Our Mission
Cornerstone is dedicated to helping security alarm dealers nationwide manage their accounts more efficiently. We accomplish this through our affordable, time-saving billing services, superior daily dealer support, and our cloud-based, specialized software. We become a trusted strategic ally to our dealers, “grease in the wheels” to help their business run more smoothly and profitably.
From a modest beginning in 1999 with just 1,000 subscriber accounts, we’ve proven that our user-friendly software and first-class service works for our market. Our security alarm dealers have added more than 250,000 accounts in our system since we moved to the cloud in early 2001. That success has established Cornerstone as the leading provider of both comprehensive billing services and powerful account management software.
Our History
Cornerstone Billing Solutions began in 1999 with its purchase of a central station’s funding and billing services division. From there, our company set out to prove that a well-supported, cloud-based platform offers our dealer market major gains in efficiency for very modest monthly billing fees. Below are key milestones in our company’s history:
Cornerstone Billing Solutions - Growing since 1999!
1999-2005 The Early Years
1999- Cornerstone is founded with the purchase of Security Associates' funding division.
2001- Closed on a $1.5 million credit line to support expansion of our dealer loan program.
Launched real-time cloud-based billing & software platform...one of the first in the industry!
2004- Finalized software licensing agreement supporting expansion of billing services.
2005- Discontinued our funding program to focus our innovations solely on billing automation and billing services.
2008-2011 The Early Years
2008- Launched www.alarmpayments.com online payment portal for our partners' subscribers.
Launched Billing Plus receivables management service targeting slow-pay accounts.
2009- Completed the purchase of software source code from original developer to enable faster development of Cornerstone's cloud solution.
2010- Cornerstone is selected for the Electronic Security Association's MVP program.
2011- Integrated the Cornerstone cloud platform with A.R.M Solutions, a third party collection agency to help our dealers with collections.
2013-2017 Cornerstone Grows & Expands
2013- Launched our Billing Plus module, providing more efficient management of slow-pay accounts for dealers needing collections assistance.
Released our Central Station Audit Report and Recurring Research Tools; enhancing review and audit of monitored accounts.
2014- Launched the RMR Tracking Report, offering a detailed and granular view of recurring revenue. The report supports two years of growth and attrition metrics, showing new accounts and/or new RMR added, lost or stopped RMR, and changes to continuing recurring charges.
2015- Launched major platform upgrade, Version 39, including:
*Quotes module, allowing smooth flow from proposal to work order to ongoing customer management; added inventory dashboard for easier management of inventory
*Service Dashboard, allowing easy review of work in process
*Upgraded calendar, including drag & drop appointment management
*More powerful ticketing module, enabling progress billing & multi-day projects
2015- Completed the first of several central station integrations, to save data entry time and enable downloading and updating of key subscriber data.
2017- Introduced texting & automated calling to enhance Billing Plus services.
2019 - Present Cornerstone Today
2019- Cornerstone releases API to enable dealers to insert accounts in Cornerstone directly from their CRM to reduce data entry.
2020- Enhanced Cornerstone’s API with endpoints to allow the pull of data to populate dealer CRMs/data warehouses.
2021- Released a robust mobile application for service techs, allowing them to manage and complete their work in the field, including instant invoicing and taking payments.
Developed Cornerstone’s database of validated ABA routing / bank account numbers and integrated with the Fed’s ABA database to improve ACH transaction outcomes.
2022- Released Microbilt integration (in addition to Cornerstone’s validated database) for bank account validation of AlarmPayments/Web ACH transactions.
2023- Launched robust integration with QuickBooks Online, enabling instant push of deposits and detailed income journal entries.