Articles by Clive Talbot, director of Vindex Systems.
The role of the integrator. From the October 2010 print issue of Professional Security magazine.
These are interesting times for our industry. After decades of growth and development we are now facing unprecedented challenges – not least the inevitable decline in demand in our established markets of security and loss prevention. Over the coming months I’ll be sharing my views on this and other issues such as why, when technology continues to develop in features, performance and power, do the challenges the technologies are meant to address not recede in equal proportion. I will challenge the many preconceptions that prevail in our industry and the way we typically think about our customers and markets, if indeed we do at all. And I will de-construct the accepted paradigms as I believe that we need not be scared of declining markets and customer ambivalence.
Let’s start with the integrator. What do we traditionally mean by integrator? Well here’s the Wikipedia description ‘A systems integrator is a person or company that specialises in bringing together component subsystems into a whole and ensuring that those subsystems function together, a practice known as System Integration’. Is this how we see ourselves? Certainly when I was asked to describe my business this is pretty much in line with my initial thoughts and I’m sure we are all proud to be described in the same way. But is this really what we are? What’s interesting in this definition is that it focuses entirely on the technology and doesn’t mention the word ‘customer’. So, what is the role of the integrator? Well, one thing’s for certain, if this is how we see ourselves then we have no differentiation (other than, perhaps, the products we use) to help a customer decide who best to partner with. And the customer is the reason we are in business in the first place.
The key then is the customer. Let me explain. The problem for anybody wanting to buy non-mandatory systems, such as CCTV or access control, is that the choice of product, vendor and installer is very wide but largely ‘me too’. What to buy and who to buy it from is a minefield. Even those of us who believe in robust product policies face this problem. The true role of the integrator is, therefore, to guide customers safely through this minefield. We must not start to engage users by trying to sell products but in trying to understand our customers’ business and what benefits they/we believe that using electronic security products will bring to their business – and this can be far broader than simple security and loss prevention. We have all been to customer sites where the CCTV isn’t being used properly (check out ‘The Invisible Gorilla’) or the access control PC is switched off. This is because the customer doesn’t have a real value for them except, perhaps, to try and find an event after something has gone wrong – and that’s not loss prevention! Because we don’t engage with our customers about their business we often allow our fantastic products to be poorly utilised in one, very narrow application.
A systems integrator is one who integrates their business (services and products) with their customers’ business first and foremost. This will lead to strong, sustainable business relationships and opportunities that will allow us to succeed in the future. The technologies will follow as required. That is the role of the integrator!
From the November 2010 print issue of Professional Security magazine. Manufacturers, one hit wonders and robust product policy – a long title I know, writes Clive Talbot of Vindex, but hopefully over the next few paragraphs I’ll do it justice!
The choices available to the end user are so broad and the advice available so varied that it really is a minefield for the would-be buyer. The landscape of product selection includes both the established and ‘big name’ manufacturers who have clear product roadmaps; the new entries from manufacturers in other disciplines such as IT, network infrastructure, commercial imaging and such like; and the new entries, some of whom are ‘opportunist’.
There is a real dilemma when it comes to the new, untested and cutting edge technologies. Balanced against their inherent features/qualities should be consideration for the demands of the modern infrastructure architecture which requires a level of knowledge beyond the simple features and functions of the ‘data sheet’ sellers. Because backward compatibility with legacy technologies and installations may not have been considered, especially by manufacturers from other disciplines or new entries in to the market product selection is no longer a ‘catalogue walk’ exercise.
But there are many other factors that affect the product choice and I believe they should carry equal weight in the decision making process. The obvious ones are price and availability. Less often considered is sustainability of supply and parts availability which is particularly the case when price is the main driver. There is a tendency to think that because products are becoming commodities they become easily dispensable and easily replaceable. True there is European legislation about availability of spare parts but this is much less enforceable than a premier league footballers press injunction! A single engineer call out is often more expensive than the product they’re called out for.
The least considered factor is that of engineer training. With the broad availability and the broad product disciplines of CCTV, Access, Intrusion, Fire, IT, Analytics, Cabling, Electrical Installation, Networks etc. it is impossible for an engineer to know and keep current with everything. There are some very good training companies operating in our industry these days and even they struggle to stay current.
