After rising costs and vendor lock-in made their previous platform unsustainable, Inspire Development Centers found in Coram a flexible, hardware-agnostic solution built for multi-site simplicity.
✅ Customer Snapshot
✅ Customer: Inspire Development Centers
✅ Industry: Early Childhood Education (State & Federally Funded)
✅ Use Case: Multi-location video modernization and migration from a locked-down ecosystem
✅ Segment: Non-profit / Education
When Jason Gibbons, IT Director at Inspire Development Centers, began evaluating new surveillance options, it was because their existing vendor (Verkada) had reached a breaking point. “We’re state and federally funded… our budgets are fairly flat,” he explains. “The price was really spiraling out of control for Verkada. They were not sustainable.”
Before Coram: Locked Into an Expensive, High-Pressure System
Inspire Development Centers relied on Verkada for video, access control, and alarms. But the longer they used it, the more the issues stacked up. Hardware lock-in prevented them from using open-source tools or their preferred devices. Account management turnover made them uneasy. And aggressive sales tactics created distrust.
“The sales pressure was extremely high,” Gibbons says. “Somehow they got my cell phone number… it felt like used car sales after a while.”
As a non-profit serving young children, stewardship matters. “We don’t have unlimited budgets. We have to be smart about what we have.” The mismatch between Verkada’s model and their mission pushed them to explore alternatives.
The Search for a Better Fit
Gibbons examined open-source tools, on-prem software, and cloud platforms. They considered Flock, but its practice of sharing video feeds with law enforcement by default was a dealbreaker. “These are our video feeds… we don’t want that happening without our knowledge.”
What they needed was a cloud-based, flexible platform, and something that could replace Verkada over time while supporting their open, modular approach to IT. Coram stood out immediately.
“We really like the fact you guys are hardware agnostic,” he says. “We use a lot of open-source stuff very intentionally, so we’re not locked into an ecosystem.”
Coram’s roadmap also mattered: Inspire plans to expand from video into access control and intercoms, and Gibbons sees Coram rapidly approaching feature parity with the systems he’s used before.
Rollout Experience: “By far the easiest”
Inspire purchased 26 Coram servers (one for each school) and began testing with existing cameras. The experience exceeded expectations.
“When we added the Coram server, it detected our existing Axis cam and added it perfectly,” Gibbons says. Deployment was quick enough that they enabled audio recording across the entire agency within the same setup window.
Compared to other NVRs he’s used, Coram is “by far the easiest one to add, especially for multi-location.” The ability to manage dozens of servers “with one pane of glass” eliminates complexity and reduces IT workload.
Early Results: Better AI, More Control
Gibbons has already noticed improvements. Facial recognition in Verkada was “very hit and miss.” With Coram, the same feature captured a far more complete and accurate record: “A huge list of people it’s seen… very comprehensive.”
He’s also impressed by Coram’s engineer-led support model, the responsiveness to feature requests, and the company’s willingness to integrate customer feedback directly into the roadmap.
Why Coram?
- Hardware-agnostic: Works with existing Axis and other devices.
- Cost-effective: A sustainable model for budget-restricted non-profits.
- Multi-site simplicity: Single interface across 26 schools.
- Stronger AI performance: More complete facial recognition results.
- Open, flexible philosophy: Aligns with their open-source practices.
- Customer-driven roadmap: Rapid development toward access control and intercom.
Recommendation
Gibbons is clear: “I would definitely recommend Coram.” For organizations managing multiple sites, he calls it “by far the easiest” platform he has used. Easy to deploy, easy to scale, and built for real-world constraints.
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