Iranian security market and the possibilities it brings

A nuclear deal between Iran and other countries had resulted in the country being released of the sanctions that had been imposed on it for years. This means Iran market is now more open to business and opportunities abound for solution providers and systems integrators alike. But this does not come without some concerns.

“As an overall view this will create some excellent opportunities for those companies used to operating and providing service within nontraditional markets,” Craig Mackenzie, Country President of Securitas UAE said. “These opportunities could potentially encompass everything from Security consulting, to VIP protection and physical security services. However, there are so many companies with expertise in these areas in the global marketplace it is likely to be a low margin business with the price being a major factor. In a relatively new and emerging private security industry, a lack of compliance with or establishment of international operating standards will lead to companies being able to operate at minimum cost. This often means that large global brands who operate with those international standards, may by virtue of their own procedures price themselves out of the market, at least initially until it stabilizes and becomes more mature.”

“Iran has always been amongst the most dynamic geographies with a very active IT and Security sector,” Marwan Khoury, Regional Marketing Manager for Axis Communications said. “With the recent developments we are seeing a higher degree of investment coming in from major players. Axis has a solid partner and distribution base which is also growing at a healthy pace. We are seeing major projects in terms of infrastructure, transportation, banking, education, oil & gas and industrial sectors such as Automotive. The market as a whole requires a high level of expertise and our understanding of that bespoke requirement enables us to support the Iran market very well. For Axis, Iran is a very promising region which we are very well positioned to serve with our partnership network.”

Others pointed out that Iran has a few strong security players in the country. “It is a good opportunity for Security system integrators to address the needs of the Iranian market as it was out of reach till now,” said one of the systems integrators. “There are few strong players in Iran itself focused on Iran to address the need, but the market is a bigger one to accommodate few new players with some niche in Security tech.”