Of course, there are many companies who will buy and sell anything to anybody regardless of the consequences – ‘it was what you ordered’ ‘we just followed the consultant’s specification’ etc. – because this week’s, month’s or quarter’s sales figures are paramount. There are companies where sales, installations and maintenance are discreet profit centres. We all know the engineer who’s asked the customer ‘who sold you this then?’
So how do our customer’s feel about all this? Well, sustainable relationships are about honesty and honesty about all of the above. The sensible buyer will want to be sure you have considered the whole life cost in your offering – they don’t want you to go out of business either.
Honesty is about giving best advice, sometimes saying no but always telling the truth.
Whether you buy products from an established manufacturer or an exciting new vendor if you can’t support them you are being dishonest. If they can’t support you it is still you who are being dishonest. In an industry where most products are ‘me too’ it is not difficult to find the manufacturers who tick the quality, sustainability and support boxes and it’s certainly easy to find the ones who don’t.
The key is to have a robust product policy – to select the manufacturers you trust will be around to support you and your customers for the whole life of the system – and select the products you can ensure your engineers are trained on. Only then do you have a platform to engage the end user professionally – because it’s not the product that you’re selling, it’s the solution, its life and you!
And from the December 2010 print issue of Professional Security magazine. Why video? asks Clive Talbot, of Vindex.
This month I want to address a seemingly obvious but, nonetheless, fundamental question for all of us in the video (CCTV) Industry. Why video? CCTV has been sold commercially since the late 1970s (I was a mere child!) when the advent of sales-aid leasing for capital equipment opened up the retail and commercial as well as the industrial markets. During the 1980s many of the stalwarts of the UK industry founded companies or began their careers. From that period, even during the last serious recession in this country in the ‘80s, the CCTV industry grew very quickly. Technology developed apace with the market development – tubes to CCD, monochrome to colour, PTZ to dome, improvements in low light performance, resolution etc. The advent of digital recording during the 1990s was a great leap forward enabling not only greater storage but also flexible and easy to use system management features. There have been many other developments such as the entry of IP cameras and network storage and Management devices, analytics, megapixel etc.
Why state the obvious? Well, there are a couple of reasons that bring me back to my opening question. Earlier technology developments were largely in line with the market demand for improvements and aided the steady market growth. Later developments have been more about the technology itself, the growth in network and IT infrastructures and the all pervasive worldwide web. So we now have debates on LinkedIn groups about whether IP is better than analogue or hosted is better than VMS, integration, centralisation and why video analytics are nowhere near as successful as the analysts suggested. In other words, the industry talking to itself about itself! The ever improving technologies, beyond anything imaginable in that 80s boom time, have lost their direct connection to the customer needs – the technology may have developed dramatically but, and I’m generalising here, the customers problems remain the same.
Recent market research shows that the UK market has stopped growing. The truth is that we have seen the last of general growth and that the real prognosis is a slow decline over the next few years – with the exception of certain niches, application or technology, and companies who are prepared to accept the decline as a fact, challenge why and focus. Since the video industry (it’s not just CCTV these days) reached ‘maturity’ it has been poorly sold and just as poorly used. The overwhelming majority of video is sold in the security world despite being used for a host of other applications by forward thinking customers and integrators. This is not a growth restrictor as such but our colleagues in security (who more often than not hold the video spend) face the greatest pressure on budgets if we cannot prove that our proposed upgrades offer a demonstrably better performance versus their specific needs.
Before our customers ever used or were aware of CCTV back in the ‘70s the challenge was to identify their needs – why they should use video. I believe that as the market grew and video became an accepted security and loss prevention tool we had to work less and less hard to establish the customers’ need. The survivors of the decline in our market will, therefore, be the companies brave enough to ask their customers, and themselves, why video? Only by linking the needs and uses to the benefits can we truly identify the best technical solution. All sustainable relationships are based on honesty. Your customers may be surprised when you ask them why they want your products but only by stimulating their thoughts, and yours, will you be able to move video away from its almost total reliance on the security market and stem the decline in demand.
