This May, NAVCO is celebrating half a century of protecting customers with electronic security systems. We’ve come a long way since we started in 1971 and are proud of the company, standards, and legacy we’ve built. One thing that hasn’t changed in the last 50 years is our commitment to service. Here is an ad from 1988, almost 35 years ago, where service was the key message.
As we look back on our 50 years in the business, we invite you to join us in celebrating some of our greatest achievements as a company.
Our Customers
We love our customers, and we are proud to protect their businesses with cutting-edge electronic security. Our mission is to protect their people and assets, creating a safe, productive space to learn, travel, or do business. We know this represents a great deal of trust and are honored by our customers’ faith and confidence in us.
We’re especially proud to say that our customers love us back! As of 2021, we have a 99% customer retention rate. Over the years, we have worked hard to streamline our customer experience. Currently, NAVCO delivers a 97% picture-perfect installation. Our technicians are able to resolve customer problems in an average of just 1.1 visits, versus the industry average of 3 visits.
We are committed to caring for our customers—large and small—with quick and complete resolutions, perfect installations, and stellar service.
Our Employees
We might be a bit biased, but we firmly believe we have the greatest employees in the business. Many of NAVCO’s employees have been with the company for over 20 years, and a few of them are going on 30 years or more.
What attracts quality, talented individuals to NAVCO is our culture of entrepreneurship and empowerment to make the right decisions on behalf of our customers. In keeping with this goal, we made our employees co-owners of the company through our employee stock ownership plan in 2015. This offers each employee the opportunity to be a full participant in and recipient of NAVCO’s success. Our employees are invested in bringing their best to the company every day and are committed to making NAVCO the best it can be.
Our employees are the secret ingredient to our success. Over the 50 years we’ve been in business, our innovations and progress have resulted directly from the ideas and observations of our employees as they listen to customers’ needs and suggestions, then design solutions to meet and exceed their expectations.
Our Innovations
NAVCO is committed to protecting our customers with the latest and greatest technology. Thieves are getting smarter and more creative, and businesses are becoming more and more complex, so NAVCO is always adjusting, upgrading, and innovating to stay ahead of the game.
Here are just a few ways NAVCO has lead the electronic security industry during our 50-year history:
- Founded in 1971, NAVCO spearheaded the adoption of closed-circuit television as a powerful security tool for some of the largest financial institutions in the U.S.
- By the early 1980s, NAVCO became a market leader in providing surveillance systems to grocery, retail, and convenience stores. We developed specialized cameras for extreme lighting conditions, which were used in the national deployment of new ATMs around the country.
- In the 1990s, NAVCO created NAVNET, which connected multiple sites via modem and tracked service issues daily, allowing customers to comply with new ATM security laws. We expanded manufacturing with other industry-related niche products based solely on customer needs.
- During the 2000s, NAVCO developed and built the first digital recorder. With an elaborate interfacing technique and the ability to store transactions for 180 days with only a 10-MB hard drive, this revolutionized the industry and set digital recording as a standard. We expanded into the retail, casual dining, and quick-serve restaurant verticals by shifting focus to point-of-sale (POS) integration, workers’ compensation issues, and system design.
- In the 2010s, NAVCO announced new service level agreements with a promise of a 95% first-time fix rate.
- In 2015, NAVCO became an employee-owned company, beginning with 144 eligible employees, some having been with the company for over 20 years.
- Today, NAVCO operates 10 offices across the country with 208 employee-owners. Our large network of vetted partners allows us to meet the needs of our customers, no matter where they are located.
We are proud of NAVCO’s 50-year history, but we’re even more excited for a bright future. We anticipate more innovations and more challenges to meet as we grow, but with our dedication to excellence and commitment to top-notch customer service, we know that the next 50 years at NAVCO will be even better than the first.
