Siemens security products division hhave been re-evaluating their approach to market and taking a step back while they gain an insight into customer needs recently.
“We have made a seismic leap in terms of technology”, said Siemens’ Head of Security Products division, Peter Hawksworth, when we sat down yesterday afternoon.
While others have been advancing their technology incrementally, Siemens have returned to the drawing board and completely restructured their spending to make themselves profitable. “We’ve invested massively in R&D. Now we’re starting to stand alone and enable people to make money.”
Their investment in research and development comes with the recognition that the market was changing and the needs of the customers weren’t being catered to as well as a company the size of Siemens should (the whole company has an income in excess of GB pound 4 billion).
A huge reassessment of Siemens’ approach to market and spending in the division has enabled Siemens to invest in research and development in their security products – the core of which is their access control and intruder alarm products.
Three key pillars of security tech
The three key pillars of security technology – access control, intrusion detection and video surveillance – are very much in a period of convergence.
CCTV is really an enabler for the other two pillars, a visual record of an incident that the access control and intrusion systems have already seen.
Peter recognises that their competitive advantage is largely in the access and intrusion markets, and that there are other companies who are doing a great job producing CCTV equipment.
For this reason most of their R&D has been in the access and intrusion markets, with a focus on convergence and interoperability. Now Siemens has reached the “culmination of years of convergence” as Siemens bring together the many brands that they have developed and acquired over the years.
In a market where there are innumerable competitors with largely similar functionality, Siemens believe that along with solutions provision and delivery design is one of the big areas where they can differentiate between their competitors.
“The products have to look good”, says Peter. “Much of this is down to engineering, but design and engineering are linked.”
Citing the Apple-effect, Peter says that if the products look good, architects are more likely to specify them for their building.
Peter also hinted that a new platform – developed to enable migration of analogue products to IP – has been designed in the Apple style, an approach which is likely to mean an exciting and highly usable platform that will work across multiple devices.
Growth in Russia
Siemens have been looking at the opportunities that the markets in Russia, Poland, and other Eastern bloc nations can offer.
Some experts are quoting double digit growth figures in Russia, which seems optimistic, but the fact the market is very much in growth while other economies are stagnating is not in dispute.
The company saw an opportunity in this market and have seized upon it actively targeting marketing spend in the region.
In the wider market, Peter has seen a real shift as installers and systems integrators start driving innovation.
Before, the products were simply developed and distributed with installers having to find systems and equipment to fit the project.
Now it’s the case that the installers and systems integrators are feeding back and influencing the research and development path – something that was echoed by ONVIF chairman Jonas Andersson in another session.
Now and into the future, Peter wants to work closer with solutions providers to correct and develop the products and applications that are available.
Peter touched on the benefits of interoperability, something which feels like a real theme across the industry, and it will be interesting to see how their new platform (as yet unnamed) will continue this direction.
Siemens Security Products seem optimistic for the future, and rightly so. The increase in migration and integration can only drive them and the whole industry in the right direction.