With the 20th anniversary of the inception of Vector Security’s National Accounts Division approaching, the division commemorated this milestone with a move into a new, greatly expanded National Service Center located in Northern Virginia. The facility was designed from the ground floor up to serve Vector’s growing list of national customers, which today numbers 44,000 locations throughout North America.

According to Michael Grady, Vector Security’s executive vice president, this move is all about better preparing Vector to serve even greater levels of loss prevention needs, which include IP video, electronic article surveillance and managed network services.

“This 27,000 square foot facility has been designed to better serve our national customers,” said Grady, adding that the move was not just to provide additional space, but to create a virtual loss prevention services laboratory to enlarge the scope of services Vector provides to national customers.

Vector’s National Service Center receives an estimated 26,000 service request calls per month. While that’s a huge number of calls to manage, Vector’s NSC screens every one, with an aim at providing a resolution through a variety of ways before needing to dispatch a technician.

“Doing this allows us to reduce 26,000 calls to around 4,000 qualified service visits; which we complete in an average of 2.6 days,” Grady noted. “By doing this, we can greatly reduce our customers’ costs associated with servicing their systems.” The NSC works hand in hand with Vector’s Pittsburgh, Pa. based central station, which monitors all national account customer locations.

Grady also emphasizes when it came to Vector’s relocation plan, the location itself became a major consideration. “Not only do we operate 24/7/365, but we had to take time zones and severe weather patterns into consideration in our plan. As a true North American provider, having correct staffing at peak call times, such as opening and closing times, and expanded operating hours, especially during periods of bad weather, are keys to our customers’ satisfaction levels.

“In the event of a storm at our location, or to handle emergency conditions somewhere within North America, the NSC’s disaster management plan springs into action.” Over the course of the recent northeast earthquake, hurricanes and tropical storms, Vector staffed its NSC 24 hours a day and called in additional personnel when conditions somewhere began to deteriorate further. “Our customers can feel more secure through this type of detailed disaster management planning,” cites Grady.