Avigilon Financials and 2014 Future Plans

JH
John Honovich
•Published Mar 05, 2014 05:00 AM

Avigilon's 2013 financial report and investor conference call gave insights into their current performance and future plans including timetable for VideoIQ integration, areas of expansion and why Avigilon's CEO believe Axis sells 'just widgets'.

In this note, we dig into the details.

2013 ********** ********

**************** **** ****$*** ******* *******, ** **% **** the $*** ******* ** ****. *** Q4 ****, ******* *** ** **%, a ****** **** **** ******* ******* ********, *** ***** ************ ****** **** the ******** ******* (*******' ******* ****).

[*********:******** ** **** ********* ********'* **** ***** *********.]

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Employee *********

******** ***** *** ********* ** ****:

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Sales / ********* *** *&*********

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Future ** *******

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More ************?

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Axis '**** *******'

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Growth ********

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** ******** *** ************ *** ***+ employees, ********* * *** ******* **********, and ******* *** ******** ** *** sides, ** **** ** **** ********** but ***** ******* **** ** ****** ** *** much. 

Comments (12)
AB
Alain Bolduc
•Mar 05, 2014

Good summary, John.

Your conclusion is to the point, but given they've stated they want to become the market leader, that does involve some risk. Another key piece is their upcoming move to an SAP ERP system which is also a big undertaking.

As for them painting Axis as a widget maker, I guess you could say that all is fair in love and war.

One thing I think they understand very well though is that in order to become a market leader, you don't have to please all the people all of the time, just most of the people most of the time.

JH
John Honovich
•Mar 06, 2014
IPVM
In reply to Alain Bolduc

I don't think the Axis criticism was bad. I just wonder when Axis is going to 'strike back', if ever....

Maybe Axis figured the analog manufacturers let them each their lunch so they are going to pay it forward to Avigilon...

ST
Seth Thompson
•Mar 06, 2014

The small amount on R&D is puzzeling to me........ with that much coin coming in you would think they would be pumping more into that department to fast track the integration of all the new pieces of Tech they have bought into the product line ASAP. thus over running the market and puting both small and large competitors and the like on thier heels and possibling making themselves the most dominate (non china) on the Market.... Time will tell but Google/Microsoft did not become household names by spending pennies in R&D.

AB
Alain Bolduc
•Mar 06, 2014
In reply to Seth Thompson

18 months to fully integrate purchased technology, as they are proposing to do for VideoIQ, is actually quite good.

Microsoft took 3 years to get a working Windows compatible version of software - PowerPoint- out of their very first acquisition.

I won't even get into Google with their one acquisition per week pace. That must be a nightmare to manage.

You'd be surprised how many companies never get around to correctly integrating acquisitions, even at the operational level.

JH
John Honovich
•Mar 06, 2014
IPVM
In reply to Alain Bolduc

Alain, give me a break. Avigilon is not Microsoft. VideoIQ is not Powerpoint.

6 to 9 months to integrate analytics into their VMS is definitely surprising and uncommonly long. I'll give them the benefit of doubt and assume they are just being conservative.

AB
Alain Bolduc
•Mar 06, 2014
In reply to John Honovich

"Alain, give me a break. Avigilon is not Microsoft. VideoIQ is not Powerpoint."

I didn't bring it up. I was refering to Seth's comparisons.

AB
Alain Bolduc
•Mar 06, 2014
In reply to John Honovich

I'd also venture to say VideoIQ's software is much more complex than Powerpoint will ever be. I doubt anyone would qualify Powerpoint as smart or able to learn and adapt. More the opposite.

JH
John Honovich
•Mar 06, 2014
IPVM
In reply to Alain Bolduc

Alain, that comment implies you do not understand the complexity it takes to integrate video analytics into a VMS. You are radically overestimating it.

AB
Alain Bolduc
•Mar 06, 2014
In reply to John Honovich

I guess that depends on how they intend to integrate it. Regardless, it's not as if the technology isn't usable or sellable as is.

JH
John Honovich
•Mar 06, 2014
IPVM
In reply to Alain Bolduc

Thank you Avigilon investor.

Integrating video analytics into a VMS is very important for sales of that video analytic because people expect to be able to monitor / review analytic alerts inside their VMSes. This is not something unique to Avigilon but impacts any analytic / VMS combo.

AB
Alain Bolduc
•Mar 06, 2014
In reply to John Honovich

I'm not saying it's not. Simply that if they need to take the right amount of time to make sure it's integrated the way they want it to be and that it actually works the way it should, they can still sell the VideoIQ appliances which already work with ACC.

It's called being pragmatic.

UM
Undisclosed Manufacturer #1
•Mar 09, 2014
In reply to Alain Bolduc

Yes Alain, but they are perishable goods. The market won't wait forever for the integration to be done. At the most, Avigilon has 12 months from the close of the acquisition to finish and market the integration before the iron cools.

If you look at companies like Tyco and UTC who have made several acquisitions over the years, it's easy to see the successes that can be had when they integrate the IP into their solution versus the failure that occurs when the acquired IP is forced to remain in a silo.