Atrion CEO Grillo: Larger Competitors 'Don't Have The Breadth Of Professional Services That We Have'

Atrion Communication Resources Founder and CEO Pat Grillo said the investments his security-focused solution provider business is making in a new demo lab and professional services are helping drive 30 percent to 50 percent annual growth for the company.

"We basically have a lab that customers can use, we can use, to demonstrate, do proof of concepts, do live testing. Many times, you go in and the customer says, 'I don't have the facility that I can hook up to do the proof of concept right now,' and we can say, 'You don't have to. You can do it in our lab," Grillo said.

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In addition to the investment the Branchburg, N.J.-based company has made in its Center of Excellence lab, the company has also focused on building up its professional services capabilities.

"One of the things that we've found, which was somewhat of a surprise, is that a lot of our 'competitors' … really don't have the breadth of professional services that we have," Grillo said.

Atrion often gets called in by vendors to clean up implementations sold by other solution providers that didn't have the proper skill sets, Grillo said.

"We send our engineers out and we solve the problem. We do a lot of [professional services] that way, to the point where we have contracts now with two or three of the biggest competitors to do professional services for them," Grillo said.

The investments Atrion is making have built it into a company strong enough to tackle large projects on a global scale.

Atrion recently won a $5.3 million security deal from a major pharmaceutical company for a project that will be rolled out worldwide.

"It was that capability that helped us stay in that deal," Grillo said.