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Spectrum Group – A look at the company one year after acquiring Steel Communications

Growth aids in market leadership goals
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Technology is constantly evolving, and so too must companies that want to keep pace with rapid changes in their industry.

Nowhere is that more evident than in the telecommunications industry, where new innovations and emerging technologies are constantly being integrated into the products and services offered by companies operating in that sector.

Spectrum Telecom Group Ltd. (Spectrum Group) is a great example of a Northern Ontario company dedicated to maintaining market leadership by providing the highest quality products and service in the industry to benefit its customers. As a wireless solutions company known for providing B2B wireless two-way radio and broadband communications, Spectrum Group continues to follow a growth strategy that helps the company service a wide range of customers in government, industrial and commercial sectors, and resource-based industries like mining and forestry.

A perfect example of the tactics employed by Spectrum Group to ensure the company continues to provide innovative solutions was their acquisition of Steel Communications in late 2020.

For three decades, Spectrum Group has been an award-winning Motorola Solutions partner.

In 2018, Motorola Solutions entered the video surveillance market by acquiring the Avigilon portfolio of fixed video, advanced analytics and smart access control systems.

According to Spectrum Group President Geoffrey Hatton, the acquisition of Steel Communications was a strategic one designed to expand the company’s offering of integrated services and take full advantage of the Avigilon technology.

“We wanted to make sure we were set up for the growth of this video surveillance and access control market,” said Hatton. “We acquired Steel Communications to assist us in this growth by acquiring a business that had existing market share and expertise in this space. Our goal is to build on their customer base and expand to offer Video Surveillance and Security Solutions throughout the cities we service locally in Northern Ontario.”

In addition to Avigilon, Motorola has since acquired Indigovision, Pelco and Openpath.

One year after Spectrum Group’s acquisition of Steel Communications, Hatton says the company is well equipped to market and sell these solutions throughout Northern Ontario. Much of the success can be attributed to the employees of Steel Communications that remained with the company after the purchase by Spectrum Group.

“Like the success story of Spectrum Telecom, we owe the success of the transition to the employees of Steels,” said Hatton. “Without their support and belief in our vision for the future of our newly formed Audio, Video and Security Division (AVS), it would never have been possible.”

With the merger, Spectrum Group moved the operations to its office at 505 Frood, a former school, and converted one of its classrooms to support the growth of their department. Now when customers like Police Services need traffic or surveillance cameras, Spectrum Group can provide the entire solution in-house. The company’s new AVS department is now integrated to work closely with its IT department (Netspectrum), its rigging division, and its radio service department.

What does the future hold for Spectrum Group given its ongoing mission to ensure their customers benefit from the highest quality products and services available in the communication industry? Hatton offers this response:

“The biggest challenge moving forward is an exciting one: managing the growth. There are many growth and expansion opportunities for Spectrum Group as we support complimentary solutions acquired through Steel Communications such as products for Healthcare in Nurse Call (Ascom), for Education in Public Announcement systems (FrontRow) and both Commercial and Residential Security solutions from Resideo.  We expect to surpass the 100 employee milestone later this year and to support the growth we are looking within to fill leadership positions.. It's an exciting time for our staff and the management team. We strive to grow the business both organically and inorganically. In fact, we have just completed another acquisition of a rural wireless Internet Service Provider based out of Sault Ste. Marie in December, but that's another story for another day.”

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