Welcome to good news York sponsored by ads on
the go get ads on the go .com Mike brindisi flying
solo Because Matt is home clipping his toenails.
It's a long long process So here I am with the
great Casey white from chimera Integrations one
of our clients for growth mode content Casey.
Welcome. Good morning. Happy Monday. Good morning
back to you Yeah, man, we were just chatting
before we started about the weekend And we were
both just basking in the gloriousness of the
weather. And for those of you who think otherwise,
you can get sunburned in September in Syracuse.
This is proof right here. My face is highly sunburned.
That's sunburned for you? Yeah, me too. I catch
on fire when I'm outside, unless I have like
SPF 800 on. Yes, correct. Yeah, no, it was a
great weekend. A lot to talk about. I feel like...
You've explained this a million times. But first,
I'll say, you know, the other side of Good News
York is we have growth mode content where we
have a handful of clients and we produce their
podcasts for their business, you guys being one
of them. So for those that don't listen to or
watch the podcast that might be listening or
viewing today, tell us tell us about your company
and what it is you guys do, because it is pretty
remarkable. Thanks, Mike. First of all, appreciate
you pronouncing the company, right? That's probably
one of our biggest challenges since we've started.
That's because I probably pronounced it wrong
five or six times before I was corrected. Yes.
You're a very strong man and I don't want that
to happen ever again. So Chimera Integrations,
we are... I added that long word to the end of
our name against the... the recommendations of
anybody I've ever met in marketing. But I wanted
to describe to people that didn't know who we
are, what we do. And still, when we say integrations,
a lot of people don't know what that means. But
ultimately, we take disparate technology, whether
it be security, network, cyber protection, audio,
Wi -Fi. any sort of HR software management platforms
and we integrate them all together ultimately
to establish some automation and really ease
of use for the business owners. So if you can
think about Your access control platform which
has all your employees. Do you have a badge you
have a facial recognition? credential And you
let somebody go and everybody knows about the
workplace violence issues there are The minute
the IT team or the HR team lets that person go
within their HR system It pulls them out of all
their access it pulls them out of everything
that they have and the security system automatically
So this is an effort to fully automate that system
so you don't forget about access and let a prior
employee back into the building to potentially
cause harm or you know something like that. So
long way to describe what an integration is.
It's taking technology and combining it into
other technology. Our base level of offering
is security. So we do video surveillance design
and install and maintenance. We do access control.
We do fire alarm. Intercom systems for apartments
and businesses like this. We do all types of
life safety type protection. So worker safety
for confined spaces, panic systems for, you know.
elderly facilities, we do all types of healthcare
technology. So nurse call. So when you're sitting
at a bed and you got that button by your bed
that calls a nurse, we do those systems as well.
Infant protection. So if you're in a maternity
ward and someone tries to steal a baby, we have
technology to help protect against that. Patient
elopement, which would be more for elderly and
some, you know, psych. psychiatric care wards
and Long -term facilities that don't allow patients
that shouldn't get out of the building to get
out of the building We do a lot as you can see
I could keep going. No, it's it's it's incredible
because I mean you kind of answered my next question
which was you know, what sets you apart from
from most would you consider yourself a security
company or yeah, yeah security company because
You know, for a guy like me, I'll admit it. When
I hear security company, I think of cameras,
locks. And that's it, right? And that's just
because that's what most people think of. Everything
you just listed are things that are obviously
very important, but that the regular person just
doesn't think of. And it's amazing what you do.
You're like a real life superhero. I mean, like
you're protecting all. What does differentiate
you guys from other security companies? So that's
why we didn't want to be considered a security
company, because that is the it's kind of synonymous.
You hire a security company. and they install
an alarm system that faults us and you get calls
in the middle of the night and you're annoyed
and you throw your phone out the window. But
we wanted to be a lot more than that and we wanted
to be more of a one -stop shop. We really started
our first vertical that we were successful in
was healthcare. Healthcare kind of brought us
down that path of doing the infant protection
and nurse call. patient safety type systems.
