2017: Year in Review

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2017 was a busy and exciting year for Open Options! We celebrated our twentieth year of business, expanded our team, continued to improve our product offerings, and so much more. We want to thank our customers, dealers and partners for your continued support, and let you know how much we truly value your relationship to Open Options. Read below for some of the year’s highlights:

Company Growth

Open Options continues to experience growth both in the marketplace, and consequently, in personnel. Throughout 2017, we welcomed seven new employees to the Open Options team in various departments across the company:

  • Chris Gouge – Western U.S. and Western Canada Sales Manager
  • David Johnstone – Northeast U.S. and Eastern Canada Sales Manager
  • Alex Wray – Technical Writer
  • Brad Schmidt – Software Developer
  • Kaygee Canto – Receptionist
  • Jonathan Allen – Software Architect
  • Aaron Ocampo – Technical Support Representative

We also had some promotions take place during the year. Ellie Randall, formerly marketing & communications coordinator, was promoted to marketing & communications manager, where she will now assist in overseeing, managing and implementing marketing goals and processes. Katie Leibow served as Open Options’ receptionist for the past three years when she was promoted to the role of order fulfillment specialist to aid in our order processing department. Nic Robran was hired in 2016 as a technical support representative, and while he will still hold that title, he will also be assisting our training and education team with training sessions and various departmental efforts.

Open Options has also recently restructured various sales territories to better accommodate this company growth. In addition to the Western U.S. region, Chris Gouge is now responsible for sales in Western Canada, including Alberta and British Columbia. Saskatchewan and Manitoba have been added to Brad Rollans’ territory of Midwest U.S. and Central Canada, and David Johnstone now handles sales for Eastern Canada in addition to the Northeast U.S. region.

To learn more about our territories or to contact an Open Options sales manager, click here.

Software & Integrations

Our development team works tirelessly to ensure DNA Fusion is equipped with the feature set necessary to provide the most advanced access control solutions possible. While we continuously release new versions of DNA Fusion throughout the year, we launched a major release in September. DNA Fusion version 7 contains numerous improvements and new features – including an updated user interface – to provide an enhanced user experience for our customers. Learn more about version 7.

Throughout 2017, Open Options also executed several new third-party integrations as well as updated and improved various existing integrations:

We look forward to continuing to provide our customers with the best technology available through our third-party offerings in 2018.

20 Years Authentic Mercury

In addition to celebrating 20 years of business, Open Options also reached two decades of partnership with Mercury Security in 2017. Since the inception of both companies, Mercury and Open Options have been dedicated to providing innovative open platform access control solutions across numerous industries. To learn more about the Mercury/Open Options partnership and this exciting milestone, click here.

Tradeshows & Events

Open Options participated in several tradeshows and events throughout the year. Most notably, we exhibited at the ISC West and ASIS shows, where we had a great time showcasing our solutions and interacting with potential and existing customers, dealers and partners.

We will continue to exhibit at ISC West next year, but have chosen not to have a booth space at ASIS 2018 in Las Vegas. While we will not be exhibiting in the traditional sense, the Open Options team will still have a presence at the show, and we will give an update once we know what that looks like. You can read our CEO’s full statement on the matter here.

This year, we hosted our first-ever security roadshow in Dallas with Mercury and Allegion, where dealers and end users alike gathered to learn about new product information and company roadmaps. We look forward to putting on more of these events in 2018 – stay tuned for more details!

Open Options attended several partner events throughout the year put on by Mercury, Milestone, and Convergint, to name a few. We enjoy being able to support our partners and highlight our relationships in this fun and unique way. The Open Options sales force also attended and exhibited at various regional events, including GC&E System’s Converged Security Summit and the Campus Security Summit hosted by Campus Security & Life Safety magazine.

Philanthropy

Open Options is proud to support many charitable efforts and events throughout the year:

  • At ISC West, we participate in the Security 5/2K benefiting Mission 500, a nonprofit organization that works closely with the security industry to provide aid to children and families living in poverty in the United States.
  • Every spring, Open Options holds a company crawfish boil and silent auction, with all proceeds from the auction going to our local Ronald McDonald House.
  • Each October, Open Options serves as a gold sponsor for the Southwest Airlines LUV Classic golf tournament and party. Since 1985, this event has donated more than $16 million to deserving children’s charities.
  • Lastly, every holiday season we host a Toys for Tots toy drive at our corporate headquarters. Donations received during the drive are distributed locally to children in need.

Again, we want to thank all of you who helped make 2017 such a success. We are looking forward to a great 2018 together!