Feature Article: IP Video Surveillance Advice Your Competition Doesn't Want You To Read

By Mike Monocello, Business Solutions magazine.

If you're one of the many IT integrators who's looking to turn the IP video surveillance trend to your advantage, Angie Wong has some great advice for you — don't give up your day job. Or, more accurately, don't give up your existing line of business. It's not that Wong believes you can't successfully sell video surveillance solutions, she just knows that to do so effectively requires dedication and probably financial support from your current line of business. Wong should know. As the owner of Network Designs Integration Services (NDIS), an IT integrator based in the San Francisco area, she decided eight years ago to get involved in the physical security space.

However, rather than simply learn the new technology and add products to her line card, the integrator saw such promise and complexities in the market that she created a whole new company — Ojo Technology — devoted solely to security integration.

One of the biggest pieces of advice Wong can give IT integrators is not to underestimate the physical element of security work. For that reason, Wong strongly recommends having resources dedicated to your security business. "You can't have the same team selling printers and video surveillance," she uses as an example. "The knowledge required to sell and install IP video surveillance requires a specialized dedicated team."