So that's kind of how we started going down that
path. But what I think really differentiates
us and all the different verticals that we work
in is our desire to be solutions focused. So
when we walk through your building, this is part
of the process of becoming a new client of ours
is we do a very comprehensive survey of all of
the facilities within that customer's coverage.
So this would be your first step? Yep. Okay.
This doesn't cost anything, this is a free survey
in a sense but really our consultants are asking
a lot of different questions outside of just
where do you want cameras and what doors do you
want secure. We ask a lot of probing questions
to understand the entire flow and process of
the business so that we can kind of come up with
other ideas that are creative maybe the customer
didn't think about. You know, you call me looking
for cameras, I may come back to you and say,
I think you really need a lockdown system, a
visitor management system at your front door
in a way to track people throughout your facility.
So that camera conversation turns into something
completely different. And that's because we feel
that, yeah, cameras are great and they will tell
you what happened. But in a lot of cases, they're
not stopping an event from occurring. very often
they're a reactive device when we could install
a few things that would really stop any opportunity.
Did you just install a security device here?
Did I say a bad word? My megaphone went off.
That was wild. What a great timing. That was
that was perfect. See he's even when he's around
alarms are going off. Sorry about that. What
the hell that was all about. Very used to hearing.
Yeah, not not alarming to me at all. So yeah,
the survey process is probably the most pivotal
point. And we work with a lot of different stakeholders
as well. We're working with security directors,
IT directors, facilities, maintenance, sometimes
purchasing HR. So We have a lot of people to
cater to. And all of those purchasing entities,
they do it differently. Their pain points are
different. So we have to try to hit and solve
all of those stakeholders' pain points with some
of the systems that we install. And we've grown
so quickly and been so successful at that because
we listen and we cater to all of them. We're
not. looking to provide you what would be most
profitable for Chimera or what would be the easiest
for my technicians to install. We really take
a painstaking approach at delivering a very encompassing
solution. And then we follow up and we get the
installation done. We train well. We're very
active after the sale. And every one of our customers
is coming back to us for more and more. So it's
a long term relationship as opposed to a transactional.
Yeah, and seeing that's what that's the first
thing that caught my attention Which by the way
tune into the chimera cast powered by birth growth
mode content One of your first episodes what
it really caught my ear was what you know you
and Ryan talking about You know someone might
say Hey, I need security at my place of business
or my residence. One of the first things you
said you ask is, well, what are you looking to
do? Which when you think of it, you know, I need
security. Well, it's more than than just one
answer, right? You're like, are you looking to
keep people out? Are you looking to be alone?
I love that you cater. I mean, you cater every
single system that you integrate by. by their
layout and what it is they're looking for. It's
very customized. And it makes so much sense because
what my house, how my house is laid out is not
how my neighbor's house is laid out. But it goes
even further. It's not just about where do you
want the cameras. It's what type of cameras do
you want sensors? You know, talk a little bit
about that if you don't mind. Yeah, I mean, as
I mentioned earlier, there was a whole host of
different things we have to offer. So imagine
a new sales consultant coming to join the team
without any experience. It's like drinking from
a fire hose for a very long time, understanding
everything that we do. But again, we're walking
through the building. We're saying, I want to
protect this front door. I want to be able to
know if my server closet gets above 85 degrees.
I want to protect my investment as much as possible.
So what are some of the most expensive things
that can happen to a property owner? Flooding.
expensive equipment being, you know, overheating
and having to be replaced, vandalism, lots of
different things like that. So, you know, we
have valves that can automatically turn off water
when a leak is detected. We have the ability
to detect how much water is flowing to every
apartment in a multi -tenant facility to know
if you have a tenant with a leaking or a running
toilet. So things like that, as a property owner
myself, If I don't go and check that toilet and
I don't live there every day, I'm never going
to know that. And that thing is just going to
sit there and run and run and run. I can install
a very inexpensive sensor and know in every single
apartment or every single floor of my building
what my water usage is. And that goes right back
to what we were saying earlier about when the
regular person hears security, you think of intruders.
