Maximizing and Managing Engineering Partners

Hey, everyone, and welcome to engineering experience by Paragon Innovations on Tyler Kern. Mike Wilkinson is here alongside me. Hey, Mike. How's it going? Hey, good to see you. Good to see you too, sir. We have two fantastic guests today that are gonna be joining us to talk about maximizing and managing engineering partners. And they are Juliana Goldenberg. She's the president of Secure Tech Systems. Julia, thank you so much for being here. It's our pleasure. Absolutely. Steve Kirby as well. He is the founder of Secure Tech Systems. Steve, good to talk to you. Well, thank you for having us in. Absolutely. Well, as a as a way of introductions, rather than me explaining everything that your company does, why don't you guys just give us an introduction into a little bit more about Secure Tech Systems and and what you do? Very good. The company's been around since nineteen ninety four, and we developed a product back then to give critical incident notification to law enforcement through a radio system. What I mean by that, I got a little prop here. It's easy to show the prop, and then we can speak from that. So this would represent law enforcement's radio. This would be an officer walking around in a courthouse. This would be a duress alarm that would exist in the courtroom, a tax office, clerk's office, so forth. So in the but we could activate it immediately. Emergency law enforcement assistance needed in courtroom number one. So what we do is we automate the dispatch of critical alarms to the people who can respond. So prior to us doing this, the only way to get the information out was go to a control room. White would go off, a buzzer, or something would indicate there was an emergency in the courts, or you made a phone call to a modern company. Mhmm. Any all those created a delay of dispatch so the incident could get out of hand without anybody knowing about it. So we came up with a better way to put the information in the hands of those who could respond So we didn't create the panic button, just a better way to get the information out through the panic button. Wow. So when I think about this, when I hear you explain it, it makes so much sense that this is something that's extremely necessary. But my question is, How did you come to understand that this was something that was necessary? You know, once you explain it, I understand. But where were you to to gain this understanding and this knowledge that this something that was needed? Well, that's a good question. I was out repping different security equipment at the time, and I ended in Cook County Texas court house up in Gainesville, Texas and I was meeting with the the bailiff in charge of court services there and secure and he said, you know, I like the stuff you have, Steve, but what I really need is a way for me walking around the courthouse carrying a radio to get immediate access to anybody who needs my help. I said, wow. Let me see if there's anything like that there, mister Baylev guy. There wasn't. So we kind of created the market through that product. Started out just going around the state of Texas, visiting every county in Texas, knocking on the doors of all the county court houses, visiting with county judges and sheriffs, and it was easily adapted immediately because it did give them the response time they were looking for in a critical incident Wow. That's that's really incredible. So tell me a little bit more about the standard process for when a critical incident notification system is utilized. What does that look like? It really is defined by the the the customer. They get to define how when and who gets to use the buttons. Not every incident is a critical incident. When this button is pushed as you heard come through the radio, that's an immediate call for help going to all law enforcement. And not every incident requires all law enforcement's assistance. So people still make phone calls, you know, you just don't feel uncomfortable in your workplace, you pick up the phone, you call somebody and communicate what your problem is. But if you feel threatened, if you feel like your life is in danger or things will escalate beyond what you can control, that's what these these little wireless buttons are designed for. Push that button and get the right people in there. Be discreet about it. Don't draw attention to what you're doing and make sure that the guy across the counter from you, does it have the anxiety? Because you just push that button. Make sure he doesn't know it and get the guys in there that can stop it from getting out of control. Yeah. From escalating. Absolutely. So tell me about the wave plus system and its capabilities and and a little bit more about how it's revolutionized notification systems, especially in schools and government facilities and that sort of Starting out, it was a courthouse product. And that that was really the the core of what we were developing this thing for was to go out and notify the courts and protect the judges, the clerk's offices, and so forth. But since then, it's broadened out to a lot of different industries. Unfortunately, in the times we live in, there there are crazy people that show up in schools and other workplaces So we've been very successful in the school market as well, being able to notify there is an active shooter. If something happens, there's an incident on campus there the teacher, the principal, the athletic director, whoever has the button, can push the button, notify in the case of the schools, most schools now have school resource officers. So it's their radios are going off. It's directing them to that incident. Same time, the wave plus product has really evolved over the years, more than just a radio notification. It also will send out text messages, emails, turn on strobe lights, set off message boards, so it's a vast array of different technologies that are used to notify personnel of an incident. So every teacher for instance would get a text message on their phone. You know, the rest alarms been activated in the front office, active shooter on campus, running high, take your kids to safety. So it it's it's broadened out beyond just a first responder product to a more of a mass product out to everybody that needs notification? No. You're absolutely right. Just talking about the need for a product like this. I mean, you could throw a rock out of one of these windows and hit the Dallas County courthouse that someone tried to shoot up less than a year ago, I think. Yeah. It it hasn't been long at all. And so, yeah, there's there's obviously a need for Yeah. Full disclosure, we have that building under our panic button. So when you quit that building about ten years ago with panic button so everybody gets a button in their office there. That's that's really phenomenal. Yes. And just, you know, to all circle around here, We also did El Central College. They also have our panic buttons in there. So we got several customers right here in the downtown Dallas area. Utilizing the panic buttons for notification. So walk me