“It became evident that our customers are asking about these things and they’re really trying to figure it out,” Walsh said. “They’re trying to make sure that they’re compliant and that they’re safe, and that’s when we just saw a need to get into an area that we’ve never really gotten into.”
Proton, based in Raleigh, N.C., and founded in 2014, offers dealerships a slate of cybersecurity tools, such as outsourced IT departments, security operations centers, remote help desks and on-site support teams.
Founder Brad Holton is the sole owner, and he said he intends to continue to lead Proton for the long term under the Reynolds umbrella.
Proton has about 600 dealership clients, 98 percent of which are franchised, Holton said. Walsh said there’s lots of room to expand Proton’s products and services across the Reynolds customer base, maybe even to “100 percent” of it. Reynolds doesn’t disclose the number of its dealership customers.
This year, Walsh said Reynolds would step up its acquisition activity and build out its product portfolio.
