Axis Wins ~$20 Billion Retailer With End to End Solution

Axis itself understands the importance of getting end users to buy their generally inferior VMS / NVR:

When an Axis NVR is used with primarily Axis products, do you think it is still inferior?

I had a Sr. Axis manager email me that he was leaving Axis, one of the reasons being their departure from the "partner" model.

Congrats Axis on turning partners into adversaries!

Great business oportunities to replicate with other customers

Is 20 Billions or 20 Millions ?

The dealer be damned.

Unless you are an integrator with a huge global account that is about to leave. In which case jump manufacturers and get them to cut you a sweet deal to get their foot in the door.

Whoever was the sales guy on that has got to be sitting back pretty at this point. That seems to be quite an overpriced set of recording hardware, all running software meant to handle individual stores not a huge chain of stores.

I wonder whether that will come back to bite Axis in the future if they start wanting enterprise features later on?

I wonder who is doing the installation. My guess is that they are going to be aggressively cutting integrators out of these deals.

This is now an old story, in an industry where there are so many manufacturers out there making pretty much the same thing and when said manufacturer(s) can't get systems integrator to sell/lead with their solution (for what ever reason i.e. the product sucks, the integrator already has relationships/commitments etc.) and when everyone wants to rule the world (i.e. capitalism and the human condition) then the manufacturer has no choice but to go around their partners and find excuses to do so.

I have been in a former customer's office a while back that I was losing to find out why and on the floor in the guys office was an EXACQ server in an ADI box, no lie (but they don't sell direct I as told, hah!).

I have Avigilon sales people meeting with a Police Chief and somehow convincing this poor guy that their ACS solution is the best thing on the market and now he is demanding that his Architect make Avigilon proprietary - for access control, hah!

I had Axis management up my you know what, because they found out that I carried/substituted, on a public project, Samsung instead of the specified Axis PTZ cameras (this helped me win the project). They were upset because they had met with the end user to get Axis specified and couldn't comprehend why I used Samsung. They didn't meet the consultant, no - they met the end user and felt they earned the business...

We got an access control manufacturer (a real product that has been around for many years) that has their rep (he works for the man.) literally offering to perform the programming! He does what we do, hits the street looking for greenfield opportunities and calls on them no different than we do.

I have been to several ACCC conferences, I am always dumbfounded when they drag the same guy from some cruise line up to talk about how great Axis is, year after year. Where is he buying his cameras? Who is installing them? Wouldn't it make more sense if their partners were #1 to have the partner speak, not the end user? If Celebrity Cruise Line is using a real systems integrator - who set's the price or is the price dictated by Axis in a direct relationship with the Cruise Line.

This is fun, I could go on and on....

NOTICE: This comment has been moved to its own discussion: The Manufacturer Has No Choice But To Go Around Their Partners And Find Excuses To Do So

What about maintenance?

What about testing and commissioning?

Who will provide the infrastructure?

It is really strange how the market is being oriented nowadays?

I would rather 1000 times to give the deal to a loyal axis partner that can preserve the name and maintain the system in a proper way.

Interesting potential business model - and potential shift in the industry?

sell directly to the end user, have approved partners install and maintain, compete with far eastern manufacturers by removing one or two layers of supply?

potentially, the installer gets guaranteed installation/maintenance work, doesn't get involved in a product/quote bun fight with his competitor installers (just out and out service offering) - good benefit for them on cash flow and stock (lack of) management.....

Axis can compete with HIK etal without ripping the margin away - end client pays similar end amount

But.....

perhaps Axis are only pre-empting the master plan HIK etal have anyway?

I wonder here in Qatar who will get them the MOI approval if they are not supplying the cameras and other devices. This is hectic

Doesn't seem very far off for me. I am an axis Gold dealer and when I get leads from axis, my account manager there has done allot of homework on them already. Often even putting the design with camera placement together. Axis has a very real MSRP which very many companies do not and because of that they can speak pricing. And by all means leads do not come often but the ones that have have been substantially vetted.

Cisco works the same way, and any smart company is going to go after a customer direct in some capacity that would be 10x the size of integrator sales over a 10 year period.

Has it been confirmed this deal even closed, or they just swayed an opinion maker in one or two stores? I have never seen a multi billion dollar company make a swift infrastructure upgrade across all stores at once. I would bet This is a many years in the making roll-out and they get about a quarter of the way in and something new comes out, or H&M is sold off and no longer continues the rollout.

As an end user, count me in as being in support of using trusted, skilled integrators for help with product selection, design and integration, and for purchase, installation, service and maintenance.

End users, essentially, are in layers by geography / scale. To John's point earlier, not many integrators have the capacity to support national / international customers with hundreds or thousands of locations.

This is where manufacturer's national / international account management teams can provide centralized support.