through the process of choosing Paragon as a technology partner in what you do. And why did you choose Paragon? What advantages did they bring to the table? Well, I only I only defer to Julian on this one because it it was her research that brought Paragon to the front. We had other partners at the time. They just weren't satisfying our deeds. So Juliana went on a search, and I'll I'll turn it to you. Right. So we were looking for a partner who we could have a long term relationship with. It's important for a small business to be able to outsource things like cell for development because someone our size couldn't afford to hire a whole team of engineers. We could afford to hire one, maybe two. But, you know, you really need a team to look after you. And companies like Paragon provide that. So we can have a team of ten people working on our equipment with all of the innovation and and thought that that brings into development. And and the experience that they have is so much more diverse than the experience of one person. We were attracted to companies like Paragon who have experience in the medical and another critical engineering fields, aviation and things like that because those things can't fail in the same way as our product can't fail. You don't wanna push that button and find out, oh, the system's crashed. So, you know, we're not sending notifications right now. And and that is what attracted us to paragon. And we have not been disappointed. They've been an excellent partner. So they're like our virtual software engineer in house team. If we have a problem whether it's one of our technicians in the field or whether it's a scheduled weekly meeting, they behave just like they're a part of our company or, you know, even though we're not hiring them directly. Wow. So you really appreciated the versatility that a company like Paragon shown to have that expertise across a number of different industries gave you confidence that they could also take on and accomplish the projects that that you were working on? Yes. Yeah. Absolutely. Mike, do you remember when you first heard about Secure Tech Systems and and what they were doing? And what has it been like working alongside them and and helping what helping them do what they do when it comes to protecting, you know, government building schools and other critical places. Well, it's been a great relationship, great partnership. And like Julian said, the having a diverse group helps so you don't have a single software engineer that's doing development and maybe And if they leave the company, then now you're left with with no one or something like that. So we can bring that experience, and we are doing medical products and other things high reliability, high availability, so that matches with this. And so they get the benefit of a larger team and and then pay as you go. So we've got a really good arrangement where we were doing consistent work throughout the year, and then when occasionally, there's some hard work that needs to be done on a new version of the product or whatever, we get called upon to do that. But it's kind of a long it is like she said, a very long term relationship, but we're gonna be there to support them and be part of their team, you know, just in a different building. Right. Right. So why are companies like Paragon necessary when maximizing and managing engineering partners. What makes them such an important part of what you do? I think it's because they're in that world of development in a way that, you know, a smaller group that isn't focused on engineering can't be. So if there's something new coming out in technology, they're immediately interested in it, and they can tell you about it and suggest, you know, you could develop a new generation in this direction. So I I think that paragon is just vital to do that for a small company. And what's been your experience working with Paragon. It's been positive obviously. Just in working together, what has made that relationship so positive and how have you continued to work together with so much access? Flexibility. So whether it's a small question when someone's out on the field or whether it's a big question of developing a whole new generation system. There's definitely to and fro and flexibility, adding members to the team, as needed advising if it's something that, you know, is outside paragon's usual scope saying, you know, we can get somebody into with this or we can learn about it together. They've just been very helpful and really part of our team. This is an aspect of IoT that I think is really fascinating. It's a really important application that aspect security and keeping people safe. So how do you see secure tech in the wider IoT market? Well, technology involves constant You can't stay on top of every change out there in the marketplace as a company to our size. And that's where the relationship with airgun. It's important. They're bringing ideas to us within the IoT world that we may not have been familiar with or aware of. So to have that relationship, as Julianne called our in house engineers, it allows us to broaden what we're doing. You know, it's nice that when this thing started out when it came across the radio. There's so many things that have happened with the Internet and through network capabilities that paragon has allowed us to take this to the next generation. And there there are other generations out there that we just don't know of yet, and we are very comfortable with a partner like Paragon that could help us navigate through what those new future features are going to be. So talk me through. What are you excited about about the future without maybe giving away the secret sauce of what's would all you're cooking up and everything? I can't tell you that. Yeah. It is a broad product. And the ideal behind it is notification. And as I said earlier, there's the world is different now. I mean, that things have changed in the school market, in the courthouse, hospitals, correctional facilities. These are all places where we are going with the product because things in those worlds, they don't necessarily have that officer on-site. I think some of these facilities have contract security. They have people who have smartphones or or other ways to be notified. So we gotta keep ahead of the technology curve to make sure that we can notify whoever's important within those businesses that will be the first responders. Absolutely. And you're confident with a partner alongside like paragon that whatever innovations come out that you'll be ready for whatever the future holds. We're very confident with that. Absolutely. And I know Mike feels that way as well. Confident in his abilities. No. Absolutely. Absolutely. Well, it's been an absolute pleasure getting to learn a little bit more about Secure Tech Systems today and you're doing and thank you for keeping people safe and for for the work that you do, and it's been an absolute pleasure getting to learn a little bit more about your partnership. Well, thank you very much. Thanks for inviting us in. Absolutely. Thank you.