So many of our clients are doing really exciting, interesting things in their businesses and in the community. Each month, Allison takes a client for coffee to find out more about what they’re up to so we can share their story. This month she sat down with Alberio Bathory-Frota from Servall Development.
Meet Alberio Bathory-Frota! As CEO and Co-Founder of Servall Development, Alberio is a visionary, a husband, a father of two beautiful children, and an extremely driven business owner here in Calgary. His company, Servall Development, is an innovate software company that is making the entire world a better and safer place to live.
Alberio (pictured right) started Servall Development with James Marusiak (pictured left) in 2005 when they launched their first product called PatronScan, a scanner system that gives restaurants, bars and nightclubs the ability to basically run a background check on each person wanting to enter the venue. At the time, Alberio and James each lived in different provinces and PatronScan was their side-hustle, but in 2009 they decided to relocate both of their families to Calgary to take the plunge and go all-in on their business.
In 2010 James was the first and only full-time employee (since that’s all the company could afford to pay) and Alberio became the second in 2011. They had a vision of how their software could help make the world a better place and worked hard to make it happen. “I was lucky to get five or six hours of sleep a night,” said Alberio, remembering with a half smile the first few years of trying to balance working the start-up with the needs of a young family.
PatronScan is a very cool scanner and software product that catches fake ID’s, shared ID’s, and flags patrons who have participated in illegal activities (assault, theft, drugs, etc.). It helps keep thousands of unwanted patrons out and in turn keeps millions of people safe. Certain information is shared with every other venue using PatronScan, so if someone is kicked out of a club around the corner, your club will be alerted when that person tries to get into your club a few minutes later. It can also let an establishment’s staff know immediately when one of their VIPs arrive or to help track the guestlist for an event with ease.
Servall Development is now using the same PatronScan technology to help put a stop to human trafficking by providing hotel/motel staff and different Police Departments in various cities the ability to work together to catch the bad guys – all by a quick scan of their ID!
In addition to the PatronScan product, the team at Servall Development develops customized software for businesses in all types of industries. They have developed software for healthcare providers, oil and gas companies, education, and many police departments throughout North America. They use a 4-step approach with their clients: (1) discovering and understanding their customers needs; (2) bringing Servall’s squad of expert techs to observe and find the problems while they observe a typical day at work; (3) figuring out the best solutions for the client; and (4) developing innovative and easy to use software.
Alberio is a kind and genuinely great person and you can see his personality in the company culture. When I met Alberio to interview him for this client spotlight, I arrived to a gift sitting on the table for me to give to Ben that Alberio had brought back from his most recent trip with his family to China. The few times I have stopped into Servall to drop something off, I’m always greeted by the friendliest, most polite girl named Shannon. This is what they look for and hire! Alberio told me, “You can have the most qualified person for the job, but if they aren’t a good fit with the culture of the company, it just won’t work…and those people don’t get he job.”
Servall Development has now grown so much they are bursting out of their current office space where they have over 30 employees and will be moving into a very cool new building in southeast Calgary at the end of May 2019 that they have been renovating for the past six months. It will seriously be one of the coolest tech spaces in Calgary!
We really have the best clients and we love working with the amazing group of people at Servall Development!