Owen Chen, Chairman, VIVOTEK
VIVOTEK has maintained a long-term leading position in the Taiwanese security industry with its yearly total sales revenue and double-digit growth rate, according to a&s International Security 50 rankings, an annual ranking that started in 2003. As a specialized IP video surveillance equipment supplier for the international market since its establishment in 2000, VIVOTEK products have sold in 116 countries with 183 worldwide distribution partners. Even though the recent price competition from Chinese products temporarily slowed its growth momentum in 2014, the company has quickly regained its strength by achieving US$63.5 million in the first half of 2015, which was almost 55 percent of their total revenue in 2014.
Adoption of IT Business Model
Their success is mainly attributed to its 15-year focus and experience in the design and manufacturing of IP video surveillance equipment, ranging from IC, video surveillance cameras, network switches, NVRs, to central management software (CMS). In addition, to quickly respond to the fierce price competition in the market, VIVOTEK has made many adjustments lately to become more efficient in its internal operations and management.
“We have started to adopt the IT business model and increase the strategic cooperation with partners. By maintaining high quality of our products, we try to reduce the operation and manufacturing costs and the response time to our customers. ‘Speed’ and ‘cost’ are two of our current focuses right now,” said Owen Chen, Chairman of VIVOTEK
Being Recognized in Integrated Systems
In addition to the extra attention to its cost structure, it is important to see how VIVOTEK is positively facing intense market competition. Chen said, “The main difficulty of our partners comes from the cost pressure. It is natural that the average selling price of a product is going down year by year, but from manufacturers’ point of view, it is very important to let all our partners know that how we deal with it strategically. Simply reducing the price is definitely not a solution for good. Therefore, we have started the development of our own total solution for the small-to-medium-sized business (SMB) sector, since five years ago. Now, we have started to gain more positive feedback from our customers.”
VIVOTEK’s SMB solution is an integrated system, comprised of cameras, NVRs, PoE switches, and CMS, supporting mobile monitoring. Chen said, “Our development, from devices toward systems, is very significant to us and all our partners. What benefits our partners the most is that they no longer compete on price from selling devices but are able to provide more value-added services, from selling systems to their customers. With one-time purchase, SMB end users are able to have their video surveillance systems built. So, we think selling this system is very competitive in the market, compared to selling devices.”
Steady Growth in Project Markets
Another important market supporting VIVOTEK’s growth and less prone to Chinese price competition is the large-scale, project-based sector. In this sector, VIVOTEK’s project support team plays a crucial role. Chen pointed out, “The team, a group of technical experts with strong domain knowledge toward each key technology and application, provides efficient on-site technical support to our sales teams all over the world. This year, we made the team independent and it directly reports to the top management level.”
On the other hand, VIVOTEK increases the strategic cooperation with VMS partners such as
Genetec. Chen emphasized, "To provide professional service, companies now have to learn how to leverage the strengths from each other. I would say what really makes ourselves different from the past and Chinese companies is we build up an ecosystem, in which all the partners can grow by working together.” By partnering with Genetec, their end users can utilize the central management platform to easily integrate video systems, access control, and license plate recognition (LPR). “Therefore, for VIVOTEK, it shortens the time we provide the service for projects and saves us a lot of cost in software development. It is a win-win situation for VIVOTEK and our partners,” he highlighted.
Retail & Transportation
Due to the strong partnerships with its SIs, solution providers, and software developers, VIVOTEK is also able to continue to penetrate specific vertical markets, such as retail and transportation, by designing more integrated systems. For the retail sector, VIVOTEK provides many business intelligence functionalities via video content analysis (VCA), such as object counting and line crossing detection. These functions assist retail customers analyze their customer flow and behavior, improve service quality, and optimize marketing and sales planning.
For transportation, VIVOTEK provides anti-vibration features for their video surveillance systems inside metro trains, railway trains, and buses. For highway solutions, VIVOTEK has improved the resolution of their cameras for traffic monitoring and management, coupled with powerful LPR even when the cars are driving at high speeds.
Next: Glo-calization (Global Localization)
VIVOTEK Anti-Ligature Fisheye
Network Camera CC8370-HV
To meet the requirements of the future market, the “speed” of delivering the right solutions for customers and providing them professional service is still their focus. Being an international company in the market for 15 years, VIVOTEK has expanded globally with local offices and branches in the U.S., the Netherlands, India, and most recently in the Middle East, to support its penetration in these geographical regions. In addition, Chen said, “Now, we increase the percentage of local hiring and the staff of multicultural background to strengthen our localization and sales force in all these markets. To quickly provide local service in technical support, return merchandise authorization (RMA), and pre-sales and after-sales support, our service hub in other areas will be established soon.”
In terms of technology, VIVOTEK would like to continue its technological advancement in extra-high resolution and compression technologies, such as H.265, for its smart cameras. Chen concluded, “Video surveillance cameras will become even more important if IoT continues to boom in all different industries and applications. Therefore, we would like to keep focusing on smart camera development and other video surveillance equipment to provide instant support and suitable solutions for customers.”
For more information please click VIVOTEK's microsite:
https://www.asmag.com/vivotek.co