As far as security is concerned, the Philippines is a growth market, amid rising demands. While security concerns serve as a growth driver, local experts point out that more and more, Philippine end users are more aware of security technologies and what they can do for them, prompting more investments in products and s
As far as security is concerned, the Philippines is a growth market, amid rising demands. While security concerns serve as a growth driver, local experts point out that more and more, Philippine end users are more aware of security technologies and what they can do for them, prompting more investments in products and solutions.
“The end users now are learning and more knowledgeable about the technology that is available in the market. They know about it,” said Aris Atienza Abella, System and Project Sales Manager at FaireTech. “The Internet is there, and so are Google, YouTube, IPVM, asmag.com and hundreds of websites where you can learn more about CCTVs or electronic security technology today. They are aware of what's happening right now and what are the newest technologies in the market.”
“The customer understands what can be done by the technology out there. They are heavily informed,” said Rudy Guillen, MD of HITEC International. “Customer expectations are very high, and they expect companies like us to deliver, and if you say no, you are out of the game.”
Among end user entities that require advanced security to keep premises safe are government offices. “The awareness of our government officials to the technology is increasing. They're more aware of the technology, and of course they have to also study what our neighboring countries are doing, so they try to adapt it to our country. These include smart city and safe city, among others,” said Ralph Soguilon, GM of Wireless Link.
Besides security products, equipment and other types of hardware, users have also gained more understanding on software, which is really what makes security smart. “One growth driver is really the increasing awareness of the possible things that software analytics and deep learning can do,” said Winston Goh, Regional Marketing Head for South Asia Pacific at Axis Communications. “That is one of the things people are already opening up their eyes to, and we see a lot of exciting potential.”
Beyond security
More importantly, Philippine end users have become more aware of the fact security equipment and solutions nowadays are not just for security – they have non-security applications as well. Retailers, for example, are relying on video surveillance to optimize business intelligence.
“The importance of people counting is significant, so that you would have certain statistics on what time has the heaviest traffic of people and how you should staff your people accordingly,” said Joemel Balignasa, Product Manager with Avesco. “That's one good selling point of CCTV.”
USTDI, a distributor of Hikvision in the Philippines, cited one interesting non-security use case of video in education. “One of the projects from our systems integrators in schools is to install CCTV cameras in classroom so that they can see who's cheating,” said Benjie Fabro, Marketing Manager at USTDI. “They monitor students in the class with cameras, and they have their own command centers, so they can check on students as they take exams. This is one of the CCTV installations that's not related to security.”