ZKAccess: Where's the "Beef"?

In other words:

. . . Where are the sales opportunities today in the security industry?

. . . How can I differentiate myself from the other sales guy/gal?

. . . What products do my customers need which still generate a decent profit?

These questions are foremost on the minds of all security sales professionals.

So, where IS the beef?

If you’re a millennial, perhaps you might not remember this catch-phrase made popular in the 1980’s.  But anyone born before 1970 certainly So, “where’s the beef” in the security industry??remembers this 1984 television commercial which starred three elderly ladies examining an exaggeratedly large hamburger bun topped with a minuscule hamburger patty. Two old gray-haired ladies poked at it, exchanging bemused comments ("It certainly is a big bun. It's a very big bun. It's a big fluffy bun. It's a very big fluffy bun.")  before being interrupted by the third old lady who exclaimed loudly for all the restaurant staff to hear . . . “Where’s the beef??”

It’s certainly not in surveillance cameras or DVR hardware anymore.  Camera sale profits have nose-dived dramatically due to fierce competition and price wars waged amongst competing vendors, especially from overseas manufacturers and suppliers.

The beef WAS in access control 10 years ago.  And although prices for access control panels and card readers have come down significantly, the recurring revenue from consumables (i.e., cards) remains attractive to dealers.  But today’s customers are examining their operations more closely.  And many by now have reached that line in their accounting ledgers which notes the ongoing replacement cost of prox cards.  So does the access control “beef” go away if/when customers finally  stop purchasing cards?  How can the access control industry maintain its “beef” as it appears to become equally commoditized as the surveillance camera industry?  The answer is BIOMETRICS.

Biometrics has grown into a $26 billion industry according to ABI Research.  Yet many reluctantly cautious security integrators still refrain from recommending biometrics to clients due to three unsubstantiated reasons I hear all the time:

1. Perception/excuse that Biometrics is cost-prohibitive for commercial customers
2. Perception/excuse that Biometrics would be rejected by customers due to its complexity
3. Perception/excuse that Biometric accuracy/identification read-rates are unacceptable

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