EXCLUSIV: Interviu cu Aleksandar Dobnikar, Channel Account Manager – Video Security la Sony

Security Portal va prezinta un nou interviu de exceptie, de aceasta data cu dl Aleksandar Dobnikar, Channel Account Manager – Video Security la Sony pentru Europa de Sud-Est si Israel.

Domnule Dobnikar, va multumim pentru amabilitate si va rugam sa ne raspundeti la cateva intrebari referitoare la piata de securitate din Romania

 

Cum caracterizati piata de securitate din Romania?

Consider piata de securitate din Romania o piata aproape matura. Tot mai multe companii sunt interesate de instalarea de sisteme video de securitate, dar pretul constituie inca elementul cheie in alegerea echipamentelor. Din acest motiv sistemele analogice au o cota de piata mai mare decat solutiile IP. Camerele noastre IP sunt prezente pe piata prin intermediul companiilor integratoare care le folosesc in general pentru proiectele mari deoarece principalul factor motivator pentru distribuitori il constituie marja de profit. Astfel, spre deosebire de camerele analogice, camerele IP nu se vand in varianta box.

De asemenea, Sony apreciaza piata securitatii video din Romania ca fiind in crestere iar obeictivul nostru este sa devenim lideri in segmentul HD, full HD si al solutiilor IP. Consideram ca este necesar sa ne educam partenerii si sa ii tinem la curent cu noile tehnologii pe care le dezvoltam. Scopul Sony este de a face trecerea de la o piata „condusa de tehnologie” la o piata „condusa de beneficii” prin promovarea unor solutii facile si de calitate ridicata.

Majoritatea instalatorilor si distribuitorilor nu au educatia necesara pentru a inlocui instrumentele mecanice de moda veche cu laptopurile. Pe de alta parte, unele proiecte IP sunt derulate prin intermediul companiilor IT care nu au experienta in securitate motiv pentru care aceasta este denumita ca „piata bazata pe tehnologie”.

In Romania sunt prezente majoritatea brandurilor, exista cativa integratori puternici si cativa distribuitori independenti de software, dar infrastructura nu este inca suficient de dezvoltata pentru a sustine noile tehnlogii.

 

Care va fi in opinia dumneavoastra evolutia pietei pe termen mediu?

Sony inregistreaza cresteri semnificative ale vanzarilor, in special in zona IP. Pentru Sony, piata este inca una bazata pe proiecte chiar daca ne asteptam la o crestere a pietei. Solutiile HD si full HD vor inlocui sisteme analogice invechite iar noi suntem pregatiti pentru aceasta. Sony furnizeaza solutii pentru migrarea de la analog la IP fara a renunta la camerele analogice existente. Ca o concluzie, ne asteptam ca proiectele noi sa fie realizate cu tehnologie IP si rezolutie HD.

 

Care dintre evolutiile la nivel global considerati ca au cel mai mare impact pe piata din Romania?

Imperativ pentru Sony este calitatea imaginii. Se stie ca Sony este de departe cel mai mare producator de CCD si CMOS din lume. Acum 3 ani am produs un hip de 24 Mpixel, chip ce se gaseste astazi in majoritatea telefoanelor mobile. De asemenea, poti gasi camere de 8 Mpixel … dar acestea sunt produse destinate consumatorilor si nu produse profesionale de securitate video! In prezent ne concentram pe solutiile HD si full HD ca un compromis fericit intre camera destinata supravegherii video si infrastructura existenta (retea, putere de procesare etc.).

In loc sa ne concetram pe cresterea numarului de megapixeli, am dezvoltat si implementat in camerele noastre o serie de caracteristici avansate cum ar fi WDR (Wide Dynamic Range – 130 dB), 3D Noise Reduction, Visibility Enhancer, Audio and Vide Picture Analytics. De aceea consideram ca camerele noastre sunt „proiectate pentru securitate”.

Sony este unul dintre creatorii platformei ONVIF iar aceasta reprezinta un sprijin puternic pentru integrarea cu alte sisteme de securitate. Aceasta caracteristica este in acelasi timp dovada investitiilor viitoare dedicate utilizatorilor finali. Suntem in contact cu clientii nostri si cu utilizatorii finali si construim o retea de parteneri. Luam in considerare toate cerintele din piata si incercam sa facem din produsele noastre, cele mai cautate produse. IP66, IK10, Adaptive built-in IR, Edge Recording, Image stabilizer sunt doar cateva din cerintele tehnice ce ne-au fost solicitate si pe care le-am oferit catre piata.

