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From the editor's desk: More things change

Welcome to the CCTV Handbook 2019. This year’s handbook breaks a long tradition of publishing the handbook in the first half of the year by releasing it along with the October issue of Hi-Tech Security Solutions. So in keeping with the title of this article, that’s one of the things that has changed.

When looking at the content of the handbook, you will find that there are many other things changing under our feet. Of course I don’t have to tell people in the industry that things are changing; you experience it every day.

For example, the very nature of competition in the surveillance market is changing. If the OSSA and SAST have their way, the basic foundations of the surveillance market will change. With a common platform that defines all the standard processes and best practices in the Internet of Things (IoT) market (and that’s another change, the surveillance market is now really a subset of the IoT market, albeit a big one), vendors will need to look for real ways to add value if they want customers.

Furthermore, if SAST manages to get enough buy-in for its standard IoT operating system, and one of the first areas it is addressing is the surveillance camera market, again, the value proposition of camera manufacturers will change as they will have the money to add real value to their cameras and not focus on building and maintaining their operating system. (By the time you read this, SAST will have proof of concepts in the market, with real products earmarked for 2020.)

These two organisations will change the market, opening it up to more people than ever before who will have an equal chance of winning your business as the big names in the industry.

And the IoT is another change everyone in the security industry needs to become comfortable with, whether you do surveillance or home alarms or anything in between. The primary impact of the IoT on surveillance and security in general will be opening the market to more competitors from different industries.

If you read the round table we hosted on artificial intelligence (AI), this is another change we will have to adopt and understand. I don’t mean understand the complexities of AI algorithms, but the way to use it and the ability to recognise how it can enhance your surveillance service and technology. We haven’t even started seeing the impact of AI in the surveillance market – or any industry.

There is still time, however, to compete on how low you can go to throw a picture up on a screen, but as many of the companies in South Africa (and globally) have discovered, your profit margins and the longevity of your business will be under significant and constantly increasing pressure if this is your modus operandi.

I hope you enjoy the CCTV Handbook 2019, and as always, feel free to send comments and criticisms to [email protected]

Andrew Seldon

Editor

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