Dear Readers
With CCTV cameras getting commoditised and readily available on e-commerce portals, the profit margins for systems integrators have become razor thin. For an average installer the fun of selling video surveillance equipment seems to have disappeared, with the future even looking bleak to many. That may in all likelihood be valid, on the off chance that they keep on pushing boxes as opposed to offering creative value added solutions for their clients or expanding their product portfolio to include integrated access control, intrusion, fire and building management systems.
Today, qualified system integrators are bringing together discrete systems utilizing a variety of techniques such as computer networking, enterprise application integration etc, with information technology as a backbone. System integration is also about adding value to the system, capabilities that are possible because of interactions between subsystems.
A system integration engineer today needs a broad range of skills and is likely to be defined more by the breadth of his knowledge. These skills are likely to include software, systems and enterprise architecture, hardware engineering, interface protocols, data management, general problem solving and communication skills. It is likely that the problems to be solved have not been confronted before, except in the broadest sense. They are likely to include new and challenging applications where the system integration engineer is required to “pull it all together”, from his self-acquired knowledge and experience.
Traditional system integrators who continue to work at unreasonably high profit margins while delivering little value to their clients and not justifying the return on their investment (ROI) would get marginalised by professionally smart competitors. Customers would not hesitate to jettison old suppliers to embrace new ones that meet their growing needs with better solutions, efficiently and economically.
It is not only the suppliers who need to professionalise if they wish to remain relevant, even customers will have to change, become aware and serious about their project requirements and expectations from the SI and from the project as a whole. Security Consultants would also have to adopt a risk based approach while designing projects and writing specifications that clearly define the deliverables to the client, list the scope and the responsibility of the SI. The SIs on their part need to become aware of the client expectations and if they see a bottleneck or challenges in meeting them, they must be able to argue them intelligently so as to reach a practical meeting point between all stakeholders or they should have the courage to refuse business and walk away!
With this backdrop, I think that the moment is right for SECURITY UPDATE Business Summit to be launched. The Summit is an exclusive event being held at the Sheraton, New Delhi on May 13, 2017 for the physical protection systems industry and perhaps the first focussed event of its kind. Industry leaders, Technology Innovators, Large System Integrators, Business Coaches, Digital Marketing Gurus and leading Consultants will be talking about knowledge and ways that will lead you into the next level of system integration and business success. We even have some enlightened end users who shall share with the audience the qualities that they are looking for in a system integrator to fulfill their next-gen needs! Remember, what got you here, may not get you there!
Till we meet next month, stay safe and keep others safe.
G B Singh
Group Editor
Email: gbsingh@1stasset.org
Follow me on @EditorGB
Connect with me on Linkedin.com/in/gbsingh9
