The Most Important Secret The Video Surveillance Industry Doesn't Know
By Mike Monocello, editor in chief, Business Solutions magazine
Just last week I wrote a blog post on our June issue, which highlighted all the great video surveillance content in the issue you should receive any day now. At the end of that post, I revealed some data from a recent survey we conducted. The gist? Forty-six percent of our audience (more than 18,000 readers) expects to add IP cameras/video surveillance solutions to their line cards within the next 18 months.
When we examined the survey data, we felt 18,000 was a pretty impressive number. However, last Friday I spoke with an analyst at IMS Research (recently acquired by IHS Inc.) who blew my mind when he told me that today’s current video surveillance market — made up of traditional installing dealers and security integrators — is estimated to top out at about only 10,000 in the United States. If that’s true, and our audience does enter this space at the level established in our survey, the security industry is in for a major shakeup.
The IMS analyst asked me who I felt would be better equipped to handle security installs if/when this upheaval happens. While I’m a little biased, I believe my logic to be sound: the IT integrator will win. You. Take, for instance, one segment of our audience. Our POS readers install the backbone of their customer’s operation. If that system goes down, the merchant can’t do business. Who can be any more of a trusted advisor than you, our POS readers? When you decide to add video surveillance to your POS line cards, and then show your customers all the amazing things today’s IP cameras can do (beyond loss prevention which is only what the traditional security guys are pitching), who do you think is going to win the business? You.
Another segment of our audience, you networking integrators, are equally well-positioned since you “own” your customers’ networks. Just like the POS guys are trusted advisors via the POS install, so too are you. With such a close relationship with your customers, and already having a strong understanding of their network and ongoing technology needs, who do you think is going to win the business? You.
I can go on and on and explain why our storage readers are in a great position to win this business. Why our VoIP readers are in a great position to win this business. All of you will beat out the traditional security guys because you’re better positioned from a client relationship level and a technical level (once you learn IP cameras, of course).
However, things might not be perfectly rosey for you. Eighteen-thousand new entrants over the next 18 months. Are you going to take your time and be integrator #18,000 on month 18 or integrator #100 in month 1? Get a jump on your competition and start learning this technology now. The sooner you get involved, the more success you’re going to have.
Originally published on http://blog.bsminfo.com