It's more than that. It's monitoring the heat
of your servers in the IT department. It's water
leakage, and it's absolutely amazing. Technology's
changing daily for the regular consumers and
the regular people. For somebody who owns a company
like yours, how do you stay up to date on the
way things are rapidly changing? I mean, I can't
imagine how hard that must be. Yeah, it is. And
it's early on when I was smaller and had less
to do, I guess. We were at every single industry
event. So we have events called ISC West and
East and Vegas and New York City. There's GSX.
This year it was in New Orleans. I didn't get
a chance to go. But these expos and continuing
education is really how we stay on the cutting
edge. And on top of all that, the reason I'm
even here in this industry is I'm a little bit
of a tech nerd myself. So it excites me. I use
the equipment myself and my own my own properties.
So I look at every situation and every. opportunity
as if I am the decision maker at that business.
Love it. I'm an entrepreneur at heart. So when
I go into a hospital, I look at that hospital
and say, how can I make this business with the
technology that I have more profitable, less
headache, less labor expenditure? And that's
how we go to market with all of our systems.
Do you find do you find yourself ever walking
through like, I don't know, a Wegmans or anywhere
and you look around, you're like, oh, God, I
see so many holes. I see so many things that
they could upgrade. Is it hard not to do that?
I'm looking up every day. Everywhere I am, if
I could be at a museum, I could be out at a park.
Wegmans, like you said, I'm looking up and not
at the things that I'm supposed to be looking
at in the cooler and at the zoo. But yeah, 100%.
And there's occasions where I'll actually reach
out to that customer after the fact and say,
hey, I was on your site and I noticed X, Y, and
Z that didn't look. It didn't look like it was
in place. Is there an opportunity for you to
look and expand upon what you're currently doing?
It's funny you just mentioned Zoo. One of the
questions I had, I was going to save it for the
end, but we recently went to the Wild Animal
Park in Chittanango, which was, that's a whole
other story, amazing. And we were walking around
and we were off air. And I just said to Matt,
I go, you know, I should this guy that owns the
animal park is so passionate. You know, it's
it's not just a zoo, right? I mean, he cares
about these animals so much and protecting them
and keeping them well fed. And I thought, man,
I would love to ask, you know, Casey or Ryan,
how would like off the top of your head, I know
you have to see it, but what kind of things would
you think about when trying to add security for
a zoo? Yeah. So security, internally and externally,
right? You don't want people going into the cage
where the animals are. And of course you'd want
to know if the animals got out too. We do have
intelligent video that can tell you where and
when the animal is present, but also if a person
gets too close to or starts climbing over or
reaching through a fence. So we could alert people
on that. We actually were working with a zoo.
It hasn't gone anywhere yet, but we were working
with the zoo to notify people when certain animals
were present. I'm sure you've been to a zoo before
and you've walked by the major cages and you
just have seen nothing. They're sleeping or hiding
all the time, wherever that is. So in order to
get more engagement, we were designing a system
to notify people when the lion was out. Oh my
god. See this is what separates you guys. There's
so many times we've brought my kids to a zoo
or an animal park and like they can't wait to
see the the lions and the lions are nowhere to
be found. What a concept. Yeah cool and also
why not bring in an audience that's not physically
present right so there's some zoos that are considering
more of a web presence where you can log in and
see the animals remotely you know engaging with
people outside of the immediate location and
there's no reason why we couldn't have a wireless
button simple as that wireless button says I'm
now going to feed the lion maybe five minutes
in advance, 10 minutes in advance, and then it
can notify people via text message that the feeding
is about to start. Absolutely brilliant. Casey
White, Chimera Integrations. You're a genius,
man. And this, I mean, right there, I just threw
you a question and you proved again why you guys
are so different. It's not just about keeping
in or keeping out. There's a lot of thought that
goes into what you guys do and how you protect
people and businesses, which is why you've been
so successful. and let's talk about your expansion.
This is exciting. On your last episode of ChimeraCast,
which again, check that out, growthmodecontent
.com for all that information, you expanded out
to Rochester. What's going on there? Yeah, so
Rochester is a very exciting, progressive city.
