Commercial Integrator + Security Sales April 2024 - 78

SSI
ONSITE: GLOBAL PRESS SUMMIT
positions the company nicely for what
Elvish believes are seismic shifts to come.
One such shift is that we're speeding
toward cloud adoption - especially in
the form of hybrid infrastructures. He
believes this trend will become predominant
over the next several years, citing
strong growth prospects for cloud-connected
physical security tools.
Elvish warned, however, that the answer
is not merely to jam the cloud into existing
structures and systems. Instead, he argues,
the key is to " reinvent your business " by
leveraging what the cloud can do.
As Elvish puts it, " Moving to the cloud
is a means to an end. " He's especially
enthusiastic about a combination
approach that blends the cloud and
on-premises capabilities; this combination,
he says, enables channel partners to
apply the best tool to a given situation to
meet client goals.
Newly Empowered IT Teams
Elvish also pointed to a notable finding
from Genetec's " State of Physical
Security " study, which surveyed some
5,500 end-user organizations - namely,
that IT teams are increasingly empowered
when it comes to security technologies.
As Elvish puts it, " The buying group is
changing toward IT. "
To that point, the study found that 55%
of IT respondents had acquired or replaced
security technology in 2023. Accordingly,
Elvish argues that the money's in IT these
days, and it is incumbent on physical
security to get a seat at the table.
That means becoming comfortable
with OpEx budgets (versus CapEx budgets),
since 62% of respondents said their
OpEx budgets would at least stay flat, if
not grow, in the coming year. Elvish also
underlined constantly evolving cybersecurity
risks, saying they must remain top
of mind for all channel members.
The " State of Physical Security " study
found that 31% of respondents' organizations
had been targeted by cybercriminals
in 2023. Worse still, 46% of banking and
finance end users had been attacked. This
makes clear that cyberthreats are increasing,
with further worsening likely.
It's unsurprising, then, that 42% of
organizations increased deployments of
cybersecurity-related tools in 2023 - up
significantly from 2022. This underscores
a simple truth: Physical and electronic
security professionals looking to optimize
their success in the coming decades must
learn to speak the language of IT and
attend to IT departments' (valid) concerns
about infrastructure security.
certifications, scale and ability to help
the company scale; reach into critical
markets and regions (e.g., the corrections
market); and whether the prospective
partner possesses intimate vertical and
domain knowledge.
Chalouhi makes clear that, although
Genetec's expectations of its partners
are high, the company's loyalty level
matches it.
" We're very protective as to when we
bring new partners in, " he asserts. Notably,
Genetec tries to ensure that any new
addition will not cannibalize an existing
partner's business.
Chalouhi answers the question of
why channel partners should choose to
work with Genetec with a few refreshing
pledges. First, he says there are no false
Andrew Elvish, vice president of
marketing at Genetec, touted " creative
destruction. " That is, breaking things
down to then build up new and better.
Genetec is Channel Partner-Centric
Michel Chalouhi, vice president of global
sales, provided an overview of Genetec's
worldwide business. The Americas, he
says, makes up about 76%, whereas
Europe, the Middle East and Africa
(EMEA) is 17% and Asia-Pacific (APAC)
is 7%. For FY22, the Americas and APAC
exhibited the strongest growth, registering
25% and 23%, respectively.
He credits a lot of that growth to
Genetec's strong channel partner relationships,
a recognition that integrators
are the feet on the street who procure,
design, deploy, commission, provision
and maintain Genetec systems.
" We are a channel-led organization, "
Chalouhi declares, " and the channel is
the core of it. " He points to the company's
2,132 global channel partners and says
nearly all Genetec solutions - more than
99% of transactions, in fact - are sold
through the channel.
Given Genetec's tight relationships with
- indeed, its mutual interdependence
with - its channel partners, the company
is very mindful in making selections.
According to Chalouhi, Genetec considers
a range of factors: expertise and
78 Commercial Integrator+Security Sales & Integration | April 2024
promises and there's no vaporware.
" They know they're getting a reliable
product and the support that goes with
it, " he states.
Chalouhi also says that Genetec tries
to simplify the lives of its partners - for
example, by delivering a consistent global
experience. He says that the relatively
small, carefully curated nature of Genetec's
dealer network facilitates such uniformity.
So, make no mistake: Genetec is highly
attuned to the experience of its channel
partners. After all, as Chalouhi puts it,
" The integrator is as much our customer
as the end user [is]. " That means Chalouhi
and other Genetec executives are always
thinking about how they can help channel
partners achieve their desired outcome.
The Beginning of the 'S' Curve
Christian Morin, vice president of
product engineering and chief security
officer, took to the stage and shared an
exciting observation: He believes that our
industry's cloud adoption is just at the
beginning of the " S " curve.
Morin points out that Video Surveillance
as a Service (VSaaS) and Access
Control as a Service (ACaaS) are already
forecasting considerably more growth
than their non-cloud counterparts are,
with the latter only forecasting single-digit
increases through 2027.
All this presents an opportunity, to be
sure, but Morin reemphasizes that the
DAN FERRISI
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