Rentokil: Technology keeps customers, employees connected

Rentokil Steritech (formerly Rentokil North America) uses a variety of technological platforms to enhance both growth and success.

Rentokil Steritech President and CEO John Myers. Photo: Rentokil Steritech

Rentokil Steritech continues to grow, both through acquisitions and organically. To keep its employees unified under one corporate culture, its president, John Myers, says the company takes a “best of both worlds” approach.

“When making acquisitions, we target companies that have expertise in their market, and we leverage that knowledge to improve the service we provide,” he adds. “At the same time, we have resources and technology that enable them to provide better service, and we’re able to integrate those resources quickly.”

Today’s industry technologies play a big role in executing this process, Myers says. Because Rentokil Steritech is the North American division of the British-based global firm Rentokil Initial Plc, a company-wide intranet helps keep employees worldwide literally on the same page. It includes a monthly leadership blog, written by senior members of the company, and a monthly newsletter.

Rentokil Steritech also uses a proprietary technology platform, PestNetOnline, to communicate with commercial customers.

“Its reporting meets the scrutiny of government regulatory and third-party audits and documentation requirements,” Myers says.

Looking ahead, Rentokil Steritech is developing a process that will use the capabilities of the Internet of Things (IoT). At its core, the IoT consists of connected devices that are able to sense and transmit data. Tomorrow’s technicians will be able to be more proactive and react much more quickly than they do today, Myers says.

“This technology will provide 24/7/365 always-on trapping and monitoring systems to proactively provide alerts of pest activity before a problem arises, vs. today’s environment where we rely on observation, passive tracking and regular technician visits,” he adds.

Rentokil Steritech

Headquarters: Reading, Pa.
2015 Revenue: $440 million
Projected 2016 Revenue: $444 million
Projected 2016 Increase: 10 percent

Top 3 business tips:

1. Diversify. If you do only one thing well, what happens if that one thing no longer becomes necessary? That’s why we offer a wide range of services that cover everything from bird management to rodent control and everything in between — as well as pest prevention, always-on pest monitoring and pest treatments. Bed bugs, for example, weren’t an issue for decades before making a comeback. Any business that had been built solely around bed bug control would have died on the vine.
2. Offer stellar customer service. We’re in a customer-driven business, which means the most important thing at the end of the day is, did we leave the customer satisfied? If so, not only are they likely to call us in the future for any issues, but they’re also going to be more inclined to spread the word about us to others — not only on the residential side of things, but also the commercial.
3. Stay relevant. Most industries are constantly changing, even if it’s only at the micro level. That said, over time those micro changes eventually can turn into a macro change. If you don’t stay current and on top of all of the latest technologies and best practices, even if you are an industry leader, you can find yourself left by the wayside.

Editor Heather Gooch can be reached at hgooch@northcoastmedia.net or 330-321-9754.