Last year around this time a shock occurred in the systems sector when Dermot Grace decided to leave the Norbain Group after 18 years with the company, recalls our regular interviewer Una Riley. From the April 2011 print issue of Professional Security magazine.
It was at the time of a capital restructuring at Norbain Group Limited (the Group’s holding company) when as the then Group Commercial Director he decided to take the opportunity to pursue a change in career direction. Dermot, who has been an influential and key industry figure for many years, served as Managing Director and Sales Director at Norbain between 1993 and 2005. He was considered to be one of the great drivers of the Norbain business since the company was formed in 1982 and had become known as Mr Norbain by many people within the systems sector. His rounding-up of the sales staff at events such as IFSEC to work the room at the Met bar was legendary. For many systems aficionados the hot ticket over many years at IFSEC was the Norbain party. From the outside the team of Alun Jon and Dermot Grace was regarded as a winning combination. However, like the old saying goes ‘there is nothing as constant as change’ and Dermot moved on to become Strategic Sales Director EMEA at Tyco Security Products. I wanted to catch up with him to find out more.
I asked him how he felt about no longer being Mr. Norbain. Dermot laughed and replied: “I will always feel part of Norbain and I have huge admiration for the total dedication and commitment of the people and to the business as a whole. Essentially I had been with the business for quite some time and the restructuring offered a timely opportunity for me to take stock of my own situation. I wanted new challenges and that is not to say that I could not find them at Norbain but it just seemed to be the right time to exit the business and keep some continuity with the past. I guess you could say that my business DNA is all about driving new business and taking businesses forward. I was at a time when the opportunity was right and when I looked to the future the opportunity at Tyco provided me with that new challenge.” I asked what his role at Tyco was all about. Dermot replied: “My title is Strategic Sales Director for Europe, Middle East and Africa. The essence of the role is to work with the existing regional sales directors across the EMEA network and of course the senior managers within America. Our goals and objectives are to double the business within the next five years. A tall order one might say but that will comprise of organic growth, position and product road plan development. Probably what it means is that we may have to do more in the US market which is quite a mature market so that is going to take quite some shifting. But one of the real challenges at Tyco from my perspective is that it takes me back to the early Norbain days when we were trying to challenge the market opinions on how distribution works. Tyco as a business has already invested in growth in some very difficult markets in the last two years and that was encouraging to me. They have also proved their commitment to further investment in products, people and processes for the future which are really exciting. This commitment to want to grow the business and enhance what they are already doing is probably recognition of developing existing key brands. Also if you look at some of the brand strategy that they encompass in middle to high end products, for instance within their video solutions, there is a question of how we bring all our products to market through not only integrators but also distribution.”
We talked at length about Tyco in the United States and its perceived position here in the UK. I asked Dermot: with a mature market place in the US and your position and reputation here in the UK, what diversification are you going to offer Tyco that was different from your delivery at Norbain? Dermot replied: “OK, I think that some of the channel strategies within certain markets within Europe need some development and some of the partners which we had, had we looked after them from a correct partner to distributor arrangement agreements would have been more successful. All these types of areas are now under investigation in terms of how do we help our partners in each of the markets as well as some of our integrators … how do we help them to sell more products. All of that has to come from the underlying strategy of Tyco in the security products sector. In the integration of access control, video and Intruder products that is a very key factor of products that are about to be launched and some that have been launched and have been afforded rave reviews by the likes of ASIS etc.” Once again we discussed industry issues from the past and looking into the future. As a former owner of a systems company and a dedicated Norbain user I asked Dermot: how are you going to attract companies like mine that regarded Tyco as a major competitor and threat to my business? Dermot replied: “I understand the sensitivities possibly associated with Tyco and the ADT involvement. However, like in a lot of American companies there are installation businesses that are separate product development type businesses and the same is true for Tyco. Yes, it is true that ADT is a big revenue producer for Tyco but we have been around a lot longer than people give us credit for. In fact the backbone of the UK CCTV market sat on the back of American Dynamics. Tyco Security Products trade independently from ADT but we get on perfectly well and that is how it should be.” We spoke about different levels of business within the systems security sector and how it had changed over recent years due to the gates being opened to global business. I asked: what about the small companies and how are you going to encourage them to buy from you? Dermot replied: “I think that it is a case of ‘horses for courses’, we have direct accounts that deal with the major integrators and solution providers. One of the things we really value is our distribution partners in the UK and what we want to do for all business is help to develop them by way of our products and service. We work with consultants and specifiers to try and pour through products into the market place. I have had positive feedback from installers since my move to Tyco and they can appreciate the holistic approach that we are taking in relation to trying to drive through value to both the end user and the installer.” I asked Dermot about his involvement with the Worshipful Company of Security Professionals (WCoSP) now that he has moved to Tyco. Certainly in his position with Norbain they had been strong supporters of the Company and in particular Dermot himself. “I am a great advocate and supporter of the WCoSP. I try to devote as much time as I can to the Company and will continue to be there and will always support the WCoSP in its charitable aims and endeavours.” Again we chatted for ages about the systems industry and the changes that we have seen over the years which led me full circle to the fact that I for one never envisaged Dermot leaving Norbain; but here we were. I asked Dermot: so here you are in this huge global organisation – if you could change anything right now without any bureaucracy or road-blocks what would it be? Dermot laughed out loud and said: “Hmm … Let me think. There are probably several disciplines where I would like to see them excel. One is to become the partner of choice for its distribution channels. That in turn would create increase in service level and create a pull-through in each of the different markets. I think also sharing with it, its enormous product road maps. Another key factor I think would be the appetite for Tyco to acquire businesses, not just in related products but also in terms of alternative complementary technology. I think that is the exciting thing about Tyco as a business it is a technological business as well as a product supplier.” Again we spoke about the evolvement of ADT and Tyco in the UK, from the days of Modern Alarms to TVX and from Sensormatic and American Dynamics to the now strong distribution arm of the business. Technology has always been part of the Tyco remit and the future transmission market place is one that from talking with Dermot is going to become part of a synergistic portfolio going forward for the business. Dermot explained that the business is not confined to looking only at video solutions. It has a very strong enterprise across the board that will not stop them looking at add-ons in the future. There is no doubt that Dermot is settled into his new role, it is just strange for the rest of us to adjust to him becoming Mr Tyco!
