It’s the time of year when thoughts turn towards the coming twelve months and what the industry might throw up for installers, manufacturers and distributors. So with no accounting for accuracy or fear of reprisal, here are our predictions…
It is at this time of year when all the television adverts are for children’s toys, or as I write this “Black Friday” events for last season’s stock, when you realise how society has moved forwards in its expectations of what electronic technology should be able to do. Every generation has seen a leap in the capabilities of its technology, either for personal or business use. It is due to this seismic growth and development of software, hardware and connectivity that the security industry, as well as all other walks of life, is constantly modernising. So it is no surprise that the first trend that 2017 will give us will be the unstoppable move towards ‘smart’ remote access to systems and home automation, but it might not be all plain sailing for the latest technology trend in the sector.
Everyone is talking about offering remote solutions via smart devices, be it for alarms, surveillance, access control, fire monitoring or any other aspect of the home; the ability to view and manage the system status via remote connectivity is a major driver for the domestic security market. This will not stop in 2017 yet it may face scrutiny next year when (not ‘if’) there is a high-profile breach of security due to the apparent limitations of IoT continuously being exposed in the mainstream media. Your customers with remote access via devices will not sacrifice their security for it, no matter how ‘on trend’ it is.
Next year we will also see the big guns of Amazon, Google, Apple et al joining in the home automation and security services party with various options for integration and control in the domestic sector. We await their impact with interest.
2017 will also see the continuation of the consolidation in the market. This is likely to be particularly apparent with the CCTV side of things as margins continue to thin for manufacturers with prices now at their lowest point. The business dealings will not be limited to acquisitions either. We have already seen a couple of major surveillance brands (Canon and Sony) partner up with others (Axis and Bosch respectively) to arrange sales and marketing operations and we’ve seen others pull out of manufacturing altogether to go down the OEM route. It’s a difficult time to be selling cameras – especially on price alone.
We will no doubt see another busy year for the current market leaders Hikvision and Dahua in terms of acquiring companies (such as the purchase of Pyronix by Hikvision) as both continue building strength in the market following their swift rise to the top. Rumours are circulating daily as to ‘who will be next…’ for a deal as the brands will look to increase their foothold in the UK.
So these are our top predictions for 2017. Fairly safe bets, but there will no doubt be some surprises ahead too. Be lucky.
