Thermal imaging was once perceived to be suitable for high-end projects or demanded by military forces only. Today, things have certainly changed. Thermal imaging is now successfully deployed in a wide range of market segments. In 2013, market leader Flir Systems has adopted a vertical-driven approach to further expand and penetrate into the Asian market, as well as mid-end or commercial applications. Paolo Gianni Saranga, Business Development Manager for Security and Surveillance, Border Security Program and Maritime Products in APAC, shares with a&s on how the company makes it all happen.
Thermal imaging was once perceived to be suitable for high-end projects or demanded by military forces only. Today, things have certainly changed. Thermal imaging is now successfully deployed in a wide range of market segments. In 2013, market leader Flir Systems has adopted a vertical-driven approach to further expand and penetrate into the Asian market, as well as mid-end or commercial applications. Paolo Gianni Saranga, Business Development Manager for Security and Surveillance, Border Security Program and Maritime Products in APAC, shares with a&s on how the company makes it all happen.
Thermal imaging technology is reliable and has been proven to be increasingly cost-effective; under extreme lighting conditions, its capability and performance significantly surpass traditional CCTV cameras. Global market leader Flir Systems predicts that thermal imaging technology will start to take up more market share across different applications (particularly the commercial market), projects and emerging countries.
Flir now offers both affordable COTS products and high-end, long-range systems. “We offer products at all price points for a variety of different applications,” Saranga said. “Price, for Flir, is a very important factor. Through our volume production of this niche technology, the cost is getting lower and lower. Another key to our offering is a wide and diverse product portfolio. These two factors have allowed us to penetrate the Americas and EMEA markets, and now Asia, especially with a focus on Indian and Chinese markets that have a vast and varied assortment of security and protection requirements.”
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Asian Fever
After its long history of success in the Americas and EMEA regions, Flir is replicating the same vertical management approach in Asia to bring greater expertise and focus to the APAC security market this year. “In general, our thermal imaging is well-positioned in key projects and in key consultants' minds — that it is a superior technology for specific applications, such as perimeter security. However, there are still many market sectors and regions where we still need to make more efforts in increasing our brand awareness. That is why we will be present in 18 different exhibitions in Asia this year,” Saranga stressed. “We will also actively educate the market via distributor seminars and a dedicated Flir road show throughout APAC to provide knowledge on the integration capabilities of our products. We offer free-of-charge SDKs for integrating the cameras into other systems, and our complete line of IP cameras are ONVIF-compliant. Ease of integration is a key factor since many large projects composed of different applications require best-of-breed solutions. The philosophy of openness will significantly improve our success and penetration strategy.”
Strong Network
This year, with more hands on deck and more eyes on Asia, Flir will work more closely with its dedicated distributors. “Our strategy is to create a group of specific and concentrated partners for each vertical market,” Saranga said. “The key to becoming one of our partners is, again, focus. In addition to having a distributing mindset and a complete package of products, our partners need to have a clear position in a certain market. We care about how they represent themselves in the market and how our products can be positioned into that and best represented.”