Meet The Face Behind Spy vs Spy
I’m Paul Lenz, the proud owner of Spy vs Spy. I’d like to share my story and offer a glimpse of who I am.
Twenty-seven years ago, my partner and I started a hydroponics supply company. We noticed that stock was going missing. We had four trusted employees, so we didn’t understand what was going on.
We ventured out and bought some pinhole cameras to install in the shop. We soon discovered that our trusted employees were indeed stealing from us. We averted complete failure and saved the company.
We realized we could help other companies, and we set out with a new business plan.
The store we bought the pinhole cameras from was called Spy vs Spy. We became a dealer for them until internal struggles led the company into receivership. I filed for expungement of the name. I started Spy vs Spy in December 1996 and now have Spy vs Spy trademarked for all of Canada.
Initially, when we started working with surveillance systems, they were all recorded with analog VHS recorders. What a primitive way of gathering data! We could only store up to forty-eight hours on a single VHS tape, and finding the event took hours to retrieve. We now record digitally on a recorder with terabytes of storage or to a cloud that can accommodate as much storage as you’re willing to pay for. Those days, alarms were primitive devices that were required to be hard-wired to each device location and had to be disarmed from a keypad mounted inside on a wall. Now we have all wireless devices, and we can monitor our alarm activity through an app on our phone. We can also arm and disarm, see all activity and make changes all from our smartphone device.
It’s very rewarding having the ability to show customers the persons responsible for stealing their car or hearing how their home was saved from a B & E by our alarm installation.
Spy vs Spy’s philosophy of ‘prevention, detection, and response’ guides our systems design for both residential and commercial applications.
My strong family values have strongly influenced the company culture at Spy vs Spy. I’m grateful to have had the pleasure of family working here and continue to nurture shared values and respect with the team.
I was flattered to receive a Chamber of Commerce’s Top Forty Over Forty award and to be recognized by Crimes Stoppers. By far, the most satisfying part of the business, though is providing peace of mind to our customers.
When I am not at work, I love the great outdoors. Fishing, boating, skiing, side-by-siding, and hiking are all hobbies. Of course, the best part is sharing these experiences with family and friends. I belong to the Kelowna Kinsmen, and our national fundraiser is for CF research. I have spearheaded many projects and fundraisers for research to eradicate this disease.
I have enjoyed sharing my story about the things which matter to me and how they influence the way I do business.
If you or someone you know could benefit from our expertise in security and automation, I invite you to get in touch. We are a family-owned business specializing in cameras, alarm and video monitoring, and access control. Please feel free to call me at (250) 868-8812 or email me at info@spyvsspy.com.
Sincerely,
Paul
