Prospects and margins for distributors have been less than ideal in recent years. Some, however, are finding new ways to survive and thrive by adding value to their products, systems and services. a&s talks to neaMetrics, a South African VAR of Korean biometric solution provider Suprema, about its strategy in a fiercely competitive market.
Prospects and margins for distributors have been less than ideal in recent years. Some, however, are finding new ways to survive and thrive by adding value to their products, systems and services. a&s talks to neaMetrics, a South African VAR of Korean biometric solution provider Suprema, about its strategy in a fiercely competitive market.
neaMetrics, established in 2004, offers various software-based solutions, including those for drivers' licenses, homeland security, criminal clearance and more. In its early stage of development, its products were bundled with expensive, market-dominating hardware. To make its solutions more accessible in the South African market, neaMetrics started to look for more affordable products that deliver similar quality. Suprema's products form the largest portion of neaMetrics' distribution portfolio, for the company's willingness to understand specific customer needs and to work together to achieve desirable results.
neaMetrics is a technology-driven distribution company with strong software development skills. It has a support.JPG)
service team, enabling it to deliver tailored turnkey solutions. “We opted to work with our partners to deliver solutions that seamlessly integrate video management with our access and time/attendance portfolio,” said Walter Rautentbach, MD. “This ensures that we don't have to break the supply chain through pure referrals and enables us to deliver on end-user needs.”
On Guard
South Africa is an early adopter of fingerprint technology, with large-scale deployments since the 1990s, as the country has been long plagued with public-security problems. Guarding services are widely accepted, and sales revenues nearly double every year. The utilization of fingerprints for time/attendance and access control in the private sector has also shown exceptional growth over the past decade. Although fingerprints have been utilized for criminal clearance in the guarding and security sectors for many years, they had never been sufficiently cost-effective for time/attendance and operational management.
Based on market-specific requirements, the company developed a solution that utilizes Suprema's hardware and rostering software, and is packaged as a complete solution, which effectively paid for itself within a year of implementation. Since its introduction in 2011, the company has seen deployment growth exceeding 200 percent annually.
Mobile Management
Time/attendance can be a real hassle for corporations that manage guards, construction sites and mine fields, as personnel can scatter across large premises and require different skills or certain certificates. The often harsh environmental conditions and occasional “buddy punching” make it even more difficult to manage with generic time/attendance solutions. This created an opportunity for neaMetrics. All aspects of user experience were considered thoroughly, including the number of people who would use it and the critical environments (outdoors, limited power supplies) where the time/attendance system would operate under. The customized system offers mobility to Suprema's fingerprint terminal in an IP65-rated housing, making it ideal for outdoor or harsh-environment wear and tear.
To address power issues, the system utilizes a 4000 mAH, 15V DC, lithium-ion battery, for an operational time up to 16 hours and a standby time up to 20 hours. Its voltage operating range of 12 to 15V DC makes it rechargeable with a car battery charger. The system enables authentication with any combination of fingerprint, PIN and card. Weighing 1.82 kilograms, the system is light and portable, and the TCP/IP platform along with Wi-Fi or GPRS allows operators to communicate wirelessly and gather records as needed.
Now, neaMetrics has made the unit available internationally through Suprema's network of distribution partners, adding earning potential and value back to its technology partner.