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All about the data

Gary Chalmers.

I suspect that 2016 is going to become the year where the security industry will look back and say “that was the start of it all”. The “all” I am referring to is specifically related to the hardware platforms becoming less important than the shared data they are able to provide.

If you follow the development and growth of most industries that have intersected with technology, you will see a trend emerging that results in a similar style of change in every industry. What you see happening is that the underlying hardware platform loses its identity as the data it produces/consumes is able to be shared by literally millions of other devices out there. In other words, the industry becomes about the service, and not the product.

Over the past year, iPulse has expanded into markets in Europe, the USA and the Far East. During this expansion, we have found that competitors in one market can easily be partners in another, and this is definitely a sign that the hardware manufacturers in more mature markets have come to realise that the true value consumers are after lies in the data, and not in the device that produces it.

I suspect that over the next five years, security brands will have to change their marketing to appeal to end users in a different manner. Currently, people tout the features and performance of their devices over competitors. But in a “big data” world, end-users expect all devices to be connected to the cloud and provide the basic services on offer. Therefore, the next generation of marketing for our industry will be around visual appeal, colour customisation and similar offerings, as hardware providers struggle to emerge from the commoditisation of the sector.

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