Myers Protection Services concentrates on alarm system monitoring, sales

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UPDATE
MYERS PROTECTION SERVICES
Address: 3205 E. Thompson Road
Phone: 865-1014
E-mail: dmyers@alarmsystems.cc
Web site: www.alarmsystems.cc
Founded: 1995, as Myers Investigation
Founders/Owners: David L. and Abra Myers
Service/product: Alarm system equipment, installation and monitoring
Employees: 13 full time
Revenue (2008): $2 million
Date of first profile: July 10, 2006

Myers Protection Services LLC has become a more focused company since IBJ‘s profile in 2006. Owner David Myers sold the security guard portion of his southside business on April 1—reducing staff by 78 percent—to concentrate strictly on alarm systems and monitoring.

Myers said he has been planning to spin off the security guard segment since he realized the potential in alarm systems, but the failing national economy forced an early decision for him and his wife, Abra.

"We chose to sell it about three years earlier than we wanted," Myers, 37, said.

Myers Protection sells and monitors a range of security equipment, such as alarm systems, surveillance cameras and medical alerts. The agency secures 649 residential and commercial locations throughout central Indiana, including 33 Carpenter Realty offices as well as almost every Wendy’s restaurant in the metro area. In total, it has more than 2,000 customers, including 650 added during 2008.

Myers said the personal attention of a locally headquartered security firm gives his company an advantage over big industry names like ADT and Brinks.

"I have seen, over the past five years, the pendulum swing back to privately owned and operated firms," Myers said. "The feeling used to be ‘bigger is better,’ but people are starting to see the advantage of local monitoring."

Technology shifts since the company’s inception in 1995, such as convergence to digital signals and homeowners’ use of strictly cell phones, have affected the security industry. The local firm has spent nearly $100,000 on technology in the past three years, updating monitoring and backup systems.

Getting customers past the images of surveillance systems in fictional television and movies presents one of his biggest challenges, Myers said.

"People are used to watching shows like ‘Law & Order’ and seeing crystal clear, zoomed-in images," Myers said.

Although real-life technology has limits, Myers Protection’s unusual location, a former bank building at Thompson and Carson roads, gives the company another advantage: Its monitoring equipment is located in the old bank vault, providing added security. The location also has underground phone and electricity lines. The building has even survived a natural disaster.

"Before we moved into the building, a tornado that I believe was an F-2 or F-3 hit the building," Myers said. "It hit the vault side and bounced right off with very little damage."

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