Case Study · Software & System Design
System Surveyor
Site survey & system design
System Surveyor builds the software security integrators use to design systems. They came to Maize with a strong product and a quiet profile. Four years on, their CEO has been on a trade magazine cover and every feature launch arrives with press and awards already lined up.
Software · system design
They didn’t need more marketing. They needed the editors to pick up the phone.
Security is a small industry that behaves like a small town. The editors, the award juries, the association program chairs and the integrators all know each other, and most of them have for twenty years.
A firm coming in from outside can write a good release. What it can’t do is know which of the award cycles that quarter actually moves an integrator, or which editor has been waiting for exactly this story.
Three moves, on repeat
System Surveyor understood that from the start. What followed was a five-year conversation: a first meeting at Securing New Ground, a lunch, several years of “not yet.” It ended when a fellow Maize client joined their partner program and vouched for us on the thread.
Most companies launch a product, send a release and hope. Maize runs every System Surveyor release through the same three moves, so each feature gets three news cycles instead of one.
It is not complicated. It is just done every single time, which is the part that turns out to be hard.
The playbook
01
Seed it
The thinking behind a feature runs as a bylined trade article first. The editor who ran it is now invested in the story.
02
Launch it
The release lands with editors who have already published the idea. Pickup is faster and the write-ups are longer.
03
Enter it
A win is a second announcement, a trophy for the booth, a credential for sales and sometimes a magazine cover.
9+
Industry awards, every one from a Maize-written submission.
40+
Earned placements. None paid, none sponsored.
61K
Security end users and integrators reached by one GSX Show Daily placement.
4th
Year on retainer.
Proof
On its own, a modest feature release. Run through the playbook, it produced three separate moments in the trade press inside fourteen weeks.
Boundaries lets a designer map the precise area a device covers. The concept first appeared inside a bylined ISC West Show Daily article, a soft launch disguised as thought leadership.
The launch release followed, landing with editors who had already published the thinking. Then Boundaries won the Security Sales & Integration MVP Award, and Maize wrote the winner announcement the same week.
One feature. One quarter. Three reasons for the industry to say the name.
A selection from more than forty earned placements, arranged by the move that produced each one.
Step 01 · Seed it
Signed editorial, ahead of the product
The Critical Role of the Site Survey
ASIS · By Chris HugmanHow to Improve the Integrator-End User Relationship
Technology Insights · By Maureen CarlsonKey considerations for intelligent building design
By Chris HugmanThree Ways Security Apps Are Optimizing the Next Wave in Physical Security Today
By Maureen CarlsonHow Closing Workflow Gaps Streamlines End-to-End System Integration Success
By Maureen CarlsonStep 02 · Launch it
Product news, picked up as news
System Surveyor Launches System Surveyor 2.0, Next-Generation App for Site Surveys and System Design
Getting past the spreadsheet: new tool streamlines security design for campuses
Editorial featureSystem Surveyor Introduces New Boundaries Feature for Accurate, Visual System Design
System Surveyor Introduces Camera Advisor for Streamlined Camera Selection
System Surveyor Launches Integration Marketplace, Adds NetSuite and HubSpot Connectors
Step 03 · Enter it
Every launch becomes a submission
System Surveyor wins ESX Innovation Award
Announcing the Security Innovator Awards
Chris Hugman honoredMVP Award Winners: Bestowing Security's Biggest Honor
Boundaries wins Security AppsSecurity Solutions Awards Winner Spotlight: System Surveyor
Announcing the Security Innovator Award Honorees
Maureen Carlson honoredFour years of the same three moves, run every time.
Two flagship launchesSystem Surveyor 2.0 and Web Editor 2.0. The 2.0 launch landed in the SecurityInfoWatch GSX Show Daily, sent to 61,000 end users and integrators.
A magazine coverCEO Chris Hugman on the cover of Security Business as a Security Industry Innovator, from a nomination Maize wrote and submitted.
A surprise awardCo-Founder & President Maureen Carlson named a Security Innovator. Maize wrote that nomination too, and kept it from her until the win.
Customer stories with numbersTruControls documented survey time and cost cut 50 to 70% and proposals turned 30% faster. Sales uses it directly.
A compliance milestone, made newsA SOC 2 Type 2 announcement picked up by six publications, turned into an enterprise trust signal.
A deal in the same weekA move up to 50 enterprise licenses on a two-year commitment closed the week the GSX push put the 2.0 launch in front of the industry.
Every badge, a Maize-written submission.
In their own words
“No doubt we found the right partner as the Maize team is the most experienced in the industry with deep relationships. Although we’re virtual, we consider them an extension of our team.”
Maureen Carlson · Co-Founder & President, System Surveyor
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