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BUILDING INTEGRATION

Posts Tagged ‘ECT Services’

Collaboration for 2021.

Being the CEO of a small business is an exhilarating endeavor.  I am blessed to lead a company that is nimble and very engaged in the community, and we find opportunities to thread our experience through different types of networking opportunities. 

I have found by developing relationships one-by-one, it is a great way to build our business, and to help others grow. Through these relationships, we have been able to provide a balance of services at both a national and local level, utilizing our experience to bring value to our customers. In all cases, we have leveraged the customer service experience with a local feel to help our customers across their organization to realize a top-notch experience.

Through the years, I’ve had the opportunity to get involved with different networking groups and local chambers of commerce.  Currently, I sit in leadership roles with both GLI and One Southern Indiana.  This past week we’ve had strategic planning meetings for 2021 in each organization.  What’s been the most exhilarating piece of that is to see how these two organizations are working together across the river to help the region become successful regardless of state or geographic lines.

2021 is positioned to be a time of growth. Collaboration between these two organizations is focused on growing not just their local, home-grown communities but the region as a whole.

I’m excited to see what’s to come and to be a part of it.

Employee Spotlight: Ivan Núñez

Our team has grown once again! We’d like to take this opportunity to introduce you to the newest member, Ivan (pronounced Eevahn):

Ivan joined the team November 18th, just in time to have a long weekend for Thanksgiving!

Ivan is an Energy Account Manager. His role is to keep buildings in and around Kentucky healthy, comfortable and efficient with their energy spend. He’s pleased to work with our line of offerings which he says are the best temperature control solutions in the market.

Ivan came from Honeywell Building Technology where he served his customer base for thirteen years in commercial security and building control automation market as a business consultant. He is married to Alicia and together they have two beautiful girls ages two and thirteen. His current hobbies are listening to vinyl, playing guitar and spending quality time with his family.

Considered at times a coffee elitist who loves quality brewed coffee, his roots go all the way to Honduras, Central America. Ivan is bilingual (Spanish and English) and has lived in Louisville for 17 years.

We asked Ivan why he felt ECT Services was the best next step for him in his career. His response:

” They value of taking great care of customers in the long term. They focus on doing the job with excellence. ECT Services has a great Team DNA – a culture where you are considered family and not a number.”

He really loves to connect with people. He is truly in the business of people and networking with others.

Ivan, we’re so glad to have you on the team!

Employee Spotlight: Brian Roach

From time to time, we like to shine a light on one of our team members. Meet Brian Roach, Temperature Control Installation Technician, who joined the ECT Services Team in July after having been in the industry for a total of 22 years.

We asked Brian what his first impressions were of our team and he indicated we are a friendly, helpful group of folks. We agree, thanks for noticing, Brian.

In an effort to get to know Brian better, we asked him a few rapid-fire questions, listed below with his answers:

Are you a dog person or a cat person?

Dog person

What is your favorite part of Thanksgiving dinner?

Stuffing

Describe your perfect Saturday.

Family time at the lake, cooking out, cold beers

It’s great to have you on the team, Brian. Thanks for all you do to for our customers.

13 lucky years – celebrating a retirement & amazing team member

Of course, everyone on our team is an important piece of what makes us us. From the time you call our main line to talking to our salespeople, working alongside our designers and coordinating with our service team and yes, even working with our billing department, we are proud of each and every person who has a seat at our table.

So when one of our valued team members decides it’s her turn to retire, we don’t take it lightly.

Ann Bemiss was our longtime Director of Finance. After 13 years at her desk, she’s off to spend time with her family, maybe find some much-needed rest and relaxation, and perhaps someday get to travel the world. To honor her, we decorated her office with retirement signs.

We would like to thank one of our favorite local restaurants, Le Moo, for hosting so nicely (and safely… there is STILL a pandemic going on) for this celebration of sharing 13 years of memories and stories with Ann.

I was asked to say a few words about Ann. I could have gone on and one but was politely asked to keep it short so we could continue enjoying time spent around the dinner table. How does one describe 13 years of service in a few words?

  1. Loyalty
  2. Integrity
  3. Serving
  4. Caring
  5. Trust

That’s how.  I knew the first month after I purchased the business Ann was going to be awesome.  She seemed to care more about our Team and our resources (money) than anyone else!

What a great legacy she is leaving.

She has left an indelible mark on ECT Services that will serve us well for years to come.

Dear Ann, enjoy it all. We’ll miss you!

