Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity

Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity

Non-profit monitors intrusion on-the-go with the Alarm.com for Business app

Customer Background:

The international nonprofit organization Habitat for Humanity is dedicated to advancing affordable and safe housing in more than 70 countries. Its Twin Cities affiliate builds, rehabs, and repairs homes; offers mortgage counseling and education about homeownership; and advocates for affordable and equitable housing. Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity currently uses Alarm.com for Business across four buildings, including the headquarters in St. Paul, Minnesota as well as commercial locations and warehouses. A single manager oversees security for the organization’s facilities.  

The Challenge

Twin Cities Habitat was using an older security system that required a large number of costly and inefficient service calls, even for simple changes such as adjusting opening and closing times or adding and deleting employees from the system. The cumbersome and expensive nature of this process made routine monitoring difficult, and the extra layer of management also made it hard to differentiate human mistakes from system issues.

Why Alarm.com for Business:

A mobile app allows for management on the go
Having one manager responsible for the security of multiple buildings makes remote monitoring essential. With Alarm.com’s Enterprise Dashboard, accessible via the Alarm.com app as well as on the web, it’s easy to keep an eye on all of the organization’s sites and systems at a single glance.

"I recognize the incredible importance of managing systems remotely. When I’m out of state, I can look at my phone and monitor changes or turn systems on and off… Being able to see at a glance the status of all four of the buildings that I am currently in control of is very comforting."
– Steve Golias, Facilities, Fleet, Safety, and Security Manager

Automatically generated reports provide actionable, specific data
Alarm.com for Business’s platform can be customized to deliver real-time alerts and reports on property and systems activity. Human errors are easily detected, and specific users identified.

"I’m taking advantage of the open/close reports to make certain that the facilities are opening and closing at the times they need to….When people forget to close a building, that behavior can be caught and addressed. You can see who did it and address that as a human behavior issue rather than a system issue."

A cloud-based platform makes system changes easy, saving money on service calls
Alarm.com’s easy-to-use platform lets Twin Cities Habitat’s security manager change codes, add or remove users, turn systems on and off, or adjust opening and closing times—all in seconds and from anywhere. Under the organization’s previous security provider, these tasks required visits from technicians.

"Alarm.com is a lot more efficient and a lot more cost-effective. You’re not paying for the service calls to do those little minor things. Before, we had to get the company to come in and plug in a computer to make changes. Now, if I want to change an open or close time or add or delete somebody or change a code, I can do that right on my phone."