Subscriber Discussion

Will DIY Be A Major Disrupter To The Traditional Monitoring Business?

Robert Baxter

•Aug 22, 2014

Every few weeks ipvm presents a new startup that is a DIY in the security or surveillance field.

This year at the CSAA annual conference, DIY for the first time is almost the exclusive focus. Here is my take on it and would be interested in what others are seeing or beginning to see.

Companies that DO NOT use an inhome sales consultant and have a professional install the system include: Digital Life, Alarm Force, LifeShield, Rogers, Cox, The monitoring Center, Time Warner Cable, Verizon, Xfinity

These Companies DO NOT use an inhome sale consultant AND ship the product to the end user to install themselves: Nest, Frontpoint, Dropcam, Canary, Tattletale, Smarthome, Protect America, SimpliSafe.

Most of the above companies also manufacture their product. The traditional integrator not only sells in the home and then installs it, but also has to buy the product from a distributor not even a manufacturer. Can you spell "competitive advantage".

Two weeks ago we laid off our last salesperson that sells in the home, we are not going to fill the position. The residential market represents 75% of the accounts monitored in North America.

What are ipvm members seeing regarding this trend? Salespeople leaving the market? Leads drying up, Dealers installing less systems? Monitoring company owners thinking about selling rather than hanging on? Cancellations? Are there other companies you could add to my list?

Reactions:

(1)

John Honovich

•Aug 22, 2014

IPVM

Robert, excellent analysis and thoughts.

Let's see what others have to say. One note: member's feedback may be skewed as IPVM members tend to be more focused on commercial / business market than residential.

Reactions:

(1)

Shi Xiong Yin

•Aug 22, 2014

IPVMU Certified

I feel that it is a shift of sales of CCTV to online purchasing. Customers can easily purchase CCTV products online and compare prices and even installation of IP cams are easy for DIY.

Reactions:

Undisclosed Integrator #1

•Aug 24, 2014

Its hard to say how the market will lean, on one had you have a lot of wealthy people who prefer to have professionals monitor their system (this represents the majority of our customers) on the other you have a lot of people who have been using “Free" systems from ADT, Vivint…etc. Many of the people I speak with who have used their systems had bad experiences with monitoring, late to call, no calls…etc (and often don’t see an advantage in monitoring). I could see these people moving to a self monitored system. Our customer base continues to grow, whenever we sell a system we always ask why they choose us, their response is almost always the same. Professionally installed, by qualified technicians and redundant UL Listed Central Stations.

Reactions: