As
Safe As Technology Allows
by Melissa Wells
From tagging babies to tracking
assets, Premier System
Solutions Inc. installs security.
 |
|
Randy
Fierbaugh, president of Palm Harbor's Premier System
Solutions Inc., uses the tough edge that served him
well as a professional baseball pitcher to excel at
safety and security.
|
If it
seems there is unlikely connection between pitching for
the Major League Baseball and installing electronic security
systems, well, it's just proof that there is life after
an athletic career. And as Randy Fierbaugh sees it, his
love for the game carries into his professional life.
"Hard
work, competition, discipline," he says. "I've learned from
sports that success follows hard work."
After
seven years with the San Diego Padres and Baltimore Orioles
franchises, Fierbaugh entered the security system industry.
He and two colleagues worked with a large firm, selling
to national accounts. "Their specialty was the financial
market place," he says. "We were calling on banks all over
the nation. Our accounts were Citibank, Mellon Bank, Bank
of America, Great Western and First Union. We helped that
company build its business from $1 million [in annual revenues]
to $8 million in three-and-a-half years." Then a larger
security company acquired that firm.
"We
spent a year and a half under the new company and decided
to make a change," Fierbaugh says.
With
his two colleagues, Bob Stockwell and Don Knowles, Fierbaugh
founded Premier System Solutions Inc. in February 1997.
"We honored our non-compete and didn't go after bank business,"
says Fierbaugh, the Palm Harbor-based company's president.
"We spent that first year [under the non-compete agreement]
trying to find ourselves. We couldn't go after bank business,
so we started going after the system integration business."
As an
electronic security systems integrator, Premier System Solutions
sells, installs, services and maintains card access entry
systems, closed circuit television, intercom and infant
protection systems. "We started with several companies in
this area," Fierbaugh says. "We installed access control
and closed circuit TVs. We've built our business based on
our reputation."
Central
Florida Market
Sales have been made primarily to medium-sized and large
commercial customers throughout Florida. "We do some national
work," says Fierbaugh. "But our primary business is in Central
Florida to corporations, government agencies, hospitals,
nursing homes and the financial industry. We do projects
with Huntington and Republic banks statewide."
Although
the non-compete agreement has long since expired, Fierbaugh
is satisfied with this level of business with local community
banks. "We still have our contacts with the large national
banks," he says. "But we haven't done business with them.
They need a company to handle systems in multiple states.
It's not feasible for us to take on a customer like that.
We've focused our efforts within Georgia and Florida for
our installations. We have quite a few in Atlanta."
To support
the firm's sales in Georgia, Fierbaugh has agreements with
subcontractors in that area to install and service its electronic
security systems.
But
it was in St. Petersburg that Premier System Solutions has
been involved with a larger project, updating the security
system at the Ceridian Benefits Systems Inc.'s corporate
campus. Ceridian purchased and renovated the former headquarters
of Florida Progress, now Progress Energy Inc. "That was
a fun project to take that older facility and work with
Ceridian as they renovated the complex," Fierbaugh says.
"Keeping
a small portion of the original system, we integrated older
equipment with our new equipment. That installation took
many months.
"They
installed all our security camera systems and card access
systems," says Scott Kuebler, Ceridian's director of safety
and security. "We have card access points at all our main
doors and computer rooms. Forty-eight cameras watch the
exterior of the building and parking lots. Everything is
computerized."
"With
over 1,000 employees here, we have a small city," Kuebler
says. "Our system lets us track and trend activity quickly.
If we have a problem, we know exactly when and who [is perpetrating
the trouble]. We can narrow down real fast if it's a people
problem."
Due
to advances in technology with electronic security systems,
Kuebler enjoys the digital technology of the camera recording
system. "In the old days with our cameras if someone stole
a car from the parking lot, for example, we'd have to go
back and view the tape. With the new system all we do is
program the time frame [in which the event occurred]. It's
all digital, we don't have to view the entire tape. There
are no tapes."
What
does it mean? Consider a bank system with 50 state branches,
Fierbaugh says. "Each branch has a security system recording
what the camera sees," he says. "[Under older technology]
if an incident occurs at a branch, the security manager
has to replay the tape and hand a copy to the FBI to identify
the perpetrator. What if from my office here [with a digital
system] I can see what's happening at the branch now, go
through a digital recorder to see the perpetrator, copy
it as a portable document file (pdf) and e-mail it to the
authorities? It takes five minutes to do instead of the
hours browsing through, rewinding and copying tapes."
Ceridian
also has "Code Blue" security stations in its parking lot.
"This allows employees to access the security department
from the parking lot if they have any problem," says Kuebler.
"Most of the time they contact us when they have car problems.
We know right where they're calling from."
These
technological advances in the world of safety and security
systems are a specialty at Premier. "We have a lot of very
experienced people with the technical expertise to do our
business. My partners and I have 20 years in this industry,"
Fierbaugh says. "My installer has 30 years. We have a high
comfort that there isn't a project from the technological
side that we haven't already done or can't do. With our
contacts in the industry we can find someone to assist us
and find the answers."
