Despite the slow global economy and deceleration due to local election in 2014, Malaysian security market remains quite robust, according to Verghese Thirumala, MD of Maxitulin, the Malaysia-based systems integrator (SI), with offices in India, Saudi Arabia, and Cambodia. The major challenge in the country is that c
Despite the slow global economy and deceleration due to local election in 2014, Malaysian security market remains quite robust, according to Verghese Thirumala, MD of Maxitulin, the Malaysia-based systems integrator (SI), with offices in India, Saudi Arabia, and Cambodia.
The major challenge in the country is that customers are price conscious and it takes time and effort to make them understand the need to use the right product. For instance, Thirumala said that lightning strikes are a frequent problem in Malaysia, where there are approximately 260 days of thunderstorm, and it's important that any hardware used should be able to withstand it. But given the higher cost of such specialized equipment, customers often choose low quality products. Only after realizing consequences of their action, they listen to the company's advice.
Considering the growing market and the increasing tendency to get caught-up in low-end market, it is inevitable that SIs differentiate themselves to stay ahead of the game. To this end, Thirumala said his company does what he calls ‘hybrid security'.
“We have a subsidiary company, MaxNova, which does risk management, (Analysis & review of risk and business impact, recovery strategy, developing BCP, and carrying out the testing exercise),” he said.
“Normally, the company calls the vendors to supply cameras, access control, alarms, etc. But, before this, we help educate them [clients] to understand the actual risks one step before events really happen and how to mitigate it.” Before setting up MaxNova, his company focused on installation alone, but now they are able to let the clients understand the implications of their choices. Eventually the client may stick to their original choice even after the service, but the company feels that it's able to take the clients to another level.
On a related note, Thirumala added that they believe in giving priority to service. “We put the ‘service' in the first place,” he said. “For example, many companies respond in a few days, but we target to respond within the next business day. Our company is ISO 9001:2008 compliant. I would say very few companies in security integration are ISO certified.”
He added that the market demand is not just growing but also diversifying. An upcoming product requirement that Thirumala observes is the ‘drone', which seems especially useful for monitoring large structures like solar, power plants, ports, and large area manufacturing units.