Trends & Industry Issues

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Unless you’ve been living under a connectivity rock for the past two years, you have noticed the explosive growth in the use of fiber optics for a wide variety of communication needs.

As I walked the floor at ISC West this year, I was amazed at the amount of money spent by companies promoting themselves at the show. Here was a huge problem, though. Everybody looks and sounds the same. It’s nearly impossible to differentiate one product from another or one company from another.

Now think about how things are in your local market.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, it’s no surprise that the use of mobile devices has taken over the consumer market — and it’s here to stay, even on a B2B level.

From the data we collect in Google Analytics it is apparent that more than 60 to 70 percent of websites we have built, marketed and/or track are being visited by mobile users — cellphones to be specific.

To tweak a line from a famous Frank Sinatra song: 2017, it was a very good year. It was a very good year for connected homes, that is. Massive amounts of advertising from big players inside and outside the security space, a rapidly advancing technology landscape, and an avid interest from homeowners at all economic levels led to a connected home space that is growing by leaps and bounds.

Security dealers increasingly are offering smart home devices such as smart lighting control, smart thermostats and smart door locks to their customers. By taking the right precautions, dealers can help ensure that those devices enhance the customer’s lifestyle without posing cyber security vulnerabilities.

Customers of Perennial Software’s AlarmBiller and SedonaOne cloud-based management applications were without access to the systems for several days beginning the weekend of July 14 due to a cyber attack.

In today’s security market it can be extremely difficult as a security dealer or integrator to truly differentiate yourself from your competitors, build and establish your unique brand, and remain sticky to your customer base. There is simply so much competition within the industry that everyone is basically saying “me too” and offering it for a few dollars less.

Without question, the availability of high definition over coax (HDoC) technologies has had a significant impact on security integrators’ ongoing efforts to upgrade end users from traditional analog solutions.

In China, which has an estimated 200 million surveillance cameras already in use, some cities are using facial recognition and AI technology to track and identify criminals and in some cases to shame people for law infractions, according to an article in The New York Times.