Investing in extra services

INTERVIEW

Investing in services

This month we talk to Mat Brown and Jon Wadman of Qvis about how being a modern security technology distributor is more than just shifting boxes

Depending on how long you’ve been working in the security sector, you might remember the distributor Qvis in an earlier form, that of Adata which was founded in 2002. The original company migrated from IT into the evolving digital security market, where technologies were converging with the release of digital video recorders, replacing traditional analogue tape based solutions. In 2008 Adata went into partnership with QVIS Labs and this has developed into the Qvis brand as it stands today.

This month, PSI took a trip down to the company’s HQ in Havant for a tour of the premises which not only includes a security division with its own ARC, but also lighting and E-bike departments. We spoke to MD Mat Brown and UK Sales Manager Jon Wadman about the company and how the stock and requirements of customers have changed over the years.

Why does a distributor need its own ARC so much that you made that huge investment? MB: The reason we have a monitoring station is that we saw a gap in the market for a distributor to not only provide hardware, but to offer a service with it. We have developed our ARC into Qvis Monitoring running as a separate company under the Qvis Group banner and it has the ability to monitor not only our devices, but also our competitors’ devices too. It runs on the Sentinel platform and it gives us something different in the marketplace - setting us apart from other distributors.

How does it work in practice? Is it only available to those people who buy from you? JW: One of the key things about the monitoring centre for me is that we open the door to every single installer especially as everyone uses an ARC at some point in their career. We are a Tier 1 Dahua distributor so our hardware supply doesn't cover all of the Hikvision customers in the market, but with our monitoring station, we can cover every single customer in the UK and offer them a Qvis service.

You have the QVIS HQ in Havant, but what is your PureTech branch network all about? MB: PureTech is the leg of the company that's sells to key integrators and from where we provide solutions to our partners with a lot of technology on display in the showrooms, where installers have the ability to learn about and train on products that they might not have seen before or any kit that is new to the market. We hope this approach gives our integrators a boost, so that if they are up against another installer who perhaps isn't as trained up or hasn't seen the latest products, they have got a USP over them. JW: For me, PureTech is offering something different. I know, there are a lot of distributors out there that have a branch network however ours isn't just a trade counter. We've got massive video walls and all of our solutions are on display plus we take the time to train customers, walking them through every aspect and every range that we sell. We also welcome and encourage our installers to bring their customers into the branches as well so that if they want the opportunity to see what they are buying before they do so, they can pop in and we can give them a full demo. “We have developed our ARC into Qvis Monitoring running as a separate company under the Qvis Group banner and it has the ability to monitor not only our devices, but also our competitors’ devices too”

What's the current state of play regarding your own-brand products? MB: We have a history of developing our own OEM products as well as selling brands from companies we've partnered with including Ajax, Dahua and Visonic. We are continuing to

INTERVIEW

(continued from page 29)

develop our own-brands such as the Viper, Eagle and Cortex ranges, which are our main video surveillance lines. The goal of Qvis is to have a balanced approach so we could provide the customers with what they require, not only the "name" brands, we can make an OEM solution that fits their needs as well. JW: We also have options like the Cortex video surveillance range which is supplied solely by us and we've invested a lot of money into it. We are seeing some of the larger system integrators favour Cortex as a result of requests from some of their customers who don't want Chinese hardware on their sites. With Cortex we offer a UK-built recorder with USA software on board.

Which technologies are currently flying out the door? JW: Ones that spring to mind are the Dahua TiOC full colour cameras and also anything in the Dahua range that features the Smart Motion (SMD) capability. In the past we've seen that if you set a camera to motion detect you could get a notification if even a leaf or a tree moves, but with SMD this is 98% accurate. This means that if your phone notifies you of an alert there's a 98% chance it has picked up a human or a vehicle. Those are the kinds of features that make these cameras the best seller so far.

...And is there any technology falling out of fashion? JW: I would say that analogue systems have had their day. We still sell a reasonable amount of TVI and HDCVI however we are seeing a big switch over to IP now, predominantly because the price point is so similar. It's becoming a lot rarer nowadays for people doing new installs to fit analogue - instead it's all going IP Cat5 or Cat6. MB: Technology has moved on from 2 megapixel as standard these days to 5 megapixel. We're not really selling much stock that is below the 5 megapixel resolution.

What do you think would be the ultimate product to stock? JW: The feedback we get from installers is that all of their clients love full colour video. However what people don't understand is that with full colour cameras it is "light on" or no image at all. You can't have an image from a full colour camera if the area is pitch black. If there was a camera with IR and full colour I think that would storm the industry, especially in the domestic market.

How do you think the requirements of the installers have changed? MB: The industry is more spec driven these days with lots of buzzwords! The sector used to be much simpler and there wasn't as much choice. In terms of video it was a turret or eyeball camera that was black and white at night and colour in the day, recording back to a box. Nowadays it's completely different - all spec driven and there are unique products in the market that have certain features to meet specific end users requirements. These would be features like people flow analytics to monitor the volume of people entering areas, with coloured lights to make people aware of congestion and checking temperatures to make sure individuals don't have a fever when entering places. I think these new technologies have driven the market to an AI frame of mind, rather than just making a recording of a scene. JW: Over the last five, six years the major change I've seen is a move away from buying on price. Historically, people would buy at the best price because they didn't want any of the special functions however, now we see when dealing with installers the focus is on service and price is less of an issue. Obviously we have to charge a reasonable price, but it is the backend services like tech support and next day delivery that we are judged on.

What will we be talking about in the security industry, this time next year? JW: I think there will probably be more in-depth AI coming out because if you look at the area in the world where most of the technology comes from, it has already embraced facial recognition. I'm not too sure if that level of acceptance will come into the UK with GDPR, but I think the next trend will be an increase in the level of uptake of analytics.

“PureTech is offering something different. I know, there are a lot of distributors out there that have a branch network however ours isn't just a trade counter”