Digital Video Expertise Wins The Sale
A VAR earns a $96,000 IP (Internet Protocol) video surveillance install with a convenience store (c-store) by showing the benefits of digital video compared with analog.
Solving a customer's business problem is one way to build a long-term business relationship. It's even more likely if you meet the customer after it attempted to perform an IT installation on its own and failed. When this happens, you don't have to justify what it means to be a 'value-added' reseller — the customer already gets it and appreciates your expertise. That's the position systems integrator The Network Group (TNG) found itself in when vendor partner WiLife invited the integrator into a video surveillance install gone awry. The customer, a c-store chain with 32 stores located throughout Utah and Idaho, had reached the end of its lease on an analog video surveillance system and was trying to upgrade to a new system that it could own. "Besides the issue of paying monthly video equipment rental fees, the c-store had a lot of problems with its legacy system," recalls Tom Gwilliam, owner of TNG. "Poor picture quality was one issue, which was further compounded by the difficulty of searching through videotape footage, not to mention that store managers often forgot to change the videotapes." Probably the biggest frustration, however, was the inane technical support the c-store received from its service provider. For example, if a video camera broke, it might take as long as a month before the service provider got around to fixing it.
Capitalize On Digital Video's Selling Points
After seeing a demonstration of WiLife HomePlug digital video cameras, which transport video using power lines instead of Ethernet cables (e.g. Cat-5), the c-store decided to make the purchase. "The c-store didn't have much technical knowledge, and it ran into a lot of difficulties," recalls Gwilliam. "Because of where the retailer needed to mount the cameras, it used long extension cables, which caused the power supplies to overheat and the video camera thermal switches to shut down, thus turning off the cameras. Even more problematic was that the retailer was using technology that was designed for a home environment, not a business setting." After several failed attempts to fix the problem, the c-store contacted WiLife, which in turn referred the customer to TNG for technical support. When TNG got involved, the customer was ready to switch back to an analog video system. TNG evaluated the customer's situation and determined that a WiLife ProLine Digital Video Security System was the right fit for the customer. "We showed them how much clearer digital cameras capture video compared with most analog cameras, and we showed them how much easier it was to store and search for video footage," says Gwilliam. "The customer was reluctant, but our video surveillance demonstration and references helped us earn their trust."
TNG sold the c-store the WiLife ProLine Digital Video Security System for each of the c-store's locations. Each store was outfitted with six WiLife WLPC-810i indoor cameras, a WiLife power injector (sends electrical power over an Ethernet connection), Linksys 8-port switch, six Cat-5e cables, and WiLife Command Center (WiCC) software.
Each camera has built-in motion detection capability, which enables the camera to capture video only when a store customer is opening a cooler door, for example. Further, cameras can be configured to recognize up to nine motion zones, which can be assigned using the WiCC software. Each store captures about 20 GB of data per week, which is stored on a PC and can be burned to DVDs if needed. The software enables managers to see each camera view individually or all cameras at once on a single monitor. Also, managers can search video in 15-minute increments. By purchasing WiLife Platinum Services, the c-store customer also is able to view live or stored video camera footage via a secure Internet connection.
The customer paid approximately $3,000 per store for the hardware, software, and maintenance/service contract, which will total about $96,000 when the rollout is completed later this year. Based on the c-store customer's satisfaction, TNG has been able to turn the customer's referral into two potential additional IP video surveillance sales opportunities.