 

Cum caracterizati competitia din Romania?

Din pacate, la fel ca in alte state din Europa de Sud-Est, pretul este factorul cheie in alegerea echipamentelor de securitate. Pozitia mea este „Nu voi fi niciodata atat de bogat incat sa cumpar lucruri ieftine”. Cei care au fost pacaliti o data cunosc acest proverb.

Exista putine branduri focusate pe calitate, incredere si dezvoltare si acestea constituie competitia reala pentru Sony. In majoritatea echipamentelor acestora sunt implementate chipuri Sony iar in unele cazuri sunt instalate module Sony complete. Trebuie sa ne vindem tehnologia pentru ca trebuie sa platim pentru R&D (n.red. Research & Development = Cercetare si Dezvoltare). Consider ca o concurenta sanatoasa este benefica pentru ca ne motiveaza sa fim tot mai buni.

Totusi, unele companii abuzeaza de logo-ul nostru si incearca sa foloseasca brandul Sony fara autorizare. Aceste companii considera ca astfel vor inregistra vanzari mai mari. Din nefericire, utilizatorul final va fi cel ce va plati aceste greseli. Utlizatorii finali sunt indusi in eroare prin intermediul logoului nostru si al specificatiilor tehnice care, in majoritatea cazurilor, sunt false. Un exemplu tipic in acest sens este valoarea iluminarii minime. Fara a folosi aceleasi criterii pentru masuratori, aceasta valoare este complet nefolositoare pentru ca furnizeaza o informatie gresita despre camera. Imi petrec mult timp incercand sa explic acest lucru clientilor nostri, iar acest gen de competitie nu este sanatoasa!

 

Cat de importanta este securitatea in compania dumneavoastra?

Am trecut prin multe companii in cariera mea si Sony este cea mai sigura dintre ele atunci cand vorbim despre comunicarea interna si fluxul informational. Pentru mine, ca manager de vanzari, spionajul industrial este o amenintare reala. Principalul mediu de comunicare al Sony este internetul motiv pentru care dedicam multe resurse pentru a face comunicarea sigura.

Traim intr-o epoca dificila, ne confruntam cu crize, razboaie, comportamente violente sau criminale si vandalism. Toate acestea fac parte din viata noastra. Din pacate, necesitatea pentru protectie si securitate reprezinta probleme la nivel global si nu neapaeat legate de o persoana, o companie sau o tara. Astazi se cauta echipamente cu o rezolutie mai buna, caracteristici mai sofisticate, usurinta in implementare, robustete crescuta etc pentru imbunatatirea sigurantei noastre.

 

Ce planuri are compania dumneavoastra in Romania?

 

 

In prezent ne dezvoltam reteaua de parteneri si incercam sa asiguram satisfactia clientilor nostri si utilizatorilor finali. Accentul pica pe proiecte dar incercam sa imbunatatim si cota de piata camere IP „entry level” si prin produse analogice.

Oferta noastra este foarte competitiva pe piata iar lista de preturi este foarte atractiva. Ne-am schimbat abordarea pe piata prin furnizarea a 3 game diferite de produse ce se adreseaza fiecarui client: X – extra compact, E – entry level si V – produse cu valoare adaugata.

Principalele cauze ale succesului inregistrat anul trecut sunt noua organizare, suportul local si cama noua de produse. Lucrurile bune nu trebuie schimbate, trebuie doar imbunatatite!

 

SONY PROFESSIONAL SOLUTIONS EUROPE (ROMANIA)

Bucharest Business Park, Sos. Bucuresti – Ploiesti 1A, Intrarea B, Parter, Bucuresti

URL: www.pro.sony.eu/biz/videosecurity

Tel: 0215298030

Fax: 0215298020

POC: Alexandru Sarghe

Mob: 0728064449

Email: alexandru.sarghe@eu.sony.com

 

 

ENGLISH VERSION

How do you characterize the security market in Romania?

