Pine Cove Consulting
Verkada partner since early 2019
25-30% increase in sales from Verkada
10-year warranty enabling long-term customer relationships
Background
Pine Cove Consulting is one of the leading technology service providers in the Rocky Mountains region. The business was established in 1993 in Wyoming with an ambition to connect education institutions, companies, and government agencies with the right technology services and solutions. Since then, the business has expanded into Montana, Idaho, Utah, Northern Colorado, and beyond. It was recognized by CRN as one of the top 500 Managed Service Providers in North America in 2021, and awarded Partner of the West at our 2022 Partner Summit.
Brandan Bassett Is an Account Manager at Pine Cove. He outlines the success of the Verkada-Pine Cove partnership and explains how it has bolstered the business’ bottom line.
The Challenge
Much of Pine Cove’s product portfolio has long lead-in times, up to 10 years in some cases. It meant the company had a challenge selling more kit to customers before the replacement cycle came around.
This issue was exacerbated by a gap in its range regarding physical security. “When customers spoke to us about physical security, we always passed that on to a referral partner, but there wasn’t much in the way of compensation for us,” says Brandan.
The company has also had to contend with global supply chain issues that have seen some lead-in times for product delivery increase to more than a year.
Verkada’s Solution
Brandan met a Verkada counterpart by chance at a convention and, after a conversation, was keen to explore the opportunity. “We were passing this business to somebody else, and I’m being told that Verkada can help our team get into the physical security market and grow our portfolio really quickly. And they were true to their word.”
Verkada has enabled Pine Cove more than to plug the physical security gap in its product line, and it now offers cameras, access controls, sensors, and alarms, with more to come.
“Verkada has opened up a completely new revenue stream for us, and they’ve made that process easy.”
Verkada’s Results
“Verkada has added 25-35% revenue on top of what we were previously doing. This is just a completely untapped revenue source for us.”
According to Brandan, the partnership has been a smash hit, both in terms of increased revenues and customer satisfaction.
“We have continued our focus on cybersecurity and networking while also increasing our annual revenues by around 30% by implementing Verkada and introducing those products to our customers,” he says.
An expanding IT security portfolio
When Brandan and the Pine Cove team began selling Verkada, the product line was exclusively camera products. But over the last two years, Verkada has rapidly expanded its product line. This has substantially increased the range of products Pine Cove can sell to its customer base.
“Verkada has been so innovative in its approach to growth. It’s gone from cameras to the introduction of access controls and SV11 sensors, which have been hugely popular with our K12 customers. We see a lot of value with those products and with Verkada Guest and Verkada Alarms, which are coming online.
“That growth and vision to integrate all these technologies into a single cloud-based platform have been crucial to selling Verkada to our customers successfully.”
Ease of installation and use
A defining feature of Verkada is the ease its products can be installed, rolled out, and used by customers. Introducing new product lines can be daunting, especially when there is the element of physical installation, but any doubts soon disappeared.
“When we first received a camera from Verkada, I asked one of my engineers to set it up, and there’s a feeling that it will be difficult to do. He set it up in five minutes and said: ‘This was so easy to do; this is going to be awesome for us.’ It’s no different from installing a wireless access point. You just have to point the lens the right way.
“It gave our installation teams great confidence that we can install Verkada profitably, and we have a great idea of how long it will take us to build that into quotes. In comparison with other solutions we offer, Verkada has been really easy to install.”
Customers have also warmly received those qualities, with many relishing the lack of NVR or DVR recording equipment that the cloud platform allows.
“The remote and instant access enabled by cloud is extremely popular. They can see all their data and cameras on any device wherever they are in the world.”
Boosting customer relationships and trust
Brandan says that a founding principle of Pine Cove is developing lasting relationships with its customers. Many of its clients have been with the company for over two decades.
“It’s challenging to keep customers that long, but we’ve never been a company that just wants to execute a one-off opportunity and never speak to a client again. We want to create lasting partnerships, and Verkada’s licensing and 10-year warranty has been significant to the schools and businesses we work with.
“That allows us to connect with them throughout the product lifecycle, so at least 10 years, and develop that deep relationship.”
And with product lead times increasingly strained, Verkada’s ability to ship in mere weeks strengthens Pine Cove’s ties with its customer base.
“We are seeing some substantial backlogs, more than a year in places,” says Brandan. “Verkada has done an incredible job of maintaining its inventory availability. Verkada has helped us build trust with our customers because we can be confident of meeting their timelines and budgets.
“It’s also helped us focus our sales efforts because we know we can ship almost immediately, and we can ensure our installations teams are not sitting idle. Verkada has helped us remain profitable and withstand the other supply chain challenges we face.”
Interested in learning more? Sign up for an on-demand webinar for information on Verkada’s Partner Programme.