Today, any public place is under some or the other kind of threat and needs good and continuous vigilance. In this issue, VARINDIA attempts to study the Security concerns and Surveillance benefits for the two most important industry verticals, namely, Healthcare & Hospitality.
The word surveillance is the French word meaning "watching over". The word surveillance may refer to simple, relatively no- or low-technology methods such as human intelligence agents. But, today, it is more applied to observation from a distance by means of electronic equipment (such as CCTV cameras), or interception of electronically transmitted information (such as Internet traffic or phone calls). IP video surveillance is a key business tool for ensuring smooth operations, general security, preventing loss and controlling mischievous activity. It is steadily emerging as one of the most compelling investment areas, creating a whole new market for networking resellers and integrators.
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Tushar Sighat
CEO
D-Link (India) Ltd
As per the IMS Research Report on "The Asian Market for CCTV and Video Surveillance Equipment - 2012 Edition", the video surveillance equipment market in India is expected to grow to $463 million by 2016, out of which $200+ million is expected from the network video surveillance and the rest by analogue video surveillance with a CAGR of ~40%. The report also suggests that the two largest market sectors for network video surveillance equipment in terms of revenues are City surveillance and Banking/ Finance. "However, some recent reports suggest that the healthcare sector in Asia is expected to grow to $100 million by 2016 at a CAGR of average 21% since 2011. All these factors are a clear indicator of the market potential for security and surveillance equipment in the hospitality and healthcare sectors," informs Tushar Sighat, CEO, D-Link (India) Ltd.
Security concerns
As regards the hospitality sector is concerned, the biggest concern is that they need to keep a record of everyone coming in and going out of hotels. With regard to hospitals, their chief concern is to monitor their hospital staff. Another concern is misbehaviour with guests by the hotel staff and monitoring of the regular visits of doctors and nurses. It cannot be denied that every industry/ sector has its own peculiar requirements. Hence, the solution needs to be customized accordingly. In the hospitality sector and more precisely in the case of hotels, monitoring hygiene in kitchens along with customer service monitoring for better service & training, tracking of any suspicious visitors from the security perspective, to monitoring parking lots, entry points and exits and other utility areas are some of the prime concerns. In hospitals, monitoring of OPD patients, keeping a check on visitors, closely monitoring serious patients in ICUs, scrutinizing and recording the movements of its own staff, keeping an eye on the kitchen area, laundry, other storage rooms and utility areas are some of the key concerns.
India's security and surveillance market has shown a robust growth in recent years across all verticals, including hospitality and healthcare. Rothin Bhattacharya, EVP - Marketing, Strategy & Business Development, HCL Infosystems Ltd., shares, "Many countries, including India, have even set minimum norms for security that hotels should comply with. In hotel security, the aim is to provide a completely secure environment for hotel employees as well as for guests with state-of-the-art technologies, along with protection of all assets. Screening of guests and their vehicles (apart from surveillance) is a very important element of security for hotels."
The hospitality sector is very vital for a nation and its citizens. The element of security in a hospital is a big challenge because of the number of people entering the premises. Therefore, there is a need for setting up a high preparedness level and emergency response system based on threat perceptions. Security in hospitals also needs to be seen in the context of very high footfalls in the event of some incident in their respective localities. This is important for patients to feel safe and for the staff to work in a secure environment.
Adding further to the healthcare scenario, Manoj Khadkikar, All India Head Channel Business, Zicom, informs, "In recent years alone, medical facilities have provided the setting for numerous reported criminal acts, including vandalism, theft, intimidation, abuse, sexual assault, and kidnapping. Many of the healthcare authorities in India have made themselves aware and equipped by installing a comprehensive video surveillance system that can greatly reduce the risk of such occurrences as well as significantly increase the capture and conviction rate for these damaging criminal activities. Surveillance cameras are useful in capturing recordings of misleading incidents that can eventually be produced as an evidence to reach out to the roots of any mishap."
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| Sanjeev Sehgal MD Sparsh | Rothin Bhattacharya EVP-Marketing,Strategy & Business Development, HCL Infosystems Ltd. | Manoj Khadkikar All India Head Channel Business Zicom |
Scope of Surveillance
CCTV cameras follow you everywhere whether you are going for shopping, to the hospital, bank, coffee shop, airport. They track down your each and every moment. CCTV cameras have a number of advantages that make them an important part of the security system today. CCTV cameras help a great deal in deterring crime in places like railway stations, banks, hospitals and other crowded areas where the eye of the police may not reach. Especially, women feel quite secure due to the presence of these cameras in crowded places. The footages recorded on the CCTVs have proven to be of great help in a number of criminal cases. CCTVs create disciplined environment in the work area and catch any sort of undesirable behaviour. Even employee harassment would not go unnoticed in the presence of CCTVs.
Sanjeev Sehgal, Managing Director, Sparsh, elaborates, "Both hospitality and healthcare sectors are seeing a rising demand for surveillance as both are growing sectors. Hospitality and healthcare both need this to ensure better service is being given to the customers/patients. For hospitality, it is more of a mandate as it is important for state security to monitor and get the record of people coming in and out of the city and hence such places are usually used for accommodation purposes."
The scope of surveillance solutions today is not just limited to capturing and monitoring of images. A complete end-to-end Video management system with allied infrastructure is expected by the customer. The solution demands storage solutions and processing software as well.
Further, the demand varies depending on the business needs. Sensitive sectors like hospitality and healthcare demand integration with physical security systems to ensure complete safety and quick response to emergencies. However, in both the sectors the scope of surveillance more or less remains the same.
Sharing HCL best practices, Rothin Bhattacharya said, "The security solution or deployment needs to be customized as per the specific needs of the vertical - be it hotels, hospitals or some other industry. Also, HCL Security works on the 'Risk Assessment Model', which provides a framework to identify and access risk so that the solution can be designed efficiently. We also take regular feedback from our customers across verticals on the installed systems apart from planned servicing and checkups. We have an excellent customer support system with back-end teams at project sites to ensure smooth operations for our clients."
Role of Channel
Today, each company claims to be 100% channel driven. Thus, their role in deployment is inevitable. Sanjeev Sehgal feels that partners with industry-specific knowledge are always a better choice as they are aware about the terms and technologies and hence satisfying the customer based on their requirements is easier for them. On the other hand, new entrants are also important as they are more brand conscious and hence do not prefer to be associated with any low-quality product or with any company which is not capable of providing support, as and when needed.
For D-Link partner the route is important because their partners are already offering varied networking solutions to their customers like routing, switching, cabling, etc. So, for them, it is just about taking that extra step and start offering IP surveillance solution to the same customer. Further, in order to promote IP surveillance amongst its existing partners, D-Link conducts special seminars/ training programmes to educate them better and equip them with the required skill set to promote surveillance business further. "Moreover, we are also exploring tie-ups with partners and system integrators for exclusive business partnerships," added Tushar Sighat.
In the end…
Integrating video feeds with an internal network to create a monitoring system allows security and medical professionals instant access to all the video feeds around hospitals, and communication between multiple divisions to facilitate response to any negative event. Hotels, on the other hand, are the pillars of the hospitality industry of a country. A good hotel is identified by its good service offer. But a hotel with the best service but poor security would expose its guests to risks and compromise on its reputation and goodwill. Hoteliers are responsible for the protection of property and well-being of their guests. In such a scenario, it becomes all the more essential for both hotels and hospitals to assess the risks and thereafter put a comprehensive security system in place.
