The Philippines’ security market is moving on an upward trend, with many companies expecting double-digit growth this year. While analog is still the dominant form of video surveillance in the country, more and more companies are migrating towards IP, realizing its benefits. At the same time, channel players are also o
The Philippines' security market is moving on an upward trend, with many companies expecting double-digit growth this year. While analog is still the dominant form of video surveillance in the country, more and more companies are migrating towards IP, realizing its benefits. At the same time, channel players are also offering more value-added solutions and service to stave off the competition.
Right now in the Philippines, the ratio of analog to IP is about 70 to 30. One reason for this is the perceived notion that IP-based solutions are pricey. “The Philippines, like other Southeast Asian countries, are very price-sensitive. Even if you have the best features, but your price is very high, owners of business establishments won't buy. They just buy the less expensive ones, as long as they provide the functionality that is required,” said Willjann Tam, Business Development Manager at Iontech.
Yet according to many players, the trend is slowly changing, given a drop in IP prices. That, along with other factors such as the Philippines' improving network infrastructure and demands for greater intelligence, has caused users to rethink whether to switch to IP-based video surveillance.
“We are very strong in the CCTV category, particularly in the IP segment. This indicates that market behavior is shifting, and the Filipino consumer is now better informed of the advantages of IP solutions,” said Rowena Bonifacio, Country Sales Manager for Bosch Security Systems (Philippines). “With this, we are expecting a strong 2016.”
“Today everybody is talking about IP. There is a demand for high technology and high performance, and analog can't achieve this kind of things. For instance, analytics is a very important feature and requirement. It's best deployed on IP networks,” said Eric Lee, Business Development Manager for ASEAN at FLIR Systems.
Moving Towards Added Value
For security channel players, they have also realized the importance of added value – providing a wider range of products and service – to give extra value to customers.
“Our company is being consulted on, and clients come to seek our expertise. This is unlike some of our competitors who don't know where to place the camera or how to provide customers with the right service so that they would not spend too much,” said Ferwin Lao, VP of Infoworx.
“We provide added value through service to our partners. These include marketing support and technical support. They can call us inquiring for technical help, because we have our resident technicians,” said Lester Tolentino, Account Executive at Arrowtek. “In terms of marketing support, we provide brochures, visual aids, and other types of assistance in case they need it.”
“We started as a box-centric organization. Through the years we evolved because we realized mainstream products don't carry much of a margin anymore. That's why we evolved to an SI company,” said Bong Paloma, SVP and GM for ICT Solutions at AMTI, as he elaborated on the value-added service his company provides to customers.
“We first conduct discovery sessions with the customers and try to understand what are their pain points, priorities, and limitations. Based on their feedback, we customize the solutions for them. For very promising customers, we invest in them by providing what we call an ICT systems plan. The ICT systems plan details our technology and solution recommendations that cover short, mid and long-term solutions roadmap based on our understanding of their business needs. That's what sets us apart.”