Government spending across all areas of its budgets are soon to be cut. This will be like no other cuts we have ever seen before. Some say it is an inevitable consequence of over spending by the previous regime, some say it is not necessary. Whatever you think it is going to happen and this will filter through to effect new CCTV sales.
State spending cuts.
Speaking to many in the industry, one of the biggest concerns is the cut in spending on state funded new builds, especially schools and government buildings. The previous government had many spending plans and this was seen by many in the security industry as the catalyst that was going to kick start the IP camera revolution. New builds are of course the IP CCTV natural market place. Although more expensive than analogue, the big selling point has always been that they are cheaper to install so cost savings would have meant more sales amounting to millions of pounds. This now has all gone, at least in the foreseeable future. So is the new network IP camera revolution about to grind to a rather painful halt?
Hope.
Well looking at the facts it would seem that way but there is some hope on the horizon. Megapixel and HD cameras have undoubtedly brought better quality images to the market and this on its own will encourage people to buy. Remember however always to demonstrate this quality to the end user, talking alone can never sell anything. In addition to this is a rather contentious subject. Historically in times of recession crime rises. It is inevitable, so more crime will be seen across the country industry will have to invest in security. Will it be IP CCTV though?
CCTV, Making do? A bad decision!.
The last two years have been a barren period for new sales of both IP and analogue security equipment especially in the UK. Customers are quite simply just making do, or worse they are letting their systems deteriorate as they either wont or cant afford to keep the systems properly maintained. We know however that once the criminal fraternity are aware that there is limited or faulty security equipment on a site ,that site will get hit time and time again. This leaves the customer with little choice but to take action and often the best action is to spend money on new security.
Olympics 2012.
So what positives can take out of this? Well IP CCTV will become cheaper and this will help sales. The Olympics is round the corner and this will be a big boost to our industry, and finally and most importantly this recession cannot go on forever, can it??