Butch Davis has been in the security industry since 1987 and says that he has seen the industry evolve into the surveillance-hungry form it is today. An independent security dealer since 1990, Davis knows firsthand how frustrated the average small dealer can be with learning, installing and servicing today’s technology of digital video systems.

“With the invent of digital, we were forced to learn, or no longer be competitive in the industry, with just CCTV,” he said.

Through connections in the IT industry that Davis forged, he was able to get himself, his company, and his employees comfortable with digital technology.

“[Other dealers] had to exclude certain technology from customers because they didn’t understand the technology,” he said. “The vast majority of companies have a hard time with new technologies. It’s the big ones that have no problem.”

In an effort to stay competitive, Davis formed Omni-Watch Systems Inc., Dallas. His intent was to build a digital video system that was easy for the end-user to use, and easy for the dealer to install and service. In late 2004, Davis and a diverse group of IT and industry professionals, developed a plug-n-play digital video system. “[The system] is as easy to install as a standard alarm system, and, without custom Internet-based GUI, is so simple to use that a 70-year-old grandmother can use it with only five minutes training,” he boasted.

The company recently launched an authorized dealer program, for which it already has three dealers, and is actively seeking alarm dealers to join.

The small, independent dealer is Omni-Watch’s strongest market, Davis said, and the company’s system can be a competitive gain for those that have no formal training in computers, the Internet or digital technology. “[Dealers] can have all the advantages of high-tech without necessarily all the knowledge,” he said.