Wednesday, August 14, 2013: Zicom a pioneer in electronic security system, is a home grown company with offices in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Singapore, Brazil and Doha. With a capacity to produce 300,000 units per year of all varieties of security products, it caters to verticals like retail, as well as the SME, home, B2C and B2B markets with its customised security solutions that are conducive to the Indian environment. In a tête-à-tête with Richa Chakravarty of Electronics Bazaar, Pramoud Rao, managing director, Zicom Electronics Security Systems Ltd, speaks about the CCTV market in India and the company’s growth strategy.
EB: How is the CCTV camera market doing in 2013? What is Zicom’s target for this year?
The growth of the CCTV camera market in 2013 could be anywhere between 20-25 per cent. We are expecting that our group turnover would be between Rs 5500-6000 million this year and on a standalone basis, Zicom will do a business of about Rs 2500 million. Importantly, 2014 will witness significant growth. Last year, out of our total sales, almost 70 per cent was contributed by video and CCTV cameras, access control was 20 per cent and the rest of the products accounted for 10 per cent. Last year we grew by 26-28 per cent. To take advantage of this buoyant market, we are creating strategies to penetrate verticals like homes, retail and buildings, and have introduced a new business unit that offers our version of ‘SaaS’ (security as a service).
EB: What is SaaS?
SaaS offers security systems on a service basis to a host of market segments such as retail chains and stores, homes, financial institutions, etc, which ensures more efficient and effective security at affordable service charges. Our SaaS comes with a full spectrum of services—from installation and maintenance of security systems to control room monitoring 24×7 by highly trained professional experts. That’s not all—we also cater to our clients’customised needs and provide free system maintenance, spare replacement and round-the-clock toll-free support. Customers only have to pay monthly charges for the services they avail.
This model is very flexible; when a customer does not require the service, we take away the equipment installed. It is a 40 months contract service. The price of each service varies—it can be as low as Re 1 per day to a few thousands.
EB: What was the strategy behind launching SaaS?
Right now, the market is experiencing a recession phase; hence, the spending is low, and the customer is not willing to invest much. So we thought of introducing this service where the customers need not to invest much. We have also realised that customers do not want to manage their CCTV systems.
EB: What are the new trends in the CCTV camera segment?
The industry is moving towards IP-based systems, and my estimation is that IP will soon replace the analogue market in India. As the demand for IP solutions grows there will be economies of scale and the cost of IP cameras will come down. Hence, I see more and more products moving towards being IP-enabled, even for the home products. Second, home and office automation is getting integrated with security systems. As the need for security products grows, we will also witness increased affordability.
The command and control module will be the next big thing in the industry in India. CCTV command and control system is a highly flexible and scalable video surveillance solution for the monitoring, management and control of remote video, audio and alarm streams in an IP environment. It is ideal for police forces, border control, government departments, traffic management departments, security companies and private corporations.
EB: What are the reasons behind the growth of the CCTV market?
It is the government that is driving the market now. The police across the country are asking all banks and high-value commercial establishments to install CCTV systems, or else it will not support them if a problem comes up. All jewellers and loan companies cannot survive without CCTV cameras. So, the government is one single reason why the market is growing. Also, the prices of CCTV cameras are falling, just like in the case of mobile phones, and that is an important factor contributing to the growth.
EB: What are the segments driving the growth of CCTV cameras? And which cities saw a good demand in 2012?
The government and the commercial sectors are driving the market right now. But the dark horse is co-operative housing societies that have started adopting CCTV cameras. This segment is picking up very fast. While Tier I cities have maintained their demand, changing lifestyles, higher disposable incomes and increasing crime rates have led to the increase in demand for CCTV system installation in Tier II cities too. Goa, Varanasi, Nashik, Nagpur, Bhubneshwar and small cities in UP and Bihar are going to be the next growth centres.
EB: What is Zicom’s strategy to keep its brand value high in the market?
Zicom is a popular brand, yet we keep doing road shows in metro cities including Bengaluru, Mumbai and Delhi. Through these road shows, we showcase our latest technology and innovative products. Recently our products were displayed in Big Boss, a popular reality TV show. We are always in the media limelight to keep our brand alive.
EB: With so many brands available in the market, how do you sustain yourself in the market?
We trust that if the customers believe in us, they will buy Zicom products. We are an Indian home-grown brand and have been the pioneers in business. The customer trust in us is high and the brand is always visible. Customers are happy with our products and the quality services that we offer. We are open 24X7, so customers can call us any time. We provide services in over 400 cities across the country. Through our hard work, we have developed the trust and ensured the satisfaction levels among our customers.
EB: What is your latest and most innovative product this year?
In May, we launched inTouch, a push technology camera with a video alarm system, targeting the safety of working couples with kids, senior citizens at homes and retail shops. It can be monitored remotely. It pushes a live video feed into a portable mobile whenever an event occurs. Whenever an incident takes place, users get an instant accurate notification of the event, helping them reduce the damage, if any, and salvage the situation. When a client receives a push notification, it comes with a much clearer video quality, broader view angles, thus giving physical security the much needed dimension.
Electronics Bazaar, South Asia’s No.1 Electronics B2B magazine
