Dear Reader
In the previous issue of SECURITY UPDATE I spoke about Intrusion Alarm Systems and their importance in securing life and assets. In this issue, in line with our cover story – ‘Does DIY spell doom for professional security installers? Not Really!’ – I would like to dwell upon a few facts pertaining to the market conditions in India which tend to support our lead story.
Firstly, doing household engineering jobs, such as plumbing, electrical or for that matter, even home painting is beyond the imagination of most homeowners in India. We simply have not been brought up in an environment where we ever saw our parents doing maintenance work that involved usage of tools and equipment. There always have been, and still continue to be, neighbourhood plumbers, electricians, carpenters and house painting contractors to take care of our needs at very reasonable costs, so much so, that we even call an electrician to replace a defective light bulb!
With a booming market in everything from automobiles, roads, buildings, including homes and offices, and their cleaning and maintenance, it’s interesting to observe that practically no one does any DIY with the stuff they own. There is a cleaning person for the car and home, the former is frequently the driver. Any non-arrival of the cleaning person, whether the driver or the maid, is treated with a sense of a crisis!
Even in offices, most mid and senior level executives do not themselves read or answer their email on computers, but their executive assistants and secretaries do. There are office boys (peons) to serve us tea, coffee and refreshments at our desks – practices that are no longer there in the western world. We even have the local grocer, pharmacy and take away restaurant delivering small orders free within minutes of a phone order!
Given this scenario, how can we expect homeowners to install surveillance cameras, intrusion alarms and other home automation devices themselves?
Do-it-Yourself (DIY) is still a new concept in India, perhaps, that is why brands like IKEA – the world’s largest furniture retailer that designs and sells ready-to-assemble furniture, kitchen appliances and home accessories had to tie up with services such as UrbanClap, a mobile marketplace for local services such as electricians, plumbers and other technicians and mechanics that arrive at your home to install and fix things, to roll out its products into the Indian market.
It would be interesting to track the progress of DIY product lines such as EZVIZ from Hikvision and Mi Cameras from Xiaomi and a host of other surveillance and smart home devices that can be controlled through platforms such as Google Home and the Amazon Echo device via the Alexa App, that are being aggressively marketed by their brand owners. In my opinion, installing such devices and configuring them to work with third party applications is too much to expect from the current population of middle aged and senior citizens in India, but perhaps there is hope for such manufacturers to find favour with the millennials, who are more savvy with technology, but have actually never stood on ladders and installed devices such as cameras. It would be interesting to observe the panning out of this trend in India.
I find it is a challenge for an installer to train the end users even to use all the features available in products installed by the installer, such as smart televisions and home audio systems. Teaching them to use the advanced features of security and home automation systems seems like a tall order. But, as I said, watching and tracking this trend unfold will be an engrossing exercise.
I hope when Google acquired Nest Labs at an amazing valuation for US$3.2 billion in January 2014 and similarly when Amazon acquired Ring in February 2018 for an estimated value of between $1.2 billion and $1.8 billion, the buyers had the Indian consumer market in mind!
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
