More and more, systems integrators find themselves consumed by challenges in today’s security market. These challenges have rendered integrators less and less profitable, and the ways by which they survive and stay ahead amid the adversity are indeed the defining characteristics of today’s integrators.
More and more, systems integrators find themselves consumed by challenges in today’s security market. These challenges have rendered integrators less and less profitable, and the ways by which they survive and stay ahead amid the adversity are indeed the defining characteristics of today’s integrators.
One of the biggest challenge facing integrators nowadays is the budget constraint of their end user customers, who reduce investment or spending when times are bad. “The economy in Thailand is not so well. Thailand's GDP is below 3 percent. The government and enterprise are concerned with where to invest money, and usually security will be the last one,” said Pichai Sihsobhon, MD at Thailand-based Facility Management.
Another challenge is increased competition, not only from Chinese vendors but also from those with a non-security background. “A lot of IT companies do systems integrations on the side already. When this kind of company comes in, they don't know much about security – they just know the specs of the equipment,” said Sihsobhon.
Amid these challenges, integrators increasingly realize they can’t merely install devices to guarantee profitability and sustainability. The following section discusses how today’s integrators overcome the challenges in the market and succeed in it.
Increasing engineering skills
Integrators gain value by increasing their own technical skills. With the market increasingly moving towards IoT and Big Data, proficiencies in software, IT, and network security have become more important than ever. “A big challenge is the engineering skills. We take in fresh engineers, and we train them very hard to make them understand what’s the latest technology available, more or less make them come to our portfolio of products and teach them how to implement these products into the field,” said M. R. Krishnan, Executive Director of India-based Adtech Systems. “These days, of course, one good sign is the product manufacturers arrange seminars themselves. That’s one place where we send our engineers quite frequently to the manufacturers or the distributors to attend those courses and understand the matters.”
Reaching More Customers
To respond to the end user’s budget constraint problem, integrators diversify their customer base to find different sources of revenue. And to cater to the needs of customers from different segments, integrators must be able to get products and solutions from a wide range of sources.
“Right now I accept that fact that some Chinese brands are ok, and their functions are normal. So sometimes if I go to the mid- to low segment of the market, like condominium, that has a Thai owner, I go for Chinese products. But I have a lot of customers who are Japanese companies, so I go with Panasonic, because Japanese love their country’s brands,” said Wissawat Chotbenjakul, MD of Fit IT And Solutions.
Working in a More Connected World
But more importantly, focusing on value-added solutions to satisfy customers’ various needs is the way to go. “Customers want to have everything in one application or software. Like now, what you would like is to have an alarm system with camera. They would like to have everything in one. Everything is changing very fast, and you’ve got to change with the technology,” said Frederic Damance, GM of New Caledonia-based Prosystems.
Robert Zore, Technical Sales at Slovenia-based Zarja Electronika, offered a similar point. “New apartments, buildings, and factories will go up. These days, these places only have door phone, video phone, but I think this market will grow and lead to increased demand for video surveillance, access control, time and attendance, and burglar alarms. The challenge now is to integrate what we have in smart home in one package. We also develop our management system and find new solutions and new ways to integrate.”
Indeed, flexibility, agility, and competency in technology skills are the enabler of success in this more connected world, and such will be the defining characteristics of a new generation of systems integrators.