Vertical growth in Vietnamese security

Noticeably over the last several years, due to budget constraints and limitations, many government projects have been put on hold or delayed; however, in 2013 some of these projects will return with renewed life. Noting that government funds are still limited and priority projects will be in infrastructure, particularly transportation infrastructure and highway infrastructure, Hoang Qui Hop, GM of T&T Security, hopes that they will be able to capitalize on some of these reinstated projects.

City Surveillance
In addition to transportation and highway infrastructure, due to the high occurrence rate of traffic accidents in Vietnam makes traffic safety another major concern. In general, the average citizen does not strictly abide by traffic laws. However, if cameras were watching them, they would be more likely to abide by the laws, which could substantially reduce the amount of traffic accidents. As a result, the government plans to upgrade traffic signals, strengthen lighting systems, and install monitoring systems. One company honing in on this demand for increased traffic safety is Panasonic, who has plans to hold seminars for these government transportation projects to find system integrators and end users. Additionally, the company has procured specialized road imaging equipment from Japan, as well as worked with a software distributor in order to deal with Vietnam's special motorbike license plates, according to Nguyen Minh Cuong, Marketing Manager for Panasonic Sales Vietnam.

Commercial Sector
Another sector seeing growth is the commercial sector. Some commercial sectors with potential for growth include industrial factories - due to large foreign investments, banks, and retail businesses, which have seen a continued demand for security. Furthermore, the government's efforts to restructure the banking system will benefit the future market.

For Panasonic, growth in 2013 will stem from the commercial sector, such as factories, buildings, and banks. The requirement by banks to be able to identify VIP customers, along with an increased demand for security at ATM machines and the need for HD surveillance were cited by Cuong at Panasonic as reasons for growth in the banking industry.

Home Security
While the general consensus on the home security market in Vietnam remains varied, there are some companies that see the home security market as one to watch. Naming an increase in thefts in the outskirts of cities as a prime reason, Panasonic sees the demand for home security rising. Three years ago the top three internet service providers- VIETTEL, FPT, and VNPT- began promoting the market and providing live view to users.

In addition, Panasonic noticed an increase of investments for surveillance at kindergartens in order to provide parents with live view of the children, and to provide schools with a sense of assurance.

Future Trends
In order to fit budgetary restrictions due to economic limitations, the government and end users have shifted from the use of high-end products to low- to mid-end products. So much so that some have abandoned the use of IP products for more budget-friendly analog ones. This trend has spurred a major change for IP cameras. China has been releasing a high volume of low- to mid-end IP cameras, which has prompted Vietnam to follow suit and begin releasing their own locally manufactured IP cameras as well, creating strong competition in the IP market.

Nguyen Xuan Son, General Director at Nha An Toan (Safe House) commented that the Vietnamese government is slowly starting to accept Hikvision products, and is gradually beginning to understand that different grades of “Made in China” products have different quality standards. Nha An Toan was established in 2000 as a SI and a distributor since 2009 specifically for the government, factories, banks, and office/home/apartment. Nha An Toan now distributes products from Hikvision, Suprema, Electronic Line, Hyundai, Competition, Commax, and Yunyang fire products.

On the other hand, the current Vietnamese security market has yet to adopt the concept of integration. For this reason end users are not clear about its advantages, nor do they have a sufficient understanding of new technology, but either do some SIs. To remedy this, factories that offer solutions will need to spend more resources to educate the market.

Despite sluggish economic growth, the Vietnamese economy is determined to get back on track, and the security market is poised to make its mark within the worldwide security industry.