The signs are everywhere. Look at the product names that have reinvented themselves. Kraft Inc., Northfield, Ill., unveiled some critical new packaging concepts in recent years. Or look at the icon William Wrigley Jr. His company, founded in 1891, went from the 'double your pleasure, double your fun' to the moon and back with the 2001 launch of Orbit sugarless gum to the recent innovation '5 gum', an innovative new product designed to 'Stimulate Your Senses(r).' Who would have thought chewing gum could have such a brand legacy and so much pertinence in today's society?
Got lemons? Make lemonade
"When you have a real lemon on your hands, like the present economic downturn, you should think lemonade," according to Christopher S. Tang, professor in Operations Management at UCLA's Anderson School of Management, where he holds the Edward W. Carter chair in business administration. "This bitter and difficult financial crisis provides an opportunity to rethink an entire business and, more specifically, its supply chain systems for delivering products and services to the customer," he wrote in a UCLA newsletter.
"This is a good time not only to look at initiatives to improve the company cashflow in the near term but also to think about long-term issues such as being in markets with zero growth. In the short term, there is a need to lower operating costs, for instance by outsourcing supply chain functions with demonstrable savings or by shedding projects whose incremental benefits cannot justify incremental costs in the near term."
Systems integrators are reinventing themselves every day. They are moving to network communications, IP solutions in video and access control and intercoms, software and security as a service, mobile connectivity, wireless and on and on.
Find your impetus to reinvent inside
In this issue, the story on managed services, page 32, is truly something old that's new. Managed access control has been around for decades but it too has evolved into new technologies and opportunities in mobility and convenience. In our vertical market cover focus story starting on page 24, healthcare and hospital customers have been reinventing themselves, partially because they have to do more with less but still make the patient comfortable so they can heal. We also have a story on monitors, page 36, which have had to step up to the world of HD in tandem with high-resolution imaging cameras. Also inside this issue, ready to pull out and use over and over again, is our Distributor Resource Guide, an exclusive SD&I property adeptly managed by Assistant Editor Natalia Kosk. The guide is growing and now there's more places to get the products you need for a fully integrated solution.
Start with the table of contents on pages 4 and 6 and see all there is inside to help you succeed. SD&I has reinvented itself after 32 years-and we're not done yet.
Secured Cities 2010
Secured Cities 2010, Sept. 29 through 30, is a new conference from Cygnus Security Media co-located at the 2010 Enforcement Expo in Dallas, Texas, specifically designed for the needs of city managers, law enforcement leaders and system integrators who are operating, developing or implementing municipal video systems used for security, law enforcement and even traffic monitoring. Join us for two days of education and networking, plus a look at a real-world city video surveillance project implementation! Visit www.securedcities.com to sign up.
