Touchless buildings present several revenue-generating opportunities for systems integrators. Here's a look at the top four.
COVID-19 has increased the demand for touchless solutions. This was initially limited to touchless access control systems. But now, the concept of touchless buildings is gathering momentum.
For security systems integrators, this presents several opportunities. These changes can generate more opportunities for systems integrators where new integrations, devices, and services will need to be deployed.
This article presents the top four opportunities that integrators can take advantage of.
Also read: how to make a building completely touch-free
1. Legacy systems require an immediate upgrade
The most obvious revenue generator is the demand to upgrade existing systems to touchless solutions. Before the pandemic, most customers who were using fingerprint or card-based access control had not thought that touchless solutions would become a necessity.
But now that they are left with no choice, customers want to upgrade their legacy systems as soon as possible to minimize business disruptions.
“The skills of the system integrator also assist end users in exploring and implementing ways to use, convert or upgrade legacy equipment such as readers, cameras, door hardware, and software to help minimize costs while moving to frictionless and smart solutions,” says Jason Ouellette, Director of Technology & Business Innovation for Access Control and Video Solutions at Johnson Controls.
“This naturally will require products and platforms from multiple manufacturers given the unlikely idea that a single manufacturer could provide the total solution, but this again is where systems integrators are well-positioned to provide the necessary installation and services.”
2. More demand for interoperable systems
Making an entire building touchless requires the use of several different solutions. For instance, an office building may require the integration of access control with HRIS and BMS. These solutions are from different manufacturers who follow different processes. Only a skilled systems integrator can make them work together seamlessly.
“Experience in working with industry standards that enable interoperability between products will provide integrators distinct advantages in this space,” says Ouellette continued.
“In a multi-tenant or complex enterprise environment, there are many legacy products and integration points that need to be considered when moving to a touchless and smart building environment. All these require the particular kind of expertise that systems integrators bring to the table.”
3. Subscription-based solutions for recurring revenue
This will also open the possibility of new service offerings through subscription-based solutions that can be built from integrated and interoperable platforms. Many integrators are still stuck with the traditional system of hunting requests for proposals (RFP). Moving to a recurring revenue model with subscriptions will ensure predictability and business growth.
“Within a smart building environment, the management of field devices can be turned into a subscription model, with automatic firmware and hardware updates as an example,” Ouellette said. “Technology is changing, and solutions are evolving, and as such, both manufacturers and systems integrators will face the recognition that if you don’t like change, you like irrelevance even less. Intelligent and touchless is the future.”
4. Managed solutions to help customers cut costs
The pandemic has forced customers to explore touchless solutions. But many of them are also struggling with the current economic downturn. Reducing the number of security personnel becomes inevitable to save costs.
Integrators can offer managed solutions to ensure the customers do not have to worry about security while reducing staff. This presents yet another recurring revenue opportunity for integrators who can become long-term security partners for their customers.
“As a building integrates more touchless solutions, customers will be able to reduce the number of security personnel, thus saving costs, or allow the current security team to focus on other tasks and increase productivity,” said Sheeladitya Karmakar, Global Offering Leader for Enterprise Access at Honeywell Building Technologies.
Key takeaway
To sum up, there are four ways touchless buildings can help security systems integrators increase their revenue. They can take advantage of:
- Increase in demand for upgrading legacy systems
- Increase in demand for more integration
- Increase in demand for subscription services
- Increase in demand for managed services that help customers cut costs