Security systems integrators unsure of IT distributors

A new report from IMS Research has found that almost 40% of North American security systems integrators would prefer to deal with IT distributors when purchasing their IP-based video surveillance products.

By Source: IMS Research (IHS Inc.) May 17, 2012

A new report from IMS Research, recently acquired by IHS Inc., has found that almost 40% of North American security systems integrators would prefer to deal with IT distributors when purchasing their IP-based video surveillance products. In Europe this figure surpasses 50% of systems integrators and installers.

Paul Bremner, market analyst at IMS Research comments, “While almost 40% of systems integrators would like to use IT distributors, there remains a large percentage that do not. The main concerns are that IT distributors have the knowledge about the networking part of the installation, but many still lack the knowledge of what lenses, housings or physical mounts to use. The other factor holding back many traditional systems integrators are the legacy security distributors where strong relationships exist and continue to persist.”

Another key finding from the research was that almost 80% of North American systems installers said they required better training from their suppliers of IP-based video surveillance products. Also topping the list of additional support required was telephone/web support, demo systems/materials and better software/SDKs(software development kits).

Bremner continues, “Systems installers have stated their requirements for better training, support, and demo systems. Many of these installers will only have taken a general training course for an overview of what the technology offers, while many still have had no formal training what so ever. This knowledge needs to be provided to installers, so that the installers feel more comfortable with IP systems.”