The physical security industry should take the same approach as the networking industry. Be transparent with your flaws, educate your partners and those who deploy your systems, and earn the trust of your end users. Cisco is a perfect example of such a strategy.
On the Cisco web site, you can easily identify bugs and other issues when they exist. The available documentation is outstanding.
The Cisco certification program has turned out an army of well trained installers and engineers.
Almost all end users will trust a Cisco solution. The products are not always perfect, but the support and trust is there.
The current practice of hiding issues within the physical security industry, will always be a barrier for gaining trust from dealers and end users.
The products are not always perfect, but the support and trust is there.
There is no such thing as a perfect product. Unless it had 0 sales. :)
I agree with you completely. It may take time, but free market economics will get it right eventually. That's why Cisco has been so dominant for so long.
There is a stark difference between earning the trust of what I am going to call -- in the most non-offensive way that I can -- the uneducated masses in and around security, and earning the trust of large enterprises, government agencies, and other large, sophisticated organizations (note: not implying that all large enterprises or especially government agencies are sophisticated...just to be clear).
Fancy slogans, advertisements in magazines and at conferences, and other equally inane methods will appeal to the lowest common denominator, but most larger organizations and many smaller but sophisticated ones are going to see through that and focus on the things that actually matter in the longterm.
The (terrifying) underlying point to this is that Hikvision is likely to continue their proliferation despite all of their issues because there are always going to be unsophisticated and/or money-focused buyers.
Very well stated! And to add to your last statement... The unsophisticated Buyers will continue to enjoy the price and quality of Hik, and further their success. But most importantly, the unsophisticated Resellers who simply don't understand the security risk, and therefore dismiss it, will continue to spec and put this line in front of customers at a substantially lower price than the Axis, Panasonic, Avigilon, and so on, competing bids. Its not until they have a 2am truck roll for a camera now says "Hacked" across the image that they learn what manufacturers to trust.
I doubt any integrator that has clients that require 2AM truck rolls, is going to spec Hik. If they do, shame on them.
The simple fact remains, certain clients, do not care. Unfortunately for us, we are at the very bottom of the market with our client base. We can barely compete selling Dahua, let alone Axis. But we can't focus on better clients until we have enough techs, training, resources etc.
I told everyone I knew that had Hik equipment about the recent events. All I got was Thanks. Not one wanted to talk about options.
Same for Dahua. We knew a lot of clients with older firmware etc, and not a single one wanted to pay a service call to have the f/w upgraded.
I don't read it that way. I think this is a good way to call attention to the issue. I've used this tactic many times in sales situations. In many more words to a customer: "You don't have any reason to trust me. Please, do you own research on what I've told you."
If you're telling the truth and have a good track record, like Genetec, it's a good way to build trust.
I think yours is a fair interpretation. However, like many a marketing mantra, the phrase “You can’t buy trust” is somewhat vague and defies simple analysis.
What do you all think are the right ways to earn trust?
To me the way you earn trust is to explain what you do and why. Pointing to another mans flaws always makes me weary of what the person making the point is hiding.
Explain what you do and why. If you do it right, they one hearing will see why you can be trusted. Showing what image your installation will give is just a detail, a part of the security solution.
I can honestly say that I was "on the fence" about attending the PSA-TEC 2018 conference. We have been a PSA member/owner for years, but I have never attended TEC because our flagship vendor partners are not sold through PSA. Now that I see HIK has bought their way into favorable status with PSA, my decision has been made for me. I'll sit this one out too, as PSA is losing all consulting credibility. By the way, I trust Pierre Racz and his visionary leadership in our industry. I'm proud to be long-time Genetec and Axis partners and hang our success on the "Chain of Trust" between my customers and my solutions partners.
That's the same PSA email blast that helped make my decision for me. I have heard positive things about the TEC conference from past attendees, but this completely discredits them in my opinion. They are complete sell-outs with reckless disregard for the damage that this will do to their reputation. I'll just stay home and take on-line classes for my CEUs. I'm embarrassed for PSA.