We've always had a little bit of work out there,
but we've always dispatched our people out of
Syracuse. So you can imagine the time spent was
not the most efficient. Right. And since we are
such a locally focused company, we don't want
to try to force our Syracuse mentality down their
Rochester throats. So we wanted to bring local
Rochester based people into the Chimera network.
So we met somebody, a general manager type that
just absolutely fit. the Chimera way. And he
had some network that he wanted to bring on to
the team. So basically, in a month, we've gone
from very little presence to now having four
full time people living in the Rochester area.
We have our own office already that we've moved
into. And we are now actively promoting Chimera
to all Rochester businesses. That's amazing.
And do you have I mean, do you have any Plans
for more expansion in the future or what's what's
down the pipeline? I've been most successful
by not having a plan. So if I told you I want
to be in Buffalo by 2026, I think it might be
forced and it may not work. So in reality, I
walk around with my ears and my eyes open. I'm
looking for that. Chimera Buffalo or Chimera
Westchester County or Pittsburgh, Philadelphia,
Burlington, Vermont. regional areas. Wonderful.
I find the people to fit into the position and
then I work the business around that individual.
See, it's like, you know, in business, you're
calculated as far as the security process goes.
And then in business itself and your expansion,
you're also calculated. You talked about walking
into public places. You're always looking around
eyes and ears. And in business, you're doing
the same thing with expansion. You're just taking
it day by day. And that's why I think you guys
have been and continue to be so successful. and
we're so happy for you. A couple more questions.
I was wondering, you know, so you're dealing
with, you know, very serious situations in business
and in residences of protecting people and places.
You know, are there some legal ramifications
that you have to protect yourself from? You know,
do you find that, you know, hey, if this doesn't
work, could it fall back on us because we didn't
do this property? How do you kind of... avoid
that or navigate that. That is one of the largest
risks of most businesses, but it's very, very
prevalent in our business, especially in the
life safety world. We are installing fire alarm
systems to meet building code. And if that fire
alarm doesn't work when there is a fire and there's
a loss of life or property, That's the kind of
stuff that keeps me up at night. Sure. So we
have a painstaking approach to designing fire
alarm systems. We have what's called a NYSAT
level four engineer. We actually have two on
our team, which is the highest level of fire
alarm engineer there is. And they're very expensive
and they know a lot of. Lot of things that I
don't even understand and I make sure that every
single fire alarm or life safety system that
those engineers are part of designing Helping
to do the installation and then following up
with all the as -built drawings and whatever
the county or local jurisdiction requires So
that as long as we're doing everything that we
can do we manage and maintain those systems yearly
or in some cases quarterly, if it's required
based off the entity, we just make sure that
we don't mess around and we play by the letter
of the law. So if that fire alarm happens or
fire happens and the fire alarm doesn't work.
We at least know that we did everything we could
to maintain and stall that properly. And then
there could be a number of things that happen.
So, yeah. In other words, as long as you know
that right up to that point, everything you did
was correct, then something may have some other
element or environment was the cause. That is
that is something that I feel would keep someone
like you up at night. And but you guys do such
an amazing job. So it sounds like it doesn't
just stop at the installation. It sounds like
once you are part of this process, you guys are
also are you always part of the maintenance and
monitoring of all that? Typically, yes. That's
a lot of people are feel that when you buy a
system like that. that it's a one time purchase.
And that's an old school mentality that we try
to get people to change. This is not a one and
done. There's really no technology or no systems
out there that you don't have to have preventative
maintenance, care and feeding and keep software
up to date. So everything that we do is meant
to be a long term relationship. We have maintenance
contracts and different support plans that Our
customers can select it could be ongoing it could
be as needed But we make sure that every one
of our customers are touched at least once a
year just to make sure everything's working they
have what they need and They're not gonna have
their own liability or their own systems that
are gonna fail potentially see you're the man
a couple more things you are talking about you
mean you hire engineers you hire All sorts of
people with with with high, you know with a lot
of skill. Are you hiring right now? Are you looking
what do you guys look? looking for anything?
Every single one of our offices is hiring from
Plattsburgh to Messina, Watertown, Syracuse,
Rochester, Albany. Every single one is hiring.
