Category: Interview

Corona virus has brought the life and business to standstill all across the globe by spreading COVID 19 – a deadly viral pneumonic disease. The pandemic has taken more than a lakh of lives so far and there is no sign of hope of its subsiding soon. Total administrative lockdown has been ordered across the country which has been suggested as the only way out by medical practitioners after studying the nature of the disease. The disease is spread by personal contacts and social distancing is the one of the major ways out to break the chain of outbreak. In the current challenging time, when the entire people and economies are struggling hard to survive their lives and businesses and manage the situation, India as of now is determined to fight back Covid 19, and is doing good so far. While all the front liners – healthcare workers, hygiene & sanitation staff, bankers, food & grocery merchants are doing at their best, private security industry especially security guards are playing a vital role towards the cause. They have been appreciated by all including the government. It is not only the guarding sector but the security equipment one is also playing brilliant role in surveiling, monitoring, and controlling the situation. The Government of India has introduced an App called Arogya Setu which is to help in tracking the presence of Corona infected people. However, this is also a fact that during this lockdown period, businesses including security agencies are shutting and/ or they are running at a depleted state. There is a lot of cost cutting happening in all commercial establishments – from Industries to corporates, from Malls to Restaurