The Company
Belfry is a platform designed for security guard contracting companies that provides comprehensive tools for hiring, onboarding, and managing payroll and insurance workflows. The platform serves both HR administrators at security companies and the security contractors themselves, handling critical documentation including I-9 forms, workers' compensation, and general liability insurance. In an industry with tight margins and high workforce turnover, Belfry's mission is to make operations more efficient through technology.
The Problem
Security guard contracting companies operate in a challenging business environment. Margins are slim, workforce turnover is high, and regulatory compliance requirements are strict. Every new hire requires a complete onboarding process: I-9 employment verification forms, tax documents, direct deposit authorizations, insurance forms, and company-specific agreements. Mistakes in I-9 forms can result in significant fines. Missing insurance documentation creates liability exposure. Manual data entry across multiple forms is time-consuming and error-prone.
The scale of the challenge multiplies across Belfry's customer base. Each security contracting company has slightly different requirements based on their locations, contracts, and insurance carriers. Some need additional state-specific forms. Others have custom agreements with their clients. Building separate document workflows for each customer would be unsustainable.
Before implementing a flexible solution, Belfry faced a decision: build highly customized document workflows for each customer (requiring substantial engineering time for every new client) or use a one-size-fits-all approach that wouldn't meet all customer needs. Neither option supported the scalability Belfry needed in a low-margin industry where operational efficiency is critical.
The Solution
Belfry implemented Anvil's embedded builders, allowing their customers to create and customize their own document workflows without requiring Belfry's engineering team to build custom solutions for each security company.
The embedded builders are integrated directly into Belfry's platform. When a new security contracting company onboards to Belfry, their HR administrators can use the embedded template builder to upload their existing PDF forms—I-9s, tax documents, insurance forms, company-specific agreements. The builder allows them to make these PDFs fillable, mapping fields to data collected in Belfry's system.
This self-service approach means that each security company can configure their exact documentation requirements without waiting for Belfry's team to build custom workflows. If a company needs to add a new state-specific form or update their insurance documentation, they can do it themselves using the embedded tools.
For security contractors being onboarded, the experience is seamless. They enter their information once through Belfry's interface, and that data automatically populates across all the forms their employer requires. This eliminates the repetitive data entry that makes onboarding tedious and time-consuming.
The embedded builders also support workflow customization. HR administrators can configure which forms are required for which types of positions, ensuring that security guards, supervisors, and administrative staff all receive the appropriate documentation packages.
By implementing Anvil's embedded builders, Belfry created a scalable platform that allows each security contracting company to configure their exact documentation requirements while maintaining operational efficiency in a low-margin industry. The self-service approach enables Belfry to grow their customer base without proportionally increasing engineering resources.
