Yesterday, March 25, a new security systems integration company hit the scene: Sage Integration. And while the current business climate may not be ideal for a new business, Sage’s leadership is ready to become the greatest integration company out there. 

“Our go-to-market strategy is to create a loyal customer, and as we move forward, it isn’t just about supplying parts and technology; it’s really about making the security operations team more efficient,” said Rick Leighton, Sage’s vice president of sales. “The whole reason we created Sage was to be the best out there, not just okay.”

As the combination of two regional security companies and an equity partner, Sage Integration has unique origins. It all started when Eric Frasier, CEO, Sage Integration, started searching for a security systems integrator for a project he and his partner were working on at a vision analytics business. Frasier interviewed 18 different systems integrators to see who would be the right fit.

“It went horribly, horribly awful for the customer and for Eric,” said John Nemerofsky, chief operating officer at Sage. “So at that point he scratched everything, and said either we need to move into that space and become the best security systems integrator there is, or run away.”

Frasier decided to run towards systems integration, and started researching how to start, and how to acquire integrators. First, he found Aysco Technology Integration, a company based in Kent, Ohio, which was founded in 1988 by Rod Bragg — now the director of operations for Sage. 

Frasier teamed up with Talisman Capital Partners to acquire Aysco Technology, and then the company acquired Atlanta-based DTS Security shortly after. Leighton was president of DTS before joining Sage as vice president of sales. 

Once those two companies were acquired, the name Sage Integration was chosen for the business. This is because, seeing its employees as the tip of the spear, the team felt the name and logo represented their belief that if you take care of your employees, everything else takes care of itself.

This prioritization of the customer is just one element of Sage Integration that drew Nemerofsky, a 30-year veteran of the security industry, to the team. 

“I was fortunate enough to date before I married, and did some consulting work for Sage as they were coming together,” Nemerofsky said. “It was exciting to work with the team, building the business so quickly — they’re questioning, they’re challenging. [I also joined because of] Rick, one of the most strategic and strongest sales leaders you can find in this industry, and Rod, who is fantastic at working with clients.”

Now, the Sage Integration team is putting its plan for massive growth into effect. 

“We’re on a path, and we set some aggressive and aspirational goals for us to get to $100 million by the end of 2021,” Frasier said. “We want half of that business to come from our existing customer base, and we want our organic growth to be 30 percent of that, and M&A to be 20 percent. We have a very loyal existing customer base that Rick and Rod built, and we are lucky enough to be a part of it.”

As the company pursues this growth, Leighton said being selective is key.

“Our understanding of total responsibility and having this operational function that goes along with the technology layout has created such a huge opportunity for us to work with some of the world’s best companies,” Leighton said. “I can look at our portfolio right now and see kind of a who’s who list of industry leaders, and our prospect list is exactly the same. We’re very selective with who we partner with both from a customer standpoint and the acquisition of customers; we know how to do their job, so that ability to make them more efficient goes a long way. And we do everything from weapons detection to vehicle detection — much more than the typical integrator does — so even though the primary business might be selling card readers and cameras, our depth is a lot greater than most.” 

Learn more at www.sageintegration.com.