The main thing is the interests of the end user.

The progress of the Russian security market is obvious. And this fact was demonstrated primarily by the economic crisis of 2009. It is enough to recall the situation of general confusion and pessimism that reigned after the memorable events of August 1998. Many entrepreneurs did not understand what to do, many companies simply did not survive the dramatic events of that time.
The situation in 2009 is completely different. And first of all, in that, despite the rather serious problems associated with the cessation of financing for many projects, despite the difficulties in paying off mutual debts, the absolute majority of companies, entrepreneurs and managers are not going to leave the market. If necessary, everyone is ready to change and improve the structure of the business in accordance with the new realities, but, of course, everyone is determined to continue working. This is normal. This is positive. This shows that our market has already left its infancy.
The issue of the quality level of the equipment consumed is quite serious. At the «dawn of the foggy youth» of the security market, there was no such thing as a quality standard. They sold what they managed to import. Deliveries were unsystematic, prices were high. This is a natural period of accumulation of initial capital.
In the late 90s and early 2000s, the market swung strongly towards cheap equipment. The 1998 crisis contributed greatly to this. By that time, most of our trading companies began to regularly attend international security exhibitions and established contacts with Chinese, Taiwanese, Korean and other manufacturers of low-end equipment. At the same time, security systems manufactured in Russia began to attract more and more attention. In my opinion, at that time (or a little earlier), domestic manufacturers were only taking their first steps, and one could rather talk about individual successful products, but not about systems.
The next period of development of the security market began in 2003-2004. Its clear segmentation took place. Suppliers and consumers of cheap foreign equipment were finally determined, among Russian manufacturers, clear leaders emerged in the field of security and fire systems, access control systems and video surveillance. At the same time, venerable European, American and Asian brands joined the process of opening representative offices or forming full-fledged security departments within the framework of already existing structures.
An endless river of petrodollars and cheap loans from Western banks flowed into the country. Large and medium-sized cities in Russia experienced an unprecedented investment and construction boom. It seemed that no one was counting money at that time. Naturally, in many cases, projects used unreasonably expensive solutions from the world's most famous manufacturers of security systems, the prices of which often did not correspond to either the level of quality or the level of reliability.

Having worked in representative offices of foreign companies for the last 5 years, I know first-hand about their problems. The fact is that the value of a company's securities, and not its production, technological and intellectual assets, acts as the «golden calf of today». Following this vicious logic, many industry giants have been intensively buying up medium and small companies, without paying due attention to either the development of the acquired brands or the compatibility of various systems within the proposed product lines. As a result, we constantly encountered problems of a patchwork quilt in supposedly full-fledged integrated security systems purchased from the same well-known manufacturer. But the top management of the companies simply did not pay attention to this. The growth in the value of shares caused by the next acquisition more than covered the problems that arose.
I am sure that the 2009 crisis will not only slow down the development of the security market, but also bring about positive structural changes. The first signs of this are already visible. Unfortunately, many companies have swung quite sharply towards using equipment from the low price range. What can I say, this is an objective reality, and I am not inclined to overdramatize the situation. Still, I would like us not to roll down to the point of installing smoke detectors, which are fundamentally incapable of detecting smoke, and home-made cameras and recorders, which produce images that cannot be analyzed. This foam will quickly pass, and new trends will take its place. What are they?
The low-cost segment of the security market will remain, although it will feature higher-quality equipment. Big changes await the high-price segment. The world will change after the crisis, and for a fairly long period of time, both people and companies will be forced to treat money more seriously. In my opinion, in these conditions, it will not be the big brand name, nor the endless and useless functionality of individual products and systems that will come to the fore, but the optimal price/quality ratio, high reliability and ease of use. I do not predict a quick end to complex and expensive systems of American and European manufacture. Of course, they have the right to exist in large and important projects, the number of which in Russia, unfortunately, has significantly decreased.
In standard large, medium and small projects and installations, which currently make up the absolute majority, Asian manufacturers have an absolute advantage. They have already begun to dictate quality and price standards in almost all markets, including our security market. They already know how to produce individual products and medium-sized systems reliably and quickly. There is only one step left — to master writing reliable and comprehensive software adapted to the needs of a specific country. This time is not far off.
It is known that in developed countries the cost of labor is quite high. Only those devices and systems will be in demand on the market that, in addition to effectively solving immediate security problems, will be easy to install and reliable in operation. From my own experience, I know that in Europe and America there is a wonderful culture of creating well-thought-out complex systems that consist of easily articulated components. This culture is beginning to dissolve in the general pursuit of excess functionality and systematic cost reduction through the use of OEM products.
Asian (Japanese and Korean) manufacturers are still more specialized in the production of individual components of large systems. In terms of quality and reliability, their products are not only not inferior, but often surpass European and American counterparts.

