Boosting Video Surveillance Revenue In Retail

By Brian Albright, Business Solutions magazine

Analytics and hosted solutions can provide upsell and recurring revenue opportunities for VMS VARs.

The opportunity for VARs in the VMS (video management software), IP video, and video surveillance space in general is growing. According to TechNavio, the global VMS market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 18.51 percent through 2018. Allied Market Research predicts the global IP video surveillance and Video Surveillance as a Service (VSaaS) market will grow at a CAGR of 37.3 through 2020. Interest in IP video solutions, hosted video management systems, and other video-related security systems has drawn generalist IT integrators into the market, and more IT distributors are adding video surveillance equipment to their product mix, according to a report from IMS Research.

The opportunity is there, and with prices of IP cameras and VMS products falling, retail clients may be interested in upgrading their older analog solutions to newer systems with more functionality. “Not only are IP cameras and IP VMS getting lower pricing, but mobile technology is quickly becoming an expectation,” says Trenton Thoms, retail business development manager at Milestone Systems. “Retailers want in their business technology the same advantages they have in their personal lives with smartphones, tablets, Wi-Fi, etc.”