Industry Focus
Transforming the Future
- By Ralph C. Jensen
- Jul 01, 2017
I’ve found over the past 21 years that
there are many who enjoy talking to the
media, and some who don’t. I like talking
to those who, like their products,
are open and transparent, or, in other
words, have an open architecture.
At ISC West, I was able to share some
time with Sharad Shekhar, the CEO at Pelco.
Of course we talked about the security industry,
but shared stories about life. I wanted to
know more, and more importantly wanted to
get a handle on Pelco and its determination
to return to the prominent industry position
that it once had. The old company is long
gone, and today, the New Pelco is reentering
that marketplace.
While I don’t want to turn this into an
advertisement for the company, my intent is
to highlight an ongoing conversation with
Shekhar, the challenges he faces and his determination
to transform back to relevance.
Transformation means change, and in
this case, it also means leaving behind many
of the legacy solutions and creating global
opportunities and partnerships for new
products. The idea for global product manufacturing
partners includes people from Europe,
Taiwan, China and Chino, Calif. Each
of these hubs of industry can better reach
areas where solutions are needed/sold today,
rather than several days down the road.
What it came down to for Shekhar was
retooling the Clovis, Calif., it just didn’t
make sense. It was also necessary to complete
production somewhere else just outside
of Clovisfacilities, or go elsewhere for product
manufacturing. The decision was pretty
simple; more cost-effective to manufacture
elsewhere. Having multiple manufacturing
facilities outside the United States also allows
for a global footprint; however, with
some of the manufacturing taking place, the
United States remains the country of origin
for products.
“End users outside of the United States
highly value Made in the U.S.A., especially
in the Middle East.” Shekhar said. “We also
stay in the analog business in Clovis because
it remains about 30 percent of our business.
Right now we are focused on our video management
software, which is a Made in the
U.S.A. product.”
The tranformation comes because as
products change, manufacturing specifications
have to change as well. As with any
manufacturer, Pelco is transforming their
product line. Take for instance, a new explosion-
proof camera that they are bringing to
market, made in Germany. It fits nicely into
one of four core vertical markets: Oil and
Gas, City Surveillance, Air and Seaports
and Gaming. These are only core verticals,
because the new Pelco story is one of technology,
not flooding the market with wholesale
products.
“We want to win in our verticals and have
products that are suitable for this,” Shekhar
said. “We have a market-driven approach,
then we decide was platforms to develop. It’s
not to say we only look at these handful of
verticals, we don’t. Our products will fit easily
into other verticals.
“We know how to succeed with our core
verticals.”
There is one thing that overrides all of
this, and all of us should take note. Shekhar
said more than anything else, the plan is to
never let the customer down.
“We don’t promise what we can’t deliver.”
This article originally appeared in the July 2017 issue of Security Today.