Videocon Telecom Limited has recently forayed into the security and surveillance market with the launch of its new brand Wallcam. To know more about the new venture, Guardian 20 spoke to Arvind Bali, CEO, Videocon Telecom Limited.
Q. What kind of investment is Videocon expected to make into its upcoming endeavours in the security and surveillance industry?
A. After exiting the mobility business, we started looking at business opportunities which were synergic to our existing businesses, and at the same time did not require any capex, which were self-sustaining, i.e. profitable from the word go. While exploring many business lines, we found the security and surveillance business to be one of most synergic with our existing businesses.
Videocon is a strong brand in consumer durables and appliances with over 17 manufacturing units across the country; R&D centers worldwide and needless to say a very strong distribution network, and all these factors synergise with the security and surveillance business. And hence there is no incremental investment for us.
Q. Some of the emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence and video analytics, are expected to take video surveillance beyond traditional uses. What are your views on the future of tech-enabled security?
A. Video surveillance is no longer limited to its traditional use of viewing and recording video footage. It is now a connected device and an integral part of IoT [Internet of Things]. It is the virtual eye for the IoT, and we all know the importance of visual aid in any application.
Availability and analytics of cideo/visual aid will have open doors to endless applications and make existing ones more efficient. Some of the simple, yet effective applications could be used, using basic features and aids like facial recognition, motion detection, intrusion alerts etc. for numerous applications like access control, smart homes and smart city automation, remote monitoring, security etc.
Q. What kind of strategy are you implementing to reach out to new customers?
A. In addition to the conventional channels of retail distribution, we will also be directly engaging with system integrators and online channels. We also plan to pilot door-to-door selling across the household segment in a few cities for direct and faster outreach to customers. This will help us serve two purposes: (1) Customer Education thru demonstration; (2) On-the-spot installation.
Among our priority markets, we are targeting tier-1 cities including Delhi/NCR, Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Ahmadabad, Kolkata, Pune and Chennai, and planned outreach across 14 states including Punjab, Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh West and East, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh Circle, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal and the Northeast.
Videocon is a strong and trustworthy brand in consumer durables and appliances. The ethos of Videocon brand is “Innovation”, “value for money” and “quality”.
Q. What does Videocon as a brand stand for?
A. Videocon is a strong and trustworthy brand in consumer durables and appliances. The ethos of the Videocon brand is “innovation”, “value for money” and “quality”. This is exactly what our brand positioning strategy will be. We will offer the most up-to-date, innovative and high quality products to our customers, at the most reasonable prices along with after-sales service from about 1,000 centres across the country. So, Videocon will capitalise on brand acceptability, manufacturing capabilities, R&D, distribution strength and reach.
Q. What are your expectations with Wallcam, your new line of security and surveillance products? And what are Wallcam’s growth and investment plans for the near future?
A. Our expectation with WallCam is simple: to be in the customer’s consideration set in every buying decision that takes place. Our objective is to make our brand ‘Wallcam’ a synonymous to CCTV cameras. In addition of the customised requirements of Enterprise and Government sector, we will be largely focusing on the fast growing Retail sector. The video surveillance market growth will be driven by households, including small commercial establishment (Shops& offices) segments and the key success factor for market expansion will be affordability, ease of use (plug-n-play), and quality. We will be offering high-end and sophisticated products.
Coming to the growth plan’s of the company, the total Video Surveillance market in India in 2017-18 is expected to be approx 3650 Cr, of which the organized CCTV market will be approx 65% i.e. approx 2375 Cr. We are targeting a market share of 6 to 7% in the current FY. By FY 2018-19, we our target will be to attain a fair market share of 12%, and by FY 2020-21, we see ourselves among the Top 3 players in the Industry.
And finally our investment plans, given we already have a state of the art manufacturing and R&D facility in place, there is no incremental investment that we will be making in this business. We will be using our existing infrastructure for the business.