We're looking for sales people in all locations.
We're looking for technicians, engineers, and
then also administrative staff. So we, like I
said before, we find the person and they have
the right mentality, the right curiosity to learn
the right the right drive, we'll find a place
for them. We know that there's not going to be
a lot of highly skilled, experienced people in
our field because it's a very cutthroat business
and anybody with a skill set isn't looking for
a job. So we do a lot to train completely green
people on how to become a technician. The vast
majority of our workforce are field techs from
project managers down to just laborers basically.
So you could come to us with no skill set other
than knowing which direction of the screwdriver
to hold and we can turn you into an experienced
tech and eventually a project manager so that
you can really have a a lifelong career here.
I love that you said that because that is you
know from my point of view I you know, if I was
in that field, it might be different. But I would
think, man, this is intimidating. Look how great
this company is. They deal with such serious
situations. I don't know if I'm if I'm ready
for that. So it sounds like you can have some
skill or little to no skill. And most of it will
be taught in the field and on the job. Absolutely.
And that's awesome. We have the infrastructure.
We have the experience already on the team. They're
very happy. They're going to remain with us.
We are always. keeping our skilled veterans happy
and trained so that we can continue to populate
and bring in more and more. And our growth pattern
has been so huge. We're up to 60 in eight years,
and we're looking to be probably in the hundreds
in the next two years. So we have to find a way
to continue to funnel in talent. And it's not
from hiring or pulling out of schools. It's not
from college educations. we are literally educating
and training every single one of our employees
to learn this business. Absolutely amazing. So
you know, I I don't have to say this. I mean,
I feel like it speaks for itself, but I want
to. Anyone I've ever met who's worked for you
or with you that's been on your podcast, ChimeraCast,
or that I've met have just raved about working
for your company and you really do take care
of your employees and it shows. Everyone I've
met is just happy to be there. They love everything
about it. So I think that's a tip of the cap
to you. And, you know, we love you, man. Where
can people go if they want to apply for any of
these positions or check out any of the job lists?
There is job listings and communications. There's
a job postings either on LinkedIn or you can
go to our website, chimeraintegrations .com.
If none of those job postings make sense to you,
apply anyways because we are very... You can
find a place. We're very loose as far as what
our job descriptions are. Okay. You have the
right mentality. You have a desire to learn and
you want to show up every day. we'll find a fit
for you. I love that. We'll get creative and
get you in the company. You know, the last thing,
we were talking about expansion and expansion
is great. And you're doing it at a fairly rapid
pace. But what I love about you and Chimera Integrations
is you are very local as far as You you like
to support local and promote local You want to
talk about that a little bit because I just I
think that's such a huge part of your mission
statement Absolutely. This is a this is a small
community This community is poised for massive
growth, which means that community is going to
start to change And I just think it's so important
not only with our purchasing. So we have a machine
that we need to feed, and we do our absolute
best to buy from vendors that are local and support
vendors that are local. So I really hope that
as the community grows and the microns come in
and the other supporting businesses come in,
that they really look to the local installers
and security companies first. We're not the only
one in town, but there are a few other local
ones that are also very good. And it is so important
to feed the local economy. I mean, everybody
talks about supporting local, but in reality,
it doesn't happen as much as you wish it wish
it 100%. I mean, we live here, we hire here,
we have, you know, in this case 20 local technicians
right down the street. How can you hire a company
from Houston or Philadelphia or California to
come in and support your business when you know
that we got to come and touch your systems at
least once a year. We have to maintain those
systems within a couple hours in the case of
an emergency service call. Why are you not looking
to local vendors to do that? You're almost saying
to us that we are inadequate because we live
in Syracuse. Yeah, it does. Quite the opposite.
I could see how you could feel that way. I mean,
you know, you might think, oh, that's a little,
you know, that's a little exaggerated. No, it
does feel that way. It feels that way. And I
think there's a mentality that feels that way.
