CSAA welcomed Renova Technology as a new member earlier this year. We asked President and CEO Jonathan Pine to share something about himself and the company with other CSAA members.
Jonathan Pine, President and CEO, Renova Technology
1. What is your company’s mission and how does it intersect with the alarm industry?
Ever since I founded Renova Technology in 1996 , our mission/vision has always been to deliver high-end technical repair services emphasizing quality, reliability and customer service. These best practices, when applied to the commercial security and alarm industry result in much higher and reliable levels of security for customers and of course fewer false alarms (which I will explain below). I also became very passionate about environmental responsibility as a result of my 3 sons’ influence and by observing first-hand the harmful effects of dumping non-working electronics in 3rd world countries. I am proud that as a result of our repairs, we have prevented over 8 million pounds of electronics from entering landfill or cooking pots used for both metals reclamation and later dinner by children in Africa. I have actually seen that occur. The thousands of commercial security devices we now repair monthly were all being thrown in the dumpster before we entered the industry in 2014 .
2. Share a personal experience you’ve had with alarm monitoring or public safety.
Fortunately I have never personally experienced a break-in nor the direct effects of challenges to public safety. I am a firm believer in the proliferation of cameras/monitoring throughout our communities. I was truly awakened recently to the financial effects of poorly maintained alarm systems upon our community. I returned from a trip overseas only to discover that my home alarm system generated over 50 false alarms due to malfunction. Despite my overseas calls to our service provider of 21 years, they did not remotely turn off our system nor disregard the alarms. I was fined over $1,000 by my county and I am sure that this cost the police substantially more money and time – which should have been utilized elsewhere.
3. What are your goals for your membership in CSAA?
Renova repairs high end commercial security equipment – DVR/NVR, Cameras, and Access Control Panel Boards for 4 of the 7 largest integrators in the country – as well as for many super-regionals and smaller integrators. Our customers enjoy average savings of $2,000+ on each of our repairs –rather than by replacing the equipment. Our goals for joining are (1) to continue to learn more and contribute to this important and growing industry, and (2) to begin working directly with self-maintaining enterprises – those retail and other establishments that service their own equipment. We understand they comprise an important segment of the membership and we want to reach out to them. I believe that Renova can help them lower their service costs and increase loss prevention – not by investing money, but by repairing rather than replacing expensive security equipment.
5. What makes your company special?
Firstly: our employees. Our company is comprised of employees from over 10 countries, that have been with Renova for 10+ years on average. Many of our engineers grew up in environments where they had no choice but to repair the electronics they had. So they also share a passion for quality repair and that is one of the reasons why our repair yields (96%+) are so high. We are unique also with the wealth of data we capture about each repair, and the associated data analytics which are used to drive down our customers service costs, increase efficiencies, and promote brand loyalty. Beyond the OEMs, there may be only 2 other companies that do what we do in the Security Industry.
5. Tell us something about yourself that drives the way you do business.
I have to admit that my favorite business and inspirational book has always been Og Mandino’s “The Greatest Salesman in the World.” The most important message of this story is “Only by persistently serving quality to others can we succeed in business.” I am also a musician now for 55 years and play many stringed instruments and have a passion for foreign languages (of which I speak 3). I have a background in counseling and spend time each week coaching others outside of my company.
Find out more about Renova in this short presentation. (Takes a few minutes to download.)