News

Since 1992, Costco Mexico has emerged as the most successful wholesale price club chain in the country, boasting 40 stores, 1 distribution center, 1 optics laboratory, and 2 corporate office headquarters. Originally relying on ADT Mexico for alarm monitoring, the company decided to establish its own monitoring center nearly two decades ago, owing to the complexity and extensive needs unique to their operations.

With each business unit equipped with up to 3 alarm panels and over 180 sensors, along with partitioned systems and varied schedules, managing the security infrastructure was a challenge. In 2010, Costco took a groundbreaking step by implementing SoftGuard’s innovative platform, becoming the first retail business in Mexico to self-manage their monitoring with a fully IP-based system.

Last year marked the second evolution in Costco’s security journey with the introduction of SmartPanics. By distributing 400 apps among store managers and key security personnel, incidents that couldn’t be captured by the alarm system could now be promptly reported to the central monitoring center. SmartPanics also proved invaluable as an alternate reporting method when communication with a branch was disrupted.

In a recent milestone, a second Costco monitoring center was implemented at another corporate office, mirroring the primary station with new server infrastructure. Simulation tests will soon determine signal transfer times between the two sites. Costco’s proactive approach, high service standards, and loss forecasting practices have made it an exemplary company.

The success of their self-monitoring journey has drawn attention from Costco’s corporate office in the USA, which is considering replicating this model in other countries. SoftGuard has played a pivotal role in this evolution, serving as the flagbearer of their security standard worldwide. We extend our heartfelt appreciation to Costco and GSA Consulting, our distributor in Mexico, for their trust and partnership.