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Sunell expands operations in South Africa

Sunell Security recently announced the expansion of its local operations, including the appointment of new distributors for Sunell’s products, as well as the opening of a new branch in Cape Town, along with the appointment of Craig Herbst as the company’s business development manager.

Meeting customers’ requirements is also the reason for Sunell’s new distribution agreements. The company’s products will now be distributed by four South African companies: ADI Global Distribution, Eurobyte Technology, Pentagon, and TPA Security Distributors.

Vaughn Tempelhoff, national CCTV product manager for TPA Security Distributors, says the company has been a sub-distributor of Sunell products for years and was impressed by the quality and reliability of the solutions Sunell offers. “When we were presented with the option to distribute the product directly, it was the logical choice and we grabbed it with both hands.”

Tempelhoff testifies to the quality of the brand by noting: “Today, I still have Sunell demo cameras running that are more than 10 years old, and they still work.”

Roberto Vizcarra, director of the surveillance division at Eurobyte, says the company was only too willing to distribute Sunell as he was impressed by the company: “Sunell is proactive and customer centric. They are not trying to reinvent the wheel, they simply listen to the requirements of their customers and act accordingly. This was quite an uncommon experience for me.”

Making the difference

When it comes to surveillance technology today, there are many cameras to choose from, but not all brands offer the added value the end user appreciates and that makes the technology a best seller for the distribution channel.

Tempelhoff believes Sunell has many unique features that add tremendous value to the product. Some of these include:

• A local warehouse with access to stock for all partners.

• Repairs are dealt with locally.

• The product has a 3-year warranty, which implies the company has confidence in the quality of its products.

Vizcarra identifies four significant factors that sets Sunell apart.

• The first is integration. Sunell is a tier-1 partner with many of the major platforms out there, such as Milestone, Geovision, NUUO, etc.

• Secondly, the products’ designs are aesthetically pleasing, the quality is consistent and their NVRs are simple but sturdy.

• The third value-add is service: “The speed of our returns and exchange policy cannot be matched by other vendors”.

• And finally, but importantly, he says the pricing is very competitive, which often becomes a significant part of winning a deal (especially on projects).

Technical skills ready to go

No matter the quality of the product, everyone will need support at some stage of their surveillance solution’s lifecycle. It is in this area that Sunell has also come to the fore, firstly with its 3-year warranty and local stock holding, but also in the training it offers to partners.

Having ensured its technical staff are certified by Sunell, TPA has also been training its sales staff on a continual basis together with registered customers. “With the training, we try and equip all staff and customers with the necessary tools to provide value to the product,” explains Tempelhoff. “We also have a dedicated national training department to assist in training customers.”

He adds that TPA offers a 3-tier technical support system, which includes regional support in the local branches, a dedicated Customer Care Centre, as well as comprehensive product knowledge by management.

Eurobyte’s Vizcarra notes that his company has also certified its technicians and is now providing regular training courses for customers. “Eurobyte’s training covers Sunell NVRs, which are very simple to configure, easy to navigate and do not require much training (we do offer training for skilled and unskilled users). We also train customers on IMS, the remote PC management software that can run up to 256 cameras from multiple NVRs.”

Both TPA Security and Eurobyte are geared up with the stock and skills in hand to take on the local market and deliver Sunell solutions to an ever growing audience. Both companies are well aware, however, that it takes more than a good product to deliver an effective surveillance solution.

“With Sunell and an enterprise VMS you have a solid platform ready to perform in businesses of all sizes,” says Tempelhoff. “But as always, it doesn’t matter if you have the best product in the world, your product is only as good as the implementation thereof. At TPA all our staff understand that standard operating procedures and an installation based on best practices are required to deliver the expected returns. With Sunell, adding value is exactly what we will do.”

Vizcarra agrees that projects based on Sunell technology are growing in scope, in part due to the quality and ease of integration the brand delivers. However, he believes that Sunell has more than that to offer systems integrators, namely, the company’s advanced warranty support in South Africa, the speed of response for technical assistance and Sunell’s price competitiveness.

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