Another positive fact in the new conditions is the good chances for success for domestic manufacturers. Working within the country, they always have the opportunity to be at least half a step ahead of Asian competitors due to a deeper understanding of the needs of their customers, due to the ability to effectively go through all sorts of permitting and certification procedures. Of course, they cannot stand still either. In my opinion, they should actively use advanced development methods, using the experience of European and American engineers. The same can be said about production. In the conditions of global integration of economies, it is appropriate to use a combination of production inside and outside the country. I would also note the positive fact that domestic manufacturers are increasingly boldly and successfully entering the middle price segment of the market: they create addressable-analog systems, radio security systems and fairly complex hybrid intelligent video surveillance systems. I only welcome this: …After all, the Russian land can give birth to its own Platos and quick-witted Newtons.The security market in the foreseeable future will be influenced by the depth of integration of the Russian economy into the global world economy. Russia's accession to the WTO will play a decisive role. Currently, large international system integrators (Honeywell, ADT, GE, BOSCH, etc.) are already working intensively in our market. They are able to actively compete for large projects. As customs barriers are removed, large international trading houses (Norbain, etc.) will follow them into Russia, having large discounts from large and medium-sized equipment manufacturers. In addition, possessing high logistics technologies, they are able to work at a fairly low trade margin. Then it will be difficult for our respected trading houses in the security market, which maintain a fairly high profit margin. They will have to reduce the trade margin, and for this they need to significantly optimize processes in order to withstand competition. Ultimately, the end consumer will benefit from this, who will be able to purchase better equipment at a more affordable price.The security market, like any other market, is a living organism that goes through periods of emergence, self-identification, intensive growth, stagnation, degradation and new development. The interests of companies and individuals coexist and sometimes collide. In my opinion, in all this cycle of ideas, opinions, desires, ambitions and actions, we should not forget the main principles:
1. The interests of the end user should prevail. Users do not exist for us – security professionals – but we do for them. This means that as a result of all our actions, efforts and struggle, the customer should receive a high level of security and pay a reasonable price for it. And it is our task to organize ourselves and our work so as not to lose either creative or material satisfaction from the results of our activities.
2. The interests of domestic manufacturers must prevail over the interests of foreign manufacturers. I have been working with foreign manufacturers of security equipment for a long time. And I understand more and more deeply that while importing advanced solutions and technologies from abroad is permissible and necessary, we are obliged to create conditions acceptable for the development of our own industry, including the use of reasonable protectionist measures. Otherwise, we will always lag behind in the global progress of the security market.
3. The interests of Russia as a state should prevail, both in terms of ensuring the proper quality of security for its citizens, and in terms of strict compliance with legal, customs, and tax legislation by all participants in the security market. We are all the authors of the state of the security market in which it finds itself, with all its advantages and disadvantages. We all need to remember that, working and developing in a certain professional direction, we ultimately create life in our own country.
In this article, I have outlined not only my own views. It was actually the result of heated discussions about the future of the security systems market and a summary of the experience of a fairly long period of joint work with my esteemed colleagues: Maxim Saveliev, Project Manager, and Ivan Zharkov, Technical Support Manager of the Samsung Techwin Representative Office in Russia.