By Kelly Bond, Bridgepoint Advisors Featuring Troy West, Alibi Security
Running a business is a mix of constant challenges and rewarding wins and often involves courage in the face of difficult decisions. In the security industry, where the job never stops and every decision carries weight, those challenges can feel even more intense. Owners are tasked with balancing high-stakes priorities: attracting and keeping top talent, staying ahead of rapid technological changes, meeting ever-rising customer expectations, and safeguarding profitability. It’s a lot. Every day.
It’s no surprise many find themselves staring at the ceiling at 2 a.m., wondering if they’re doing enough.
In the coming months, I’ll continue featuring candid conversations with security business owners willing to share what’s really keeping them up at night, and how they’re tackling those pressures with focus, resilience, and smart strategy.
This month I had the pleasure of learning more about Alibi Security and what Operating Partner, Troy West has on his mind.
Troy, In a few sentences, tell us about your business.
At Alibi Security, we are focused on delivering advanced security solutions – and enabling our channel partners to grow. We partner with top-tier technology manufacturers to offer an integrated solution stack, including on-premise video security, cloud surveillance, access control, and smart video intercoms. For more than 35 years, we have served a nationwide network of security integrators and dealers, all driven by a shared mission of making our communities safer, smarter, and more secure.
What’s one thing that you find keeps you up at night?
Lately, it’s tariffs – not from a political angle, but from an operational one. The question I wrestle with is how do we stay ahead of trade policy shifts while protecting our cost structure and the reliability that our partners count on. It’s about keeping our supply chain agile, maintaining pricing power, and continuing to deliver high-quality solutions without disruption.
Tariffs have certainly been on the minds of many security business owners over the last few months. How have you seen it impact your business at this point?
In Q2, pre-tariff purchasing boosted sales. The full impact on the security industry, our technology partners and our business will take time to unfold. For now, we’re focused on what we can control.
How have you (are you) worked (working) to overcome it?
We’ve taken action. Over the past several months, our team has been working closely with both our tech partners and our dealer network on a multi-pronged strategy – diversifying our supplier base, building inventory buffers, leveraging AI, and strengthening scenario planning and risk modeling. Our focus is contingency and continuity – ensuring that we can adapt quickly and keep delivering for our partners, no matter what comes next.
What advice do you offer other business owners?
I highly recommend reading The Innovator’s Dilemma by Clayton Christensen. It explains why even well-managed companies often fail when faced with disruptive innovation. While the physical security sector has traditionally evolved more slowly, it’s now undergoing rapid changes driven by technologies like AI-powered video analytics, edge computing, cloud-based access control, and advanced credentialing.
These innovations are redefining how we detect threats, respond to incidents, and manage operations. If you’re not proactively integrating these technologies into your solution stack, you’ll struggle to deliver long-term value to your customers.
Troy- thank you for sharing about a topic that is impacting so many businesses from every industry. Tariff talk definitely has business owners tossing and turning, wondering if their costs will spike overnight. With new trade rules always looming, it’s hard to plan ahead without feeling like you’re rolling the dice. Great advice on encouraging business owners to learn more about and ultimatelyintegrating new and proven technologies to their businesses.
About Kelly:
Kelly Bond brings over twenty-five years of industry experience to her clients. A 2024 inductee into the Security Sales and Integration Hall of Fame, she serves as Partner of Bridgepoint Advisors LLC, representing buyers and sellers of alarm and integration companies.
About Troy:
As co-owner and operating partner of Observint, Troy oversees sales, marketing and business development, along with supporting segment growth and operational efficiency initiatives. Troy has 25 years of experience in leadership and business expertise in public sector technology solutions. Troy spent 25 years with Dell, Inc., where he held a variety of executive and general management roles.