And that has to change. get a chance to talk
to us and see what we do. We are going to blow
the national companies out of the water with
our response times, with our capabilities, our
creativity, our desire to create solutions. The
big national companies, they're they're publicly
traded. You know what they're about. They're
looking for profit and they're looking for what
suits them the most. So and that is not all the
things. That's not Chimera. I know that firsthand.
Absolute last question. All right, so it's just
kind of a throwaway, but I'm interested. So I
obviously know minimal about home security, but
I have I have a ring doorbell system front and
back and I've got indoor cameras as well for
the regular old Joe like me or Anybody what what
do you suggest for just basic home security?
I again I know that you guys would like to go
and look at the layout, but just do you have
any recommendations is ring? you know, okay,
in your book, it is so that's not a system that
we provide. And we've really generally avoid
residential altogether, because those large companies,
Ring is owned by Amazon. There's Google Nest
and there's Simply Safe. They have monster marketing
budgets. They have very low cost hardware. Most
of it is self -installation. So everything I
just said kind of pulls Chimera out of the running
to do any of that stuff because we have highly
paid technicians. We have extremely high end
software and systems. So all that to say is we
typically help a residential customer Land on
a product like that's awesome ring is good The
nest is good. I may or may not have a couple
nest cameras in my own house, which I'm a little
embarrassed about but I don't have a lot at this
moment to protect and that's changing right now,
but I It was a tough question for me because
it's not no I apologize you know I maybe I shouldn't
have asked the old you know the only reason I
asked it is because I know that you guys don't
really you know do residential I would certainly
not ask about another company knowing that you
you don't do residential but I just didn't know
if I guess I basically was wondering if if if
those are okay in your book to use they're okay
if you are looking for convenience and basic
overall understanding what's going on at your
home if you are truly looking for security and
you feel the need to protect and you're you're
worried about true break -in artists getting
into your home I would not recommend any those
systems because there are Wi -Fi and cellular
jamming technologies out there. It's actually
very, very recent where people have been using
this technology. Wow. And all they do is they
jam your cell signal. So if that's your communication
path, that system can no longer call the local
jurisdiction. No way. You can buy that for $25.
I can buy it. Now that I'm promoting it, somebody
else could go find it. and they could just jam
your system from working. So we do have higher
end systems and maybe this will bring residential
back around to our boat where we can protect.
Tell you what, now I'm glad I asked that question
because that was the reason I asked for something
like that and we had some, in my neighborhood
we had some people going through cars. They would
hit us like the neighborhood once every month
for a while and they would hit like the entire
neighborhood and up and it was like, and we would
all text each other, you know, did you check
your ring footage? Nobody had them. And I'm wondering
if maybe that was the case. That's probably the
case. That's crazy, man. So now we have wireless
systems that can detect jamming frequencies.
So when the jamming starts, now we're immediately
calling the police, bringing the police out.
So there's your opportunity to solve that. And
maybe Ring will come up with a system like that,
and you'll be able to add it to yours. But today,
as far as I understand, they don't have that.
That's amazing. If you're very concerned about
that, then We can definitely help you out. I
mean, just just in in answering that question,
you proved again why Chimera Integrations and
you, Casey White, are the best man. We love you
so much. Any last minute plugs before we go?
Where can people find your website? The Chimera
cast? Go ahead, give it to us. Chimeraintegrations
.com that's spelled C -H -I -M -E -R -A not Chimera.
Chimeraintegrations .com. You'll get all the
information you need from there. We have a Facebook
page, we have an Instagram page, and we have
a LinkedIn page. And we'd love to see some people
come in and look into our business as a possible
career path. And of course, our day -to -day
business thrives on end user clients. So if anybody's
listening, we would love to help come create
a solution to make your business safer, healthier,
more automated, all of the above. Casey White,
Chimera Integrations. There's nobody better.
If you're looking for someone to protect you
or your business, look no further than Chimera
Integrations and check out their great podcast,
Chimera Cast. Casey, thanks so much for your
time today, man, and we'll be seeing you soon.
Thank you, Mike. And for Good News York, sponsored
by Ads on the Go, get ads on the go .com. That's
it for today on this Monday and we'll be back
tomorrow. Hopefully Matt will be done clipping
by then and we'll see you then.