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Security Dealer & Integrator
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Niche installations ‘show you the money'
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By Deborah L. O'Mara
Editor-in-Chief
When the going gets tough, savvy security dealers and integrators turn to vertical markets. While residential construction and renovation is receding, the commercial side of the business continues to forge ahead.
Selling service solutions to a tightly focused business group like vertical markets makes perfect sense. Many companies in the industry, particularly manufacturers, built their businesses on verticals. A vertical market could best be described as a specialty niche application or specific customer segment. Those include but are not limited to: education, healthcare, government, utilities, hospitality, resorts and gaming, public/cultural, financial, retail, corporate offices and mixed-use developments.
The key to working successfully in any of these areas is to have a good understanding of the end-user's needs and which technologies present the most cost-effective and long-term solution. Scalability and flexibility in upgrading is another plus. Most vertical markets can be profitable if you know how to provide tangible benefits customers can sink their teeth into.
Schools and campuses
The school vertical market, from K-12 to higher learning shows promise for a host of systems and services. These premises need everything from the simplest door control and electronic locks to multi-function or smart cards for access and vending. Schools and campuses also require mass notification systems, fire alarms, emergency and duress communications, safety lighting, camera surveillance and more. Older facilities are ready to upgrade while new construction needs products that are easy to use and deploy and scalable when the user wants to add points of protection or expand the system to additional buildings. That's the other profitable part of vertical markets—upgrades as well as ongoing service and maintenance, especially for fire and life safety systems.
Daniel Hogan, president of Hogan Security Group (HSG) Inc., Pennington , N.J. , knows the importance of working with vertical markets and he's built a successful integration business in the education and campus market. He starts with door control, believing that perimeter protection begins with effective locks and perimeter security. A strategic partner with Ingersoll Rand (IR) Security Technologies, he stands committed to these products and the value of security they bring to each level of customer.
Formula for success
Hogan said the single most crucial element of designing the solution for a vertical market is listening to the client and determining how to solve their problems.
“A major consideration in establishing long-term relationships and profitability across vertical markets is demonstrating return on investment,” he continued. “Making the correlation between the ‘value add' we contribute and how this interprets to long-term reliability for the solution spreads the cost over a long period of time and in essence enhances and justifies the investment for the client.”
