A Conversation with Sean Flint
UTC Fire and Security recently announced that it would unite all of its U.S. service brands under the name Chubb Security, which has a significant presence across the globe. We sat down with Sean Flint, president of UTC Fire & Security's services businesses in the Americas, to talk about the change.
Q. Why is UTC Fire & Security consolidating its U.S. service brands under Chubb Security? A. Alignment is really at the core of this move. Uniting the UTC Fire and Security's service and installation brands under the Chubb brand provides a more seamless approach for all of our customers. This is important not only in the locations we serve today, but also as UTC Fire & Security continues to grow and develop accounts regionally, nationally and globally, it’s important that we meet the present and future needs of our customers. Aligning around one brand allows for a much more consistent message from that end.
Alignment is important for our employees as well. We want to be the employer of choice in all the markets we serve, and aligning around one branch gives employees something to look to as an organization, versus some of the legacy service brands that we brought on.
Q. How did UTC Fire & Security come to have so many different service brands in the United States?A. UTC Fire & Security essentially went from not even being in the security business 10 years ago to being No. 2 globally. Having many different service and installation brands in the U.S. resulted from our acquisition strategy – we’ve had 16 acquisitions in the services segment alone since 2003. The rebranding now helps us reshape the company’s vision in the U.S. while also fitting seamlessly into our overall global footprint.
We’ve made some acquisitions throughout different markets in the U.S. We want to focus on each of those markets growing organically, and we also want to look into growing through other companies as well. As we move forward, having one brand is important to that identity. Having one brand gives a consistent focus, allows us to paint a much clearer picture for our customers on a coast-to-coast business.
In the early stages, it was very important that we retained those service brands and the recognition that we had early on. As we’ve grown that footprint out, though, I think our customers are much more interested in where were going under one brand, and it gives them much more confidence in this company.
Q. Do you think the company will suffer name-recognition losses at all? Is UTC Fire & Security mounting any sort of campaign to counter this? A. Obviously, that’s a risk that everyone thinks about, but it wasn’t one that we took into consideration when deciding to align under the Chubb brand name. We feel this is going to give us enhanced brand recognition. At the end of the day, we have same great employees, same branches, same business tools and same phone numbers. All that’s changed is the logo on our employees’ shirts and the logo on their vans. Other than that, it’s been a seamless transition.
Q. What kind of feedback have you received about the name switch?A. The overwhelming majority of responses have been extremely positive. Many of our larger customers recognize us on a global basis, and were familiar with the Chubb name. So they have been anticipating this move for a while now.
The buildup has been happening for several months, and it was done so it all converged at a timeframe right for management, employees and customers. We did a good job of staying out in front of this before the initial launch.