As cloud-based systems become more common, Video Surveillance as a Service (VSaaS) is becoming mainstream in the physical security marketplace. There are certainly benefits for manufacturers and end users, but we asked our Expert Panel Roundtable to focus on the benefits to the dealer channel. We asked this week’s Expert Panel Roundtable: What is the impact of video surveillance as a service (VSaaS) on security integrators?
Forward-thinking security integrators are using cloud applications like VSaaS to take their business to the next level. By offering SaaS, integrators can provide security solutions that deliver the latest in technology and features, including maintenance and upgrades. Not only does SaaS allow for the continuous delivery of new features and system updates, but it also facilitates cyber resiliency. Using SaaS, integrators can focus on their core competencies, giving them the foundation to build a managed services business with a greater focus on customer service, loyalty, and retention. Offering long-term contracts for cloud services can provide a more stable and predictable monthly revenue stream. When that revenue stream is combined with the integrator’s own service offering, there is the potential to surpass one-off system sales or annual service renewal sales over a longer period.
The advent of VSaaS offerings, in which customers pay a monthly or yearly fee for installing and/or managing a monitoring system instead of investing large amounts of capital upfront, has truly revolutionised the business model for today's security dealers. Rather than selling low-margin hardware and hoping that customers purchase a maintenance agreement to help pad the bottom line, VSaaS enables dealers to provide video surveillance as part of an ongoing service. Not only does this provide peace of mind for end-users who know they won’t have to invest any more dollars into the maintenance of their security system, but it can also help integrators build high-value RMR and provides more flexibility as they can remotely diagnose and troubleshoot problems since most VSaaS solutions are provided via the cloud.
A VSaaS platform allows us to offer significant value over simply installing and maintaining traditional equipment and infrastructure. It allows us to leverage our knowledge base and intellectual property to deliver add-on services such as comprehensive, real-time video monitoring through our virtual guard solution that can interact with employees and escort staff on or off-site. Most importantly, a VSaaS platform allows our customers to easily adopt a proactive security stance instead of merely a reactive one. Beyond security, the addition of business and operational intelligence features positively impacts our customers’ revenue by providing insights into shopping behavior and experience. They can monitor queue lengths, and drive-thru wait times or study customer traffic to help refine product placement. Likewise, operations departments can make informed decisions around staffing based on pattern analysis that reveals peak occupancy. VSaaS allows us to offer all the comforts of traditional CCTV appliances and seamlessly expand beyond their traditional use cases.
For many security integrators, the initial challenges are systems design and implementation of recurring billing and other processes for the VSaaS model. Integrators in the intrusion alarm business will already have systems and processes in place to handle recurring billing scenarios; however, for most video and access integrators, this will be a new challenge. It is not all that different to install and service a well-designed Cloud video environment once the sales team has mastered the art of selling services. Designing such a Cloud system is a whole different matter. Good working knowledge of networking and IP video is generally needed to effectively design and deploy a bandwidth-heavy solution like Cloud video. The long-term benefits of selling SaaS, particularly VSaaS, are many, both for the integrator and the end user. The greatest impact for the integrator will be the value creation stemming from adding a SaaS offering to their portfolio.
VSaaS (Video Surveillance as a Service) has become a new trend in the video surveillance industry. End users no longer need to pay expensive local management server fees, as well as labour and maintenance fees. They only need to pay a fixed monthly subscription fee to enjoy the real-time video surveillance preview, playback, intercom, and event-push services. For system integrators, there are several positive effects. First of all, for integrators, the installation and deployment of plug-and-play video surveillance systems have become simple. Secondly, the maintenance of the video surveillance system will become simple and fast, including quick and free upgrades. Thirdly, the connection between the video surveillance system and the third-party system is convenient, and the data exchange can be carried out quickly and conveniently through the cloud server. Finally, the system integrator usually obtains a share of the cost of the VSaaS joint operation from the manufacturer and also obtains long-term stable business income for the integrator.