Convergint Technologies, Schaumburg, Ill., has just acquired ICD Security Solutions, a provider of physical security services in the Asia Pacific region, Dan Moceri, chief executive officer shared with SDM.
Throughout its twelve years, Convergint’s growth has been primarily organic. Earlier this year, with the acquisition of Qualified Systems, Convergint kicked off a new era in which it will pursue growth more aggressively through tactical acquisitions with the backing of KRG Capital.
Watch our video interview with Moceri where he discusses this acquisition.
ICD, founded in 1997 in China, brings approximately $30 million in revenue to Convergint as well as 12 office locations in seven countries. Convergint plans to retain 100 percent of ICD’s more than 200 colleagues as well as its leadership team, Moceri said.
Moceri noted that a significant portion of Convergint’s business involves servicing global customers, so the integration with ICD will be instrumental in the company’s move to serve this client base through an international presence. He also noted that the focus of this expansion is not exclusively on strategic accounts.
“The acquisition of ICD is a significant first step in developing our world-wide service delivery platform,” according to Moceri. He added that Convergint and ICD have been partners for several years through the Convergint Connect initiative.
That partnership was key in Convergint’s confidence in the success of this acquisition. By working alongside ICD for years, the company observed a company culture that aligned nicely with Convergint’s as well as high levels of customer satisfaction, a team that excelled at day-to-day processes, excellent business development and admirable depth in the leadership team. Moceri also shared that though ICD’s recurring monthly revenue piece is not as big a percentage of total revenue as it is for Convergint, it does have a very significant repeat customer piece.
Moceri observed that many acquisitions fail because of two reasons: incompatible company culture and poorly executed integration. Convergint’s acquisition philosophy is centered on looking at companies uniquely, not disturbing the status quo, working with the existing management for a smooth transition in order to be able to capitalize on the strengths that attracted Convergint to it in the first place. “We expect to learn just as much from them as they can learn from us,” Moceri concluded.
Tony Varco, vice president, Electronic Security Division, also noted that the focus of this expansion is not exclusively on large strategic accounts. “There are two things that happen at every one of our locations including, now, in the Far East: trying to dominate that local market, going after universities, schools, healthcare institutions — no different than here. And then the one-two-punch though is this idea of an overlay of strategic accounts that are larger, global clients.”
“Joining Convergint is an exciting new development for ICD. Together we can bring significant benefits to those companies desirous of a single global solutions partner that can provide consistent support across multiple regions. We look forward to working together with the Convergint team to deliver unmatched global support and service to each of our valued clients,” said Ron Efron, CEO of ICD Security Solutions.
Up until its partnership with KRG Capital, Convergint had only gone after a select few small acquisitions. “Even though we were very healthy, we didn’t have the financial resources to do some significant acquisitions such as ICD,” Moceri noted.
Roughly two years ago, Moceri and the rest of Convergint’s leadership team began carrying out a new expansion strategy for the company that consists of six areas of focus: its Quad Four vision, government business, strategic accounts business, acquisitions, leveraging the “Convergint Nation” through collaboration and knowledge sharing, and succession planning coupled with colleague development.
