What is your name, title, and role at your company?
My name is Zach Jory and I am the Director of Marketing on the Enterprise team at Axon. The Enterprise team is tasked with all markets outside of public safety and law enforcement. For over two decades, Axon has served federal agencies, state and local police. We serve most of the law enforcement agencies in the US and we have partners around the world. The Enterprise unit at Axon is focused on serving two major markets. The first is private security. This is closely related to law enforcement and most of the use cases are around transparency and de-escalation and how video data can help these companies operate more safely and efficiently. The second is commercial markets where we focus on verticals like field services, manufacturing, logistics, distribution and pharmaceutical.
What does your company do?
Axon is the most reliable way to monitor and secure your business through a suite of connected cameras and a video data management platform. Our core DNA is important here because we have a proven history of protecting assets and people across the globe. We have had millions of connected devices in the field for well over a decade. And we are the largest data store on Microsoft Azure in the world, second only to Microsoft itself. Our experience managing those connected devices and large amounts of data is applicable to areas such as asset management, business continuity, and helps these enterprises stay more connected and aware of any risks.
What are some neat projects that your company is currently working on?
We are working with a number of hospital and healthcare security teams right now. They are implementing body-worn cameras on all of their security staff. One of the data points we have seen for our customers is that body-worn cameras go a long way in how people act once they know they are being recorded. We have seen that it is a powerful de-escalation tool, and is also effectively being used to reduce liability when there are false claims so these hospital systems do not get pulled into drawn out litigation situations. Additionally, we see training effectiveness increase through the use of real-world video scenarios where they can train staff on how to respond to dangerous and violent situations. This is incredibly important due to the healthcare industry having the highest assault rates in the US right now. Another use case is based on our work with a number of HVAC and plumbing companies using our product when they are working on homes. They are using this for proof of work so the customer can see that the work was done correctly. We have a number of clients that have been able to lower their insurance rates by equipping their front-line staff with body worn cameras.
How would you describe your company’s culture?
It’s a great culture. I joined this company for the mission. I have always worked with software companies and enjoyed it, but wanted to shift into mission-driven work. From the top down our CEO, Rick Smith, is extremely sincere about the mission to protect life and obsolete the bullet. At our core we are a mission driven company that is very customer focused. The folks who work for Axon understand that the way we are going to change the world is through enabling our customers to do their work more safely, and lower the chance of serious injury or death. On the law enforcement and security side, the vision is that in the next decade or so the TASER will completely replace the firearm and officers won’t need a lethal option anymore.
How does your company differentiate itself from your competitors?
Axon created a market category with the TASER. A TASER is actually a brand of conducted electrical weapon, much like Kleenex is a brand of facial tissue. And much like Kleenex, our brand and product has become what the market category is known for. We created and still own that market. In addition, when it comes to body-worn cameras, we are the Nike of that category. There are cheaper options but when you look at the total ecosystem, with end to end workflow, that includes field-tested and capable devices tied into a secure and scalable data management platform, Axon is the best option to operate in demanding high-scale environments.
What are some things you are excited about for your company for 2022?
We have a couple things coming up that are exciting. One is the recent announcement of our in-car dash camera, Fleet 3, which will begin shipping in 2022. We are also doing a major expansion into Axon’s adjacent markets with Enterprise being one of those. We have additional adjacent markets that include Federal, Fire and EMS, and Corrections. I’m very excited to see the business start to grow into new markets and service new use cases.
Is there anything additional you would like to share about your company?
If there is anyone who is interested in a proof of concept or testing our body-worn cameras or the video management platform, we’d be happy to talk . We can offer free devices and software access for trial and evaluation and would be particularly interested in working with anyone who has a new idea around how video data might be used to increase safety or operations efficiency.