It is no secret to anyone that the market for video surveillance providers in Russia is oversaturated and that they are fighting hard to create unique sales offers. It is also well known that installation companies are increasingly refusing to work with local suppliers and prefer to buy equipment directly from China.
What many vendors have not realized is that instead of bringing their products and services to market and offering outdated solutions, they can use cloud services and offer their customers a more efficient and innovative approach.
The solution for a video surveillance provider
A Russian video surveillance provider contacted us seeking a partnership. The company offers security solutions for facilities, installs DVRs, video surveillance cameras, and video intercoms. We suggested including our software in the firmware of their cameras and we also offered to help with the installation and configuration of the equipment.
After some time, we noticed that our client was facing competition issues in the DVR installation market. First, the market was crowded with video surveillance providers offering similar primitive solutions. The odds of these companies turning to our new partner were decreasing. Second, there was another serious downside: buying, installing and maintaining a DVR is not profitable and means big short and long-term expenses for their customers. The only way to attract potential customers was to create a single surveillance service capable of connecting cameras from various facilities around the world.
The advantages of cloud services
Cloud services have many advantages over DVRs. For example, if a store is robbed and a video recorder is lost or damaged during the unfortunate event, the owner will not have access to the recorded video. However, if the same theft happens when the business owner is using a cloud-based system, his data will be safe in the cloud even if the recorder is stolen or destroyed.
The cost of a DVR is approximately $400 plus installation costs of approximately $130. $270 more should go for additional cables and power supply. On top of that, you need to buy two hard drives, each costing around $270. The total amount will be around $1,400, without considering maintenance costs and unforeseen future costs.
On the other hand, cloud-based solutions are much more profitable. All you need are 16 cameras for two weeks of continuous recording. This only costs around $100. Customers will not have to worry about a sudden breakdown or theft of equipment. A stable Internet connection is the only requirement and even if the connection is poor, there is the opportunity to apply a hybrid solution: install cameras for continuous recording on hard drives and send only the necessary data to the cloud, configuring the motion recognition of an object or record with a low bit rate.
The cloud solution has helped our partner attract new customers and increase sales by providing an innovative approach. Now, the provider only needs to get one customer to receive a commission on the monthly payments. How does it work? The client goes to our partner, where the service is offered through a referral link. We take care of receiving payments and pay a commission to our referrals. This interaction model allows the partner to earn money in our cloud, without investing in creating their own.
