been an assault on campus this past week and now the excitement about helping and providing someone with information, turns into great sadness.  As I try to understand why another human would do that to anyone, I realized that this potential customer has a much greater need than just information.
 
We have a formal meeting scheduled this coming week in order to know exactly how our IP cameras might work for them.  We’ll find out if they could be used at certain remote campus areas using available internet access and wireless internet access points together with power.   
 
Technocom was also asked by the University to provide a recommendation and bring with us a “security assessment consultant”.   When you service this industry, you need to be aligned with consultants you respect and can trust.  I’m proud of the fact that we have access to one of the best consultants in the area and he will be joining us at the meeting.

We’re ready to discuss and provide information for a potential solution and work on a strategy which hopefully will deter these sorts of events from ever occurring again on campus.  We know that there will always be “evil” people out there but hopefully UguardU can help with deterring them in the future. Security is no longer the issue it’s really peace of mind.   
 
You never know what direction a customer’s call will take you.

Written by: Patrick McCloskey

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Daycare Provides Live Monitoring

It is 8am in the morning and Andy’s wife calls him to tell him that she is dropping their son off at day care.    Andy clicks on the UGuardU website, types in the password for the day care and watches as he wife brings their son into the building and drops him to the care giver.    Andy watches as his son hangs up his coat and immediately starts engaging with his friends.    He clicks off the site with a smile and starts working on his many tasks for the day.   He continues to smile for the next several minutes knowing that his son is doing fine and he now has the ability to check in live at anytime to see him.
 
Technocom (through its UGuardU service offering) and Imagination Station Day Care worked together on a five camera system so that each room within the day care facility could be viewed.   The owner wasn’t interested in recording these live video feeds even though she could, as she completely trusted her staff and didn’t want them to think the system had anything to do with surveillance.    Instead she saw this as a marketing opportunity, as this system would allow her clients the ability to check in and see their son or daughter live anytime during the day.   Such a service was very intriguing.    She knew that if she wanted too, she could use the service as an additional revenue source, but instead saw the service as a huge marketing advantage over other facilities.    She knew that her potential customer’s number one priority when making a decision on where to leave their child was where they felt the most trust.    In her mind, what could be more trustworthy then a day care facility which was willing to provide live viewing access to the parents at anytime during the day?
 

Isn’t it neat that a day care facility owner is thinking so much about her customers!

Written by: Rick McCloskey

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Networking from “The Well”

I have recently been looking for ways to incorporate social media (facebook, twitter, Linked In) into increasing my networking capacity/efficiency.  Realizing that companies today have individuals or entire departments devoted to maintaining such information, in an effort to “keep it fresh”. My earnest opinion was slightly David and Goliath if you will…  How do I, one single person compete in that space.

It dawned on me while engineering both a low voltage communications system for a Technocom customer and a home plumbing project that much like electricity, water, and bandwidth or dial tone the valuable information used in business to business networking starts in one place… in this case it is me. (The Well) 

Much like a reservoir, power generator, or phone switch the information is the resource, or well if you will, that needs to efficiently distribute its content.  It appears to me that the three popular social Medias are some of the delivery systems capable of distributing that information to the properly intended recipients.  Stay tuned for further discovery on how myself and Technocom are attempting to build efficient and effective social media practices that can actually increase the number of opportunities for new clients and new revenue in a few quick and easy steps.

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FORGE Marketing Summit 2010

Technocom was proud to sponsor the Lake Oswego Chamber of Commerce’ FORGE Marketing Summit at Marylhurst University. The Summit focused on best and worst practices for business marketing utilizing four of Portland’s brightest speakers in marketing including Dr. Marten’s Kim Barta, Grady Britton’s Dayn Wilberding, eROI’s Ryan Buchanan, and Anvil Media’s Kent Lewis.

The event was a huge success! Lake Oswego Chamber of Commerce CEO Jerry Wheeler states “Feedback on the event has…been extremely positive with the reviews coming in at a 4.8 out of a possible 5.0.” Technocom provided audio visual support utilizing Bose Pro loudspeakers and also video recording of each presentation. The videos will be available on the Chamber’s website in the near future.

For more information on the Lake Oswego Chamber of Commerce and the FORGE educational group please visit:

www.lake-oswego.com

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Fostering New Business Relationships

Technocom is proud to announce a new partnership with Bose Corporations Pro Audio Group. After spending a year fostering a relationship with Tony Christina, Bose NW Territory Manager, by engineering Bose Pro product into new opportunities, it was clear that both companies were a good fit for each other.

To date, Technocom has installed Bose Pro solutions in Mountain Park HOA Recreation Center, St. Patrick’s Church, and Fit Right NW shoes and apparel. Several other opportunities are in the works. Technocom and Bose are mutually looking forward to this continued growth and success!

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Managing during a recession

As VP of sales I’ve tried to think long and hard about how to motivate during this slowdown in the economy.  More companies are bidding on fewer jobs, and the ones that are won tend to have smaller margins.  It gets discouraging for the sales staff and the one thing you want to do is keep a positive attitude with your team because this comes across to potential customers.

There are only so many rah rah sales meetings you can have so I’ve decided to motivate on a more personal level.  Spending more time with each individual account executive, tell them how appreciative the company is for the effort that they are putting in.  Personalizing the jobs they are proposing by asking how the process is going, giving them any additional support they may need and encouraging them by being positive.

As much as there is a tendency to want to beat up your staff because sales have slowed down, to punish rather than praise, we should be mindful that the people we manage aren’t trying to not bring in business.  To get through this downturn we must work smarter and keep the attitudes of those around us in the right place.  Remember, employees are the ones selling the company.  Clients don’t just buy product, they buy from people and having a positive sales force will help get businesses through these tough times.

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