 

I consider Romanian security market almost as a matured one. Day by day, more and more companies are interested to install video security system, but price is the key guideline for choosing the equipment. That`s why analogue systems still have the biggest market share comparing to IP solutions.  IP cameras are provided through system integrators, mostly for bigger projects, because key motivation factor for distributors is price/margin. That`s why there is no box sales for IP and this segment belongs to analogue. Also, Sony took video security market in Romania as a growing one, and to be a leader in HD and full HD, IP solutions, is our goal. We see the necessity to educate our partners and keep them updated with all new technologies we are developing. Moving from “technology driven” to “benefit driven” market is our target, with promoting easy solutions and high quality.

Most of the dealers, and installers are not enough educated to replace old fashioned mechanical tools with lap tops. On the others side some IP project are done by the IT companies without any security backgrounds, and we used to say it is “technology driven market”.

You have most of brands available, you have few very strong system integrators, you have independent software vendors, but infrastructure is still not developed to support new technologies.

 

 

 

What will be in your opinion the medium term market evolution?

 

We are tracking significant increase in sales, and it is mostly turned to IP.  For Sony, it is still a project based market, and we are expecting market growth. HD and full HD solutions will replace old fashioned analogue solutions, and we are fully prepared for this migration. We are providing solutions to migrate from analogue to IP without throwing away existing analogue cameras. So, definitely, we are expecting all new projects to be done with IP technology and HD resolution.

 

 

Which global trends do you consider to have the biggest impact on Romanian market?

 

Imperative for Sony is picture quality. You know, we are the biggest CCD and CMOS manufacture in the world, by far. Three years ago we made 24 MPixel chip, in every mobile phone, nowadays, You can find a camera with 8 MPixel ……but those are consumer products, not a professional video security products !  At the moment we are pushing HD and full HD resolution as a best compromise between Video surveillance camera and existing infrastructure (network, processor power …). Instead of catching biggest number of MPixels, we have developed and implemented some very advanced features in our cameras, such as wide dynamic range (130dB), 3D noised reduction, Visibility enhancer, audio and video picture analytics….. That’s why I used to say our cameras are designed for security.

We are one of the founders of the ONVIF platform, and this is our strong support for different integration with other security systems. This feature also means future proof investment for the end user.

We are talking with our customers and end users and we are building our partner network. Considering all requests from the market we are trying to make our products most wanted.  IP66, IK10, adaptive built in IR, edge recording, image stabilizer … are just some of the technical requests we met in our lineup.

 

 

How do you characterize the competition in Romania?

 

Unfortunately, similar to all other countries in Southeast Europe, price is the key factor when choosing the security product. But my answer will be: “I will never be so rich to buy cheap things”.  Customers who were robed just once know this proverb, well, when we are taking about security products.

We have few brands, focused on quality, reliability and development which are real competition for Sony. In most of them Sony chip is implemented and in some of them a complete Sony module is installed.  We have to sell our technology because we have to pay for R&D. I think healthy competition is good, giving us a motivation to be better and better.

But, some companies abuse our logo trying to use our brand name unauthorized. They are expecting this will help them to sell their product. Unfortunately, end user will be the one who is going to pay for this mistake. End customer is missing leaded with our logo and technical specifications, which are, in most of the cases fakes. Typical example for this is minimum illumination number. Without using same measuring criteria this number is completely useless giving a customer wrong information about the camera.

I am losing a lot of my time trying to explain this to our customers, and this competition is not the healthy one!

 

 

How important is security in your company?

 

I have changed several companies in my life, and Sony is the most secured one, when talking about internal communication and information flow.  For me, as a sales manager, industrial espionage is real threat. Our main tool for communication is Internet and Sony is paying a lot of attention to make this communication safe.

We are living in a very difficult time, we have crises, wars, criminal and violent behavior and vandalism are a part of our everyday life. Unfortunately, request for protection and security are becoming global questions, not related just to one man, one company or one country. Higher resolution, more sophisticated, easy to deploy, high robust … equipment is required in order to improve our safety.

 

 

What plans does your company have in Romania?

 

We are building our partner network, trying to make our customers and end users satisfied. We are focused on projects, but we trying to improve our market share with entry level IP cameras and with analogue products, as well.

Our lineup is very competitive in the market and our pricing scheme is attractive. We have changed our approach to the market with providing 3 different line ups, suitable for every customer: X- extra compact, E – entry level and V – value added products.  New organization, local support and new line up were the main reasons for the great success we have made in the past year. So, good things you don’t need to change, you just need to improve them!