Secom Security has always operated ahead of the curve.
From cloud integration to biometrics and beyond, the Secom team has held a collective finger on the pulse of an industry and its clients’ individual needs, leaving competitors in the dust with innovation and technology.
“Twenty years ago, no one knew what the cloud was – especially not in the security industry,” says president Mike Toomey, noting that Secom was on board with cloud-based access control provider Brivo from the start.
“Everyone else is just now learning how to do this, but we’ve been doing everything in the cloud since our inception.”
Now in its 20th year, the company is once again reshaping the security landscape, thanks to its knack for prediction, its willingness to adapt, and its commitment to delivering quality results for clients. And its all-new, AI-driven platform, Secom AWARE, is leading the charge.
“We’re changing,” Toomey says proudly. “We’re breaking down walls in the industry.”
“For years, when I went on sales calls, I would meet with a facilities manager. We don’t work with facilities anymore. We meet with IT departments,” he continues. “And their desires are a lot different. The more closely we can align ourselves with these providers, and demonstrate the amazing technology we’re devising, the more we will separate ourselves from every other company in the nation.”
Beyond the Backstory
Many professionals—from business owners to FSOs—know Mike Toomey and the benefits of partnering with Secom Security. Few, though, realize how the company began.
It was the mid-90s. Toomey had been studying accounting at the University of Maryland, College Park, while spending summers working restaurants in Ocean City. When an opportunity to learn hotel restaurant management on the shore presented itself, Toomey – as all good entrepreneurs are inclined – leaped at the chance.
On the advice of a school counselor, he applied for a Historically Black Colleges and University Scholarship and landed a full ride to the University of Maryland, Eastern Shore. Ever the hard worker, Toomey maintained a steady job in the O.C. while he studied.
“People ask me about that experience all the time,” Toomey says. While he understands the curiosity, for him the full scholarship was yet another opportunity, and a twist of fate, that he could simply not pass up.
Toomey grew up in Howard County in the 70s and 80s. It shaped him. There, he watched the vision of Columbia, Maryland founder and civil activist James Rouse unfold. This, too, had a significant impact on his overall journey.
“I owe a lot of my success to the environment I grew up in, the people around me, and seeing every single person for who they are,” he says. “Growing up in Howard County. The opportunity to have college funded for me. These circumstances molded me.”
Toomey remained on the Eastern Shore until the mid-90s. Seeking new experiences, he landed a job with a local security integrator, then a national outfit, and ultimately relocated to Washington, D.C.
Fascinated by the technology involved, a subsequent regional sales position at Honeywell allowed him to truly hone his skills. But entrepreneurship called. In 2004, Toomey opened his own shingle. He launched Secom with a $100,000 Home Equity Line of Credit, backed by determination, hard work, and perseverance.
Seeing—and Changing—the Future
Secom’s latest brainchild, Secom AWARE, is once again revolutionizing the face of business defense – a prime example of how the company has not only stayed ahead of the curve, technologically, since opening its doors – but how it has defined it.
“Our industry has always been responsive. We didn’t know there was an event until somebody threw a brick through our window or forced the door open,” Toomey says. “That’s the way this industry has always been since day one. You come into work the next day and hope there’s a video recorded on your server to help solve a crime. Now, with video – with Secom AWARE – we can alert you beforehand.”
The platform integrates cloud-based controls with advanced AI technology, surveillance, and extensive video analytics to provide an all-encompassing and predictive safeguard that mitigates false alarms and stops crimes before they happen.
“Alarm systems are antiquated,” Toomey explains. “Police departments no longer respond to signals anymore, unless there is visual verification in place. So many systems are going away whether we like it or not. Video, in our eyes, is going to be the epicenter of your security enterprise platform.”
In the past, when Secom showed up to secure a building, its team would install a card access system, a video system, a burglar alarm, and an intercom – each with its own database. Today, via Secom AWARE, all these measures can be unified under one proactive video defense system.
It’s the kind of tech that causes the IT guys to take notice, Toomey says. Features like “zero trust architecture,” “Bluetooth integration,” “predictive threat and behavior analysis,” and “dynamic tracking” make their ears perk up. More importantly, they make the bad guys turn their tail and run.
“When a car is pulling into your parking lot, Secom AWARE will warn your team,” Toomey continues. “Using analytics and predictive learning, we can stop a crime from ever happening in the first place. It’s a complete shift in the mindset for our industry, and I don’t think a lot of people are seeing that. Some companies dabble, but no one is promoting it like we are.”
Car dealerships, he notes, toy with the concept – but only offer canned responses. Their cameras detect motion and an automaton shouts, “Hey, beat it” to scare intruders off in the middle of the night.
Secom AWARE is different.
“Once trespassers cross the final threshold of analytics, that video feed is sent directly to our third party, where it’s live monitored,” Toomey says.
It’s a whole new ball game, and Secom is throwing out the first pitch. And if Toomey has it his way, the second. And the third.
“What I’m looking at now is how video analytics can be used as a business tool. If your camera can see it, it’s a data point. Imagine a warehouse where you can see every product coming in and all of the barcodes. Imagine having a camera in a restaurant and being able to see, live, a four-top sitting here or two-top there, and you have a live feed of every transaction. There’s just so much data available. For any business.”
Toomey has been thinking about it endlessly, considering how every business today could benefit from this technology.
“Think of retail. ‘How many people came through my door today? Where did they stop? What did they look at? What’s working with my marketing?’ With this tech, you can set up heat maps that show where people gathered over 30 days. It will show you on a map the hottest locations. ‘What was there? Oh, shoot, we had that Gatorade special going on. That was a hit!’ There is so much data you can garner from this tech, and we haven’t even scratched the surface yet. It is a business tool in addition to your security platform.”
The Secret of Secom’s Success
While technological advancements influencing the ways we safeguard our buildings and assets are always on the move, the secret to Toomey’s – and Secom’s – success has remained a constant over the last two decades.
“Relationships,” Toomey says. “It’s the relationships that we’ve built and that we’ve been able to maintain. It’s about doing great work with trusted partners – good, quality people – who also do great work.”
Today, Secom’s Columbia HQ is populated by an “amazing mix of people.” There’s a lot of laughter, Toomey says, and a commitment to doing right by every customer.
“It’s been a wild ride, and it hasn’t always been easy,” he recalls. “For the first 10 years, I did everything. I did the books and the ordering. There were some lean times. I went months without a paycheck. There was a lot of struggle. But through hard work and perseverance, we did it. There wasn’t an option for us to fail. We had to keep chugging along.”
With Secom AWARE, the company is now soaring.
“It’s been 20 years in the making,” says Toomey. “But we’re in a good place right now.”