Integration & Network SolutionsExclusivesSystems Integrator of the Year

Convergint Technologies' Proven Model for Growth: Enterprise Integration

Enabling its vision of Quadrant Four enterprise-level integration has brought SDM Systems Integrator of the Year, Convergint Technologies, positive results and a proven path for growth during transition.

Convergint Technologies' leaders proudly pose and are reflected in a Chicago landmark, Cloud Gate in Millennium Park. Clockwise, from top center: Barry Yatzor, vice president - Fire; Tony Varco, vice president - Security; Walter Winkel, vice president and CFO; Leslie Evans, vice president - Human Resources; Dan Moceri, CEO and co-founder; and Greg Lernihan, president and co-founder. Convergint's Schaumburg, Ill., headquarters are nearby. PHOTO BY ALAN KLEHR FOR SDM

Convergint Technologies was co-founded by Dan Moceri and Greg Lernihan in May 2001. Its mission was, and still is, to build a North American service-based company that designs, installs, and maintains integrated building systems with a dedicated focus in electronic security, fire alarm and life safety, healthcare technologies, and building automation.

Convergint Technologies designs, installs and services electronic security solutions for single sites, as well as complex multi-building/multi-site customers. These solutions include card access, intelligent networked video, biometrics, perimeter protection, and seamless integration to enterprise systems. Convergint provides engineered fire alarm systems including smoke detection, emergency communications, and complex smoke management sequences. The integrator also provides and services building automation solutions to monitor and control environmental systems.

Headquarters: Schaumburg, Ill.

2012 revenue: $272 million (estimated)

Employees: 1,050 full-time; 20 part-time

Locations: Convergint Technologies operates 27 branch offices, or what the company calls Convergint Technology Centers (CTCs) in North America that actively share information, technology, resources and customers. The integrator considers itself a single entity, called “Convergint Nation.”

Ranked on SDM’s Top Systems Integrators Report: No. 7, based on $237.2 million North American systems integration revenue.

Convergint values and beliefs — In describing its culture, Convergint Technologies says that it was founded on a set of core values and beliefs that express its responsibility to its customers, its colleagues and its communities. "Our daily commitment to these values is one of the key reasons why our customers choose to do business with Convergint Technologies," says Convergint's Dan Moceri.

Before Convergint Technologies ever had received its first order or hired its first colleague, its leadership began writing the principles that would eventually become the company’s Values and Beliefs.

“We built our company from scratch and had the benefit of establishing a unique and empowered culture from the onset. Our 10 Values and Beliefs drive our positive culture and are what truly makes us different. Value & Belief No. 6 We expect to be our customers’ best service provider, no matter what business we are in — is the foundation for our unique culture of service that permeates the organization. From the beginning, Convergint believed that customer service would be our biggest differentiator,” says Convergint’s Before Convergint Technologies ever had received its first order or hired its first colleague, its leadership began writing the principles that would eventually become the company’s Values and Beliefs.

“We built our company from scratch and had the benefit of establishing a unique and empowered culture from the onset. Our 10 Values and Beliefs drive our positive culture and are what truly makes us different. Value & Belief No. 6 We expect to be our customers’ best service provider, no matter what business we are in — is the foundation for our unique culture of service that permeates the organization. From the beginning, Convergint believed that customer service would be our biggest differentiator,” says Convergint’s Greg Lernihan.

Four quadrant security system knowledge — In Quadrant Four, where Convergint Technologies serves the market, the highest level of enterprise integration is where IT, applications and product knowledge are combined to develop solutions that help customers drive business excellence. ILLUSTRATION COURTESY OF CONVERGINT TECHNOLOGIES

Four quadrant security system knowledge #2 — In Quadrant Four, where Convergint Technologies serves the market, the highest level of enterprise integration is where IT, applications and product knowledge are combined to develop solutions that help customers drive business excellence. ILLUSTRATION COURTESY OF CONVERGINT TECHNOLOGIES

Convergint's Brian Nuss configures network gear in one of the Professional Services test labs for use in testing a custom solution prior to delivery to the customer. PHOTO COURTESY OF CONVERGINT TECHNOLOGIES

Convergint's management team, business leaders and sales professionals gathered in February for the annual sales conference. The tee-shirts the team is wearing have a logo that reads WGIBTU, short for "Who's Got It Better Than Us? Nobody." PHOTO COURTESY OF CONVERGINT TECHNOLOGIES

Convergint's Richard Bellamy leads a class, available to all colleagues, on access control principles. The class took place at Convergint's Dallas training center last month. PHOTO COURTESY OF CONVERGINT TECHNOLOGIES

The folks from Convergint installed water filters in Haiti. PHOTOS COURTESY OF CONVERGINT TECHNOLOGIES

Convergint colleagues, alongside Haitian construction workers, built a church/school in a village in Haiti. PHOTOS COURTESY OF CONVERGINT TECHNOLOGIES

“Previously we provided basic types of services such as script writing, custom reports, and some database integration,” Varco says. “In the past 12 months we have begun expanding our Professional Service offerings to include not only integration of security and other disparate systems (for example, human resources/card access), but we have also added virtual security and services historically provided by IT integrators, such as disaster recovery planning and solutions; database management, integration and segmentation; system audits; and network monitoring.”

The Actualization of Quadrant Four: Professional Services

Moceri describes Convergint’s Professional Services as “an enabler” of the move to Quadrant Four offerings. “We have always been a strong service-based integrator. In the early days of Convergint, our offering focused on being the best service provider in the industry. This meant preventing problems, fixing systems if they broke, upgrading them.

“Fourth Quadrant solutions focus more on solving customer business problems. So we don’t just put video in for forensic analysis; today, we help our customers prevent problems, stop risky situations in process instead of after-the-fact, and help them to manage their operations more cost-effectively. Card access today is used as much for regulatory compliance as it is used for managing the movement of people,” Moceri points out.

“As we move more towards helping our customers manage their businesses more effectively, this requires higher levels of integration. Our Professional Services Group delivers these integrated solutions in a fast, cost-effective manner. This group started with a small team of IT and customer-savvy colleagues and today has spread virtually across the entire organization.”

An example of Professional Services is found in one of Convergint’s recent projects, described below, involving a manual server database disaster recovery tool.

Challenge: To maintain enterprise business continuity in the event of a disaster, a major technology customer had a need to manually initiate a command to reconfigure their Lenel system to use a redundant server located at another data center.

Solution: Convergint Technologies developed a disaster recovery tool that allows the customer to manually reconfigure their access control system to use a redundant East Coast server in the event of a catastrophic West Coast disaster. Developed using C#, the application takes advantage of network technologies that include site-to-site VPNs, a SQL cluster environment and name aliases.

Result: Disaster recovery procedures are essential to ensuring a resilient enterprise security system. This disaster recovery tool solution improves business continuity and sustainability by reducing the risks associated with a single enterprise card access server or database failure.

Looking for a reprint of this article?
From high-res PDFs to custom plaques, order your copy today!

Laura Stepanek is a SDM contributing writer. Laura was the Editor of SDM from 2001-2020 and first joined the publication in 1984. She holds a bachelor’s degree in English from Barat College of DePaul University.