Staff,
revenue growth
Within the company the expertise that Fierbaugh draws upon
comes from 12 employees. "We started with four in 1997,"
he says. "Annual revenues our first year were $500,000.
They grew to $2.1 million last year and are projected to
increase to $2.8 million this year. Our goal is to be a
$5-million company within three years."
Revenue
growth figures earned the company 21st place in the Florida
100 list last year. The University of Florida Wharton College
of Business compiles this list of Florida's fastest-growing
companies. "Our goal is to be on it again next year, and
the next five years," Fierbaugh says. "That means we're
experiencing solid growth. We enjoy the opportunity to be
on that list and meet with other growing companies."
Service
has been key to Premier's growth, Fierbaugh says. "We haven't
forgotten that without our customers we're not in business.
Each customer is different with unique budget restraints.
We have to be flexible and see how we can make this happen
for our customers. This sets us apart from our competition.
It all starts and ends with service, especially if your
company is in it for the long term. A [security] company
can do a great installation but with no service team to
support it, what does the customer have? That company was
just trying to get revenues on the system. That's why we're
a service company that does installations. Some of our best
customers had a competitor's system installed that wasn't
working properly or wasn't being serviced on a regular basis.
We went in and made it work right and serviced the system
on a timely basis."
Bayfront
Medical Center in St. Petersburg is one of them. "I came
across Randy Fierbaugh about a year-and-a-half ago and he
so impressed me," says Jim Ward, the hospital's security
manager. "At the time we were having problems with the [security]
company we were using. Randy said he could provide services
at nominal costs and produce individuals to help my system
function. He has been 100 percent on the mark with regard
to his promises."
That
relationship has since grown into the installation of new
security systems at the hospital. "He has upgraded our camera
systems and installed HUGGS, an infant abduction prevention
system," Ward says. "He's the only HUGGS dealer in the area.
It's all electronic, computer-generated and -operated. His
software and technical advice has been very beneficial.
And the system is beneficial to our OB program. An infant
here is well protected. Nothing can happen to the mother
or baby. We're very excited about it."
Tagging
babies
"Babies are tagged at birth and the tag stays on them until
they're released to their parents," Fierbaugh explains.
"The system protects perimeter doors on the OB unit and
if someone carries the baby too close to the door, an alarm
sounds and the doors will lock down. One [abducted] baby
is too many times. We protect numerous facilities throughout
the state."
Premier
System Solutions has installed devices at St. Anthony's
Health Care System, too. "We've relied on our partnership
with Premier to help us with issues of safety and security
work," says Chuck Figaro, the St. Petersburg hospital's
director of support services. "They've helped us with a
number of installations in the pharmacy, nurseries, birthing
centers and the emergency room. An emergency room is one
of the most challenging areas as far as security goes. We've
located our security department in the core of the emergency
room at St. Anthony's. In conjunction with that we've installed
a lot of alarms, cameras and recorders that all act in orchestration
to provide a safer working environment.
"Premier
excels in service," Figaro says. "We get a quick response
to our calls if there's an issue in the middle of the night.
And they tell us the most efficient and least expensive
way to accomplish our goal. In the more than a decade that
I've been doing this type of work, people typically want
to sell their global cosmic plan, whereas Premier takes
a practical approach, assisting us to resolve our issues.
We had an area we couldn't get wire through for our camera
system, so they provided us with radio frequency cameras.
They have alternatives and options and there's no oversell
with them."
While
Fierbaugh and his partners have fine-tuned the commercial
aspect of their business, they also ventured into residential
security systems. "We worked with custom builders to provide
everything from security to a central vacuuming system,
intercom, lighting controls, theater and home automation,"
Fierbaugh says. "We did it for a year-and-a-half. When we
looked at the numbers, we found that 30 percent of our revenues
were taking 80 percent of our time. We decided not to pursue
that market place any longer."
Fierbaugh
instead is looking for growth through expanding the firm's
sales operations. "At this time we have no other locations,"
he says. "But we should have a sales office in Orlando by
the end of the year. We have service technicians there to
cover the East Coast, but no sales force yet."
Another
aspect of expansion is developing as a result of advances
in security technology. "Asset tracking and monitoring is
coming," Fierbaugh says. "The technology to do this didn't
exist before. It exists now. A facilities manager can know
where the assets in a building are at any given time. It's
an area that has huge growth potential."
Fierbaugh
acknowledges that maximizing his company's potential during
his four years as an entrepreneur has taken a toll as he
plunged into administrative duties. "I should have stayed
awake during Accounting 101 and 102," he says. "And my golf
handicap has risen rapidly. I've gone from a handicap of
four to 11."
Meanwhile,
he's building a company he's sure is essential to the world
of business. "A security system is as important as the PC,
fax and photocopier, if you want to keep them," Fierbaugh
says. "Most employers understand the importance of keeping
the building and employees safe. They want to make sure
when they lock up at night that when they return the building
will be as it was when they left. And insurance companies
are requiring this now."
