RSPNDR helps small communities grow their security business

For more than a decade, Daniel Laprade had been building his security business in Sault Ste. Marie — a city of 73,000 about an eight-hour drive north of Toronto.

Back when he started, there were no smartphones, just old-fashioned calls and pens, and paper reports.

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He’d already been thinking about how to modernize when out of the blue last May, he got a call from a Toronto-based tech company called RSPNDR. They wanted to know if Laprade would sign up his security firm, KC Security Services (voted the best security company in the Sault) with the platform that was described to him as a security response marketplace that connects the monitoring centers to a curated marketplace of mobile guards: A reliable, cut-out-the-middle-man way for guards to respond promptly to calls in their area and get paid quickly.

Access to more clients at absolutely no cost? For Laprade, the president of KC Security, it was a no-brainer. With the large telcos and alarm companies signed up with RSPNDR, it meant Laprade and his team would soon have access to a market that would’ve normally been served by larger, more centralized security providers. Because of RSPNDR, he was now able to stay competitive.

“We joke that we’re way behind because we’re not in the GTA area — that’s kind of where everything [in tech innovation] is centered. People often forget about Northern Ontario,” he said. “It’s great to be able to bring this kind of technology here, because it’s something we can sell to our customers, too.”

RSPNDR started its alarm response marketplace in Toronto, but it is rapidly expanding to serve markets outside of major metropolises — places like the Sault and small cities in southern Ontario, like London and Chatham. Their major national clients wanted their help improving the experience for home security customers in rural areas and RSPNDR seized on the opportunity. They’re now branching out to the east coast, beginning in Halifax, Moncton, and St. John’s.