How Telecom Operator Almatel Launched its Video Surveillance Services
Telecom operators providing video surveillance services do not always succeed in finding the solution that would satisfy all their needs and those of their subscribers on the first try. Today we would like to talk about telecom operator Almatel's path to success.
“A few years ago, we realized that it would be relevant for us to start developing a new product direction. We chose video surveillance as one of these products. Prior to this, video surveillance was not a permanent service and was provided as a one-time, situational product. At that time, there were no specialists in the company who understood how to develop this service, how to maintain it properly, and how to sell it”.
Igor Khazov, head of the new products department
Initially, the operator had the idea to develop its own solution with full responsibility for all its parts to the end user, but programming your own is always many times more difficult and expensive than buying ready-made solutions.
“Initially, we entered the market with an integrated solution for video surveillance, which included analytics. Over time, we noticed that our main target audience, small and medium-sized businesses, were not very actively interested in video analytics, with the exception of a small number of cases. Usually, they use video surveillance as an interface for employee monitoring. Therefore, we realized that we needed to sell a simplified version of the service and look for alternative solutions”.
Igor Khazov, head of the new products department
The video surveillance service in the form provided by the operator at that time was uncompetitive in terms of pricing in comparison with other operators in the segment of similar products. About a year after the start of sales, Almatel found the Flussonic website and contacted us.
“We realized the solution that Flussonic offers fully meets our requirements: ease of connection for the end user, plug and play cameras, the ability to brand the application interface, the ability to set tasks and get operational solutions, and pricing. Flussonic was an excellent choice for us to enter the market with the ability to provide a simplified video surveillance service for those customers who do not need video analytics upon request. This is exactly the flexibility we were looking for”.
Igor Khazov, head of the new products department
The process of launching the service, along with creating a branded interface for the application and the web version, and setting up internal systems by the operator took about 4-6 months. Almatel uses cameras with the preinstalled Flussonic Agent software, which greatly simplifies the process of linking cameras to the operator’s domain.
Almatel now provides video surveillance services for small and medium-sized businesses - including schools, kindergartens, logical centers, warehouses, shops, and business centers. In the near future, they will make this service available to private customers too. We already talked about how both the video surveillance tasks and the devices will differ for business and for private individuals. Now, all they have to do is to choose interior cameras that are minimalistic, non-invasive, as mobile as possible, and easy to install for their subscribers.