Find news and information for the executive corporate security director, CSO, facility manager and assets protection manager on issues of policy, products, incidents, risk management, threat assessments and preparedness.
Issue link: http://sdi.epubxp.com/i/703941
62 Security Dealer & Integrator / www.SecurityInfoWatch.com July 2016 that provide considerable competi- tive advantage can seemingly appear out of nowhere. Here's an example: e Bosch Automotive group, which provides Google with about 80 percent of its self-driving vehicle soware, began sharing its video analytics technol- ogy with the Bosch Security Sys- tems group in 2013. is situation represents a significant change from the traditional security industry pic- ture. rough technology-sharing partnerships as well as acquisitions, Bosch can bring field-proven analyt- ics to enhance and even revolution- ize its traditional intrusion, access control and video capabilities. Personnel evaluation: Evaluating a vendor's key personnel is also not new to integrators. Now, however, it is even more important to determine who establishes the company's overall visions — including the technology vision. Because physical security systems are based on information technology, and information technology advancement is continuously accelerating within the security industry, it is now technologically easier to live up to forward-looking visions than in the past. For the company and its personnel, past and current connections to IT advancement and new applications of IT in any industry, can be of pivotal importance. For many companies, the extent of their corporate and technology visions Technology Focus Be sure to understand the organizational implications of subscription-based pricing for your customers, including the potential shift from CapEx to OpEx funding. Take into account the customer's expectations for future use and expansion for the cloud-based application." will have a greater impact on the company's upcoming success than many other factors. The Service Offering Soware as a Service is the cloud model used to provide security appli- cation offerings, which sometimes further classify themselves according to their physical security product cat- egory, such as Video Surveillance as a Service (VSaaS) or Video Analytics as a Services (VAaaS). Steve Van Till, president and CEO of Brivo Systems — the first company to provide cloud- based access control — has written an excellent article, 7 Requirements for a SaaS (www.securityinfowatch. com/10537058), identifies the follow- ing seven requirements for physical security cloud-based offerings: 1. Audited data security controls; 2. Track record of high availability; 3. Multiple, secure, disaster-tolerant data centers; 4. Integrated applications, not stove-pipes; 5. Whether the vendor is asking for inbound holes in your firewall; 6. Device authentication; and 7. Penetration testing Another consideration is the level of training that your own personnel will require in order to support the offering. Pricing As always, pricing is a key consideration in the profit picture. Be sure to understand the organizational implications of subscription-based pricing for your customers, including the potential shi from CapEx to OpEx funding. Take into account the customer's expectations for future use and expansion for the cloud- based application. Be sure that the Terms of Service includes the length of time for which the current pricing is valid. Service pricing trends are going in the down- ward direction, unless the customer adopts additional subscription items. Value to Customers, Including Customer ROI In addition to the technical require- ments addressed in the service offer- ing section, the application must meet your customer's needs and wants. is includes not only functions and capa- bilities of the application, but also the quality of the user experience. What tasks will the users need to perform? How helpful are the task workspaces that the application provides? How consistent is the experience across the computer, tablet and smartphone devices your customer expects to use? e more intuitive and self-explan- atory the application's user inter- face is, the simpler the training will be. Ideally, you will be able to talk to the personnel of end-user reference customers, who can explain how the application's features have improved their ability to get work done. Terms of Service ere are two terms of service to con- sider — between you and the cloud services provider, and between you and your customer. e terms of service for cloud- based subscriptions are captured in a Service Level Agreement, which is a binding contract between the cloud service provider and your company that outlines responsibilities on both sides. At a minimum, your cloud provider's terms must give you all the support you need to live up to the level of service you specify in your customer contract.