How to move forward after the loss of a teammate

We typically use this space to talk about technology, trends and products related to our field and the industries of our customers who are mostly building and facilities managers across the country. Today, we’re getting a bit personal in hopes that if your team ever finds itself in a similar situation, our experience can help.

Last week, one of our fellow teammates, Jeff, passed away suddenly. Our shock and grief was immense. As the CEO, I needed to find a balance between grief (both my own and my team’s) and the need to keep business running as our customers would expect. This was no easy task, but here are the steps we took and the advice I’d give another company in this situation:

First, acknowledge the loss.

  1. Several of our Team attended the funeral home visitation and met Jeff’s family and his friends.  We made a point during this visit to meet his only son and share our condolences.
  2. A few members of our Team attended the funeral.  This allowed them to realize closure and provide support to the family.
  3. We sent a meaningful gift to the family in memory of Jeff.  We send wind chimes, because it can be a beautiful reminder of the person to the family and lasts a lifetime.

Do not make a “shrine” of his office space.

  1. While it is tempting to keep his office space unused for a period of time, it is important to fill the office space with another new Team Member.
  2. If this does not occur in a timely manner, it can lengthen the grieving process and create a shrine effect where no one should be able to use the space and once it is filled again, there are hurt feelings over using the shrined space for another person.

Talk with Your Team about the Team Member

  1. Ask questions about how they feel.
  2. Reminisce stories and good memories of working together.
  3. By doing this, we make it okay for them to talk about it.
  4. Death is real and part of life and we need to have a healthy respect for the person gone.  Talking about it helps – and knowing we are truly going through this together brings comfort.

Provide Access to Grief Counseling

  1. Our Team Members worked side by side with Jeff and got to know him on a different level.
  2. The Team may struggle making it through all the steps of grieving and providing an anonymous outside support method may be helpful.
  3. Also, Jeff was mis-diagnosed, as possibly having COVID, in the beginning stages of his issues, and many believe he would be alive if they would have performed more tests.  This has created a lot of anger.

Continue to Focus on What We Do

  1. We are actively hiring additional Team Members.
  2. We are actively winning additional work and taking care of customers.  This helps in focusing on what we do and do well.

Recognize you and your team are grieving. Give time and space for that to happen, but also recognize there is work to be done and customers expect services to still be in place.

I hope these thoughts help your team, should you ever find yourself in this type of situation. I’ll be honest, I think I found it helpful to write all of this down in the hopes someone else could use it.

ECT is still here for your building needs through COVID19

Here at ECT, like all companies, we are paying close attention to the CDC recommendations as well as the Governor of Kentucky’s rules and regulations as we continue to move through this pandemic.

Our business is still open, though we’ve made necessary updates to our workflow.

For employee safety, when we are interacting with our own team, we are giving space, staying 6 feet apart. 

For some of our customers, their everyday rules and regulations mandate we must have two people on any part of a job at any time, for safety and liability. We are following this rule and staying apart from each other as best we can.

Our team is using latex gloves on all projects, and, of course, is not shaking hands.

A lot of what we are doing right now is servicing buildings while they are closed. We follow all guidelines set forth by those buildings. We have several projects for JCPS we are working on now, while there are no people in the buildings and this will insure that when school reopens, all systems are “go.” We’re doing all scheduled service calls, checking systems and updating where necessary. Rest assured, we use disinfectant on all devices before and after touching them. Because we are dealing with biometrics in many cases (such as fingerprints) we are especially careful.

We view all of this as necessary work, and safer while there are no students or employees in these buildings. We want to keep our customers up and running. 

Most interaction with our customers has gone virtual and we are happy to meet via video chat with any facilities managers out there having issues. You want to be sure your HVAC and security systems are running as they should, protecting your building and company from all sides.

If you need sales or service, our people are remote and available. For more information:

For sales, please call (800) 567-1180 or email sales@ectservices.com

For service, please call (800) 567-1180 or email service@ectservices.com

Stay healthy, everyone!

John Arnold promoted to VP Security Operations

As ECT Services continues to grow as a trusted building integration services partner nationally, we’re pleased to announce the appointment of John Arnold as our vice president of Security Operations.

The newly created role will continue to expand the reach of ECT Services capabilities across the country.

“One of the things the position represents is the growth in that division that ECT has experienced over the past few years,” says Jeff Murphy, president of ECT Services.

Arnold joined ECT Services in 2011 as an account manager focusing on commercial and industrial security integration design and sales. His areas of expertise include access control, IP video and intrusion detection and alerting.

He quickly progressed to project management, where he led security project planning, procurement, staffing and execution for dozens of projects annual that ranged in size from a few thousand dollars to more than a million dollars invested.

“He has demonstrated a consistent ability to build, develop and lead the Security Operations Team with excellence and grow the business through building valuable relationships with our customers and vendors,” adds Murphy.

Arnold’s skill is rooted in his deep experience in a variety of contexts across the security industry. Over the past 20 years, Arnold has built his expertise through roles leading security efforts for retailers as well as managing service operations and installations for vendors. As a result, more than 91 percent of the hundreds of projects he has led have been delivered on time and under budget.

Arnold’s path to leadership with ECT Services also enables him to understand the business and customer needs end to end – from sales through installation and service – and also opens up a path for others to advance and deepen their skills.

The “build from within” culture that ECT Services has fostered for more than 30 years means customers know they can rely on consistent team of experts to partner with them.

To learn more about how you can partner with ECT Services, call (800) 567-1180 for a consultation.

Knowing when to DIY vs. outsource service

There’s never been an easier time to do it yourself.

Need to troubleshoot an error? Google will lead you to a customer care community where experts and customers share their knowledge and recommend a fix.

Need to see troubleshooting and repairs in action? There’s probably a YouTube video or three that will walk you through step by step. Many suppliers and service companies create and post videos, and customers do, too, so you can get a good look at official guidance and how things might look and feel in an actual installed situation.

Need to order a part? Amazon has just about everything you could possibly imagine, and if they don’t have the part, the manufacturer probably does.

Between communities and YouTube and Amazon, customers are empowered more than ever to solve their own problems when it comes to maintaining and repairing building systems.

But when should facility and property managers seek out professional services to keep their systems running smoothly?

  • When equipment is under warranty.
  • Servicing yourself or using third party parts could void warranties.
  • If equipment or systems are still under warranty, it might be best to call in a qualified service for support.

When systems are complex and integrated. Installers should provide you with detailed documentation that helps you understand exactly how systems are installed and integrated. But if you don’t have such a roadmap, or if the systems are complex beyond your comfort level, it may be best to call in a professional service for backup. Professional support doesn’t have to mean they take over the maintenance or repair; it may mean they answer questions and even provide you with training so you can service equipment or systems yourself. They best professional support empowers you.

When multiple parts or repairs are needed. Professionals can help you map your approach to tackling repairs and parts replacement. They can help you understand how parts work together, and how processes should be staged and order. They can also offer guidance on trustworthy, reliable manufacturers. What could be worse than putting in the resources and effort to make a repair, only to have a part fail?

Service and support are key parts of the value ECT Services brings to our customers. We believe in investing in our relationships with our customers and empowering them to drive decisions when it comes to maintaining their integrated systems.

Do you have a service need? Are you trying to figure out how to get the best out of your integrated building systems? Call us today for a consultation.

TEAM SPOTLIGHT: Jeff Stivers

Who keeps your integrated building solutions running smoothly? That would be Jeff Stivers, one of our newest service technicians.

John joined our team earlier this year and has enjoyed his first six months as part of the team serving our clients across the region. His favorite part about the ECT Services team is feeling like he is part of one big family.

His first job felt much the same way, because he literally was a member of the family! His first job was on the family farm. Maybe that’s why he prefers cattle to cats or dogs. When he’s not working, you’ll find him hovering around his smokehouse, firing up the smoker with a beef brisket inside.

We’re glad to have Jeff as a part of the team, and a part of our family, too.

TEAM SPOTLIGHT: Jennifer Janney

Every organization needs a nerve center that knows what’s going on and who is doing what. For ECT Services, that’s Jennifer Janney. Jennifer is responsible for coordinating services and billing. She joined the team recently, but in just one month has quickly become part of our family.

Jennifer, pictured right, with her “surrogate mom,” a major influencer in her life, and the woman who her mother says made Jennifer a better daughter.

 Jennifer might be new to the ECT Services team, but she’s not new to service. She has more than 40 years of experience in serving customers.

Jennifer brings with her an understanding of how powerful a “personal touch” is in creating a lasting impression. Her favorite birthday gift isn’t jewelry or some other expensive bauble. It’s a framed photograph of herself, her daughter and her dearest friend sharing a moment at a significant historic event. The photo carries a special personal inscription on the back. While the photo may not be significant or meaningful to someone else, the personal connection makes it significant and meaningful to Jennifer.

She understands the importance of nurturing meaningful connections and appreciating what’s valuable from the customer’s point of view. We’re delighted to have her on our team, and as part of our family.