The Smoothest Migration We've Ever Done: GSIS on Switching to Belfry After a Vendor Left Them in the Dark
Before Belfry, the daily reality at GSIS was defined by manual workarounds and mounting frustration. Running weekly payroll meant constantly cross-referencing clock-in and clock-out times by hand; a time-consuming process that should have been automated but wasn’t. When issues arose, getting help was nearly impossible. Support tickets went unanswered, and hours spent on hold became routine.
Global Security and Investigative Services Inc. (GSIS) knows what it feels like to be left behind.
Four years ago, the company launched as a one-man operation out of Houston, Texas. Today it employs 10 people in-office and deploys a field team of roughly 100 security officers, including armed personnel operating in areas near the border, where reliable communications aren’t just a convenience, they’re a lifeline.
So, when their previous software vendor went dark without warning, GSIS didn’t just switch platforms. They drew a line.
“The fact that they turned off the lights on us… that just lets us know that they do not care about us. That can happen again in the future, and that’s a risk we’re not willing to take no matter how much it’s going to cost us.” — Alva Salinas, CFO
A Breaking Point Built on Broken Systems
Before Belfry, the daily reality at GSIS was defined by manual workarounds and mounting frustration.
Running weekly payroll meant constantly cross-referencing clock-in and clock-out times by hand; a time-consuming process that should have been automated but wasn’t. When issues arose, getting help was nearly impossible. Support tickets went unanswered, and hours spent on hold became routine.
But the final fracture wasn’t just operational; it was a matter of trust and, ultimately, of officer safety. On a Friday evening at 8 p.m., without any advance notice, their previous platform shut off access entirely. The cause: an accounting error on the software provider’s side.
GSIS was locked out through no fault of their own, at the worst possible time. For a company operating armed officers near the US-Mexico border, that outage wasn’t a technical inconvenience. It was a safety emergency. Level Three guards, some of the highest-credentialed officers on their roster, had no way to send notifications or flag situations through the system. The communications infrastructure their team depended on had simply vanished.
“You put our guards in danger,” said Samantha Duque, VP of Strategic Communication and Corporate Affairs at GSIS. “There’s really no going back after that.”
That night crystallized something for GSIS leadership: a software vendor that could strand both unarmed and armed officers in the field due to its own internal error (and do so on a Friday night with no warning) was not a company they could trust with their business or their people.
The Search for a Partner, Not a Vendor
When GSIS began evaluating alternatives, they weren’t just looking for a new software product. They were looking for something fundamentally different: a company that would treat them like a partner. Belfry made that distinction immediately clear.
For Samantha, communication was the deciding factor. Knowing there was an entire team behind Belfry, people she could actually reach, gave her peace of mind that had been missing. For Alva, it came down to risk: they needed a platform backed by a company that wouldn’t disappear, and wouldn’t let an internal accounting mistake take their operations offline.
“Do you want a partner or do you want a vendor? For us, Belfry feels like a partner; like you’re in it with us.” — Samantha Duque, VP of Strategic Communication and Corporate Affairs
An Implementation Built for Confidence
The transition to Belfry was designed from the start to be smooth; and it delivered. GSIS credits their implementation experience as a standout moment, one where Belfry’s team came prepared with everything needed to make the migration as seamless as possible.
Daniel, their dedicated implementation contact, came equipped with templates, communication resources, and real-world context. Rather than walking through abstract concepts, he grounded every step; explaining how other clients had handled similar configurations, what worked, and what the options looked like for GSIS specifically.
“He always did a really good job grounding it in an actual example,” Samantha noted. “He wouldn’t say the client’s name, but he would say, ‘Well, this client does it this way, but you could also do it this way.’ All the tools that we needed were readily available to us.”
From texting templates for guards to scheduling configurations tailored to GSIS’s weekly payroll cadence, every resource was in place before they needed it. What had once felt nearly impossible (accurate, timely payroll reconciliation) became a straightforward, automated process.
Officer Buy-In: The Proof Is in the Field
For any security company, the real test of a new platform isn’t how it looks on a demo call; it’s whether the guards actually use it. Officers in the field are often skeptical of new technology, and adoption challenges can quickly undermine even the best-implemented system. At GSIS, Belfry passed that test without a single complaint.
GSIS’s leadership made officer usability a non-negotiable evaluation criterion from the start. As Samantha put it: “The main people who are going to be using it are our guards. So does it make sense? Is it visually pleasing? Is it easy to use?”
The answer turned out to be an unqualified yes. Officers quickly embraced Belfry’s app; not just tolerating it, but actively appreciating one of its core features: real-time visibility into their own hours and pay. For officers working irregular schedules across the state of Texas, being able to see exactly how many hours they’ve logged and calculate their expected earnings in real time is a meaningful benefit… one that speaks directly to financial security and transparency.
“They do enjoy seeing how many hours they work because it’s trackable,” Alva said. “They can see exactly how much they’re going to get paid. And I know that that’s such a good benefit for them.”
Since the migration, no guard has raised a complaint about the platform, and not a single person has asked about going back. For a team managing officers across a range of experience levels and certifications, including armed personnel with specialized credentials, that silence is meaningful. “That speaks to how easy the tool is to use,” Samantha noted, “because they’re using it and they’re happy with it.”
The Outcome: No Hesitation
Months after making the switch, GSIS describes the transition to Belfry as smooth, straightforward, and overdue. The manual processes are gone. The payroll reconciliation headaches have been replaced by automation. And perhaps most importantly, there’s a team on the other end of the line when something comes up; one that won’t go dark on a Friday night.
Neither Alva nor Samantha hesitate when asked what they’d tell another security company considering Belfry. Their advice is simple and direct.
“Just do it. Pull the trigger and you’ll be very happy.” — Alva Salinas, CFO
“If you want a partner and someone who’s going to really help you become a better version of your company, search for partners, not vendors. And definitely, Belfry is a partner… not a vendor.” — Samantha Duque, VP of Strategic Communication and Corporate Affairs
