Monitoring Center of the Year (Enterprise)

Vivint was previous awarded Monitoring Center of the Year in 2017 and 2012. According to Amy Becht, director of monitoring and customer solutions, the company looks back over its previous applications when it’s eligible to apply again.

“It’s amazing to see how we have evolved and innovated over that period of time since the last application,” she says. “So not only does the award acknowledge excellence, I think the pursuit of the award continually drives excellence year over year.”

It’s this continual pursuit of excellence that has led Vivint to be awarded Monitoring Center of the Year again for 2021.

The excellence begins with training. New hires participate in a comprehensive 15-week training program. To ensure mastery and prevent information overload, only one alarm type is taught in the first two weeks. Trainees then learn other alarm types during the remaining weeks of the program. During floor training, all alarms handled by a new monitoring specialist are reviewed by floor coaches.

According to Becht, innovation starts in the central station.

“The baseline is being brilliant at the basics, meaning consistently hitting key metrics for a stable environment,” Brecht says. “When we do that, it frees up the team to innovate, push the operation to new levels of performance, and implement tools to get smarter, work smarter and enhance the customer experience.”

Vivint adopted its disaster plan in 2010, and reviews and updates it every six months. It includes provisions for using its two central stations if one becomes incapacitated, and protocols for when a specific state or region is affected by a disaster. But COVID-19 was an event that impacted both central stations simultaneously.

During COVID-19, the company worked closely with UL to implement new work-from-home monitoring guidelines, and created resources for employees, like trainings on how to promote leadership in a remote setting. Employee health was a priority even before the pandemic; the company provides an onsite medical clinic for its employees and their families to get healthcare, and counseling services through its Employee Assistance Program.

“We created resources at the Vivint clinic for COVID-19 testing and mental health support,” Becht says. “We also did regular survey check-ins across the organization, just to stay close to how everybody was doing at a high level.”

Employee morale is a large part of the Vivint ethos. The company’s bonus incentive program centers around HOME, which stands for Honest, Outstanding, Measured and Engaged. The incentive program rewards outstanding performance, with both a formal and informal recognition program.

“There’s a range of awards, from pictures on the wall with other winners to gift cards, or even special lunches that we do with management,” Becht says. “We all acknowledge the work of our team members through a weekly report to the company that highlights customer testimonials.”

Although central station operators are often the first line of defense to prevent a false alarm call, Vivint customers have the ability to request dispatch or report a false alarm through the text communication and Vivint app. This feature allows operators to take the appropriate actions much faster, instead of having to call the customer to determine whether it is an actual emergency or a false alarm.

Vivint avoids 6,400 unnecessary dispatches per day due to customers’ ability to report false alarms through the Vivint app, and an average of 650 unnecessary dispatches because of the text messaging feature.

According to Becht, customer education has also been imperative in reducing the number of false alarms.

“Customers generating a high number of false alarms will receive an auto email with helpful tips on how to prevent false alarms as well as additional education regarding their system,” she says.

The company also innovates in the alarm space through its Vivint Outdoor Camera Pro and the Vivint Doorbell Camera Pro. With the Vivint Outdoor Camera Pro, the customer chooses the area of their property they want to protect by defining a surveillance zone. The camera is designed to intelligently detect people within this zone, not pets or passing cars. The camera’s AI determines if someone is a lurker based on how long they remain on the property, a customizable setting that ranges from one to 90 seconds. The camera will then deter any lurkers with a red light and a warning tone. Similarly, the Vivint Doorbell Camera Pro will intelligently detect a package and actively monitor porches. If someone attempts to steal a delivery, it will activate its deterrent features: a flashing red LED light ring and a warning tone to alert the person that they have been spotted.

“They really move beyond simply recording crime to actually helping prevent it,” Becht says.

The company’s dedication to service goes outside the central station. To date, more than 50,000 Vivint volunteers have traveled more than 25 million miles to donate 250,000 service hours. Vivint and its employees also have raised more than $21 million to help those in need.

“Helping people is really core to our DNA of Vivint,” Becht says. “It really all comes back to that anchoring value of helping people.”