After the recession in 2008, the U.S is still in the progress of recovery. a&s interviewed Andre Greco, Director of Sales of Security & Fire Solutions at Johnson Controls, to foresee the US security market n 2014 and discuss the expectations from end users point of view.
Recovering US security
When discussing the growth momentum of government sector in the US, the market is predicted to flat-line in 2014. Within federal government space, there proves to be very little momentum in terms of new projects. The process is moving more cautiously than in the past. Projects begin with procurement followed by bids or task orders related to the program. There has been more required involvement with integrators owned by minorities, women, disabled or veterans.
Large commercial sectors have been showing an ongoing slowdown and will likely do so in 2014, due to more retrofit projects to drive security and efficiency, trying to get more out of available space. Same could be said about small to medium sized business market, most of which are dependent upon larger companies for much of their business.
On the topic of Vertical markets, healthcare is predicted to be the fastest growing in 2014 due to legal and marketing requirements to deliver better patient experience. On the contrary, gaming sector is said to be the slowest market as expendable income slims. The retail industry, on the other hand, gains benefits from video surveillance systems, using cameras and analytics, not only to secure but also to monitor retail behavior to optimize traffic and sales.
IP Video technologies
The predominant trend of IP-based video and retrofits involve migrating from analog to IP across all market segments. These trends are not only the integration of video and access but also integrations of all security systems. Users will no longer accept standalone technology, as integration helps create a safer and more efficient environment.
Although working with legacy systems, fire and visitor management as well as emergency notification systems are all part of an integrated system, creating efficiency taking fewer people to manage a system and a single integrator can service it.
The topic of intelligent video commonly adopted for several applications and vertical markets. The retail industry for one is leading the way with its use of video analytics to monitor patterns among shoppers. Intelligent video is also common in transportation industry, playing an important part in infrastructure by creating perimeters around facilities and using analytics to alert first responders before an emergency happens.
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Access Control commonly mentions physical access and logical access. Looking at the physical access market, the migration from mechanical locks to electronic locks as well as wireless locks has grown substantially over the past few years. In a retrofit, wireless requires no additional cabling making it easy to add at a fraction of the costs, whilst existing Wi-Fi networks make it easy for wireless locks to communicate over a wide area.
As for NFC and biometrics in a physical access control environment, biometrics continues to remain a solution for high-security environments where dual- or tri-certification is necessary. There has been little adoption of biometrics within the commercial space and there is debate within the industry over the reliability of technologies.
That said, there are more requests for combined physical-logical access systems. The driver is able to use the same credential to enter a building and then log into a computer. If the card hasn't been used for building access, then it can't be used on a computer, printer or other device.
Alarm Technologies
Not much can be said about video verification however as access control and intrusion become more tightly integrated with cameras; video verification is expected to be used more often.
Increase of rmr
As systems integrators and service providers believe that some growth in RMR in 2014 will be based on end users looking to maximize their investments. Users are trying to get as much as they can from each piece of equipment, users want proper maintenance to keep equipment lasting for another couple of years instead of settle for a five year of service. They are open to service and maintenance plans that result in RMR for integrators. Also access and video monitoring become more accepted, this will offer more RMR opportunities for integrators.
Even though RMR has significant growth, there are still challenges which integrators are faced with. Attracting high-tech sales talents has become as such. Those need to be able to identify business challenges, communicate sufficiently with IT people, results in recruiting from non-traditional markets such as telephony, software development, IT and related industries or recruit at the college level to build sales staff, however that would require much time on training.
Technology is exploding therefore there is a new leap forward every month. Staying current on all the new equipment offerings and standards can be challenging, however it is important to be able to explain how security can benefit and help a customer meet its business goals. Those that show an understanding of how to build and add value to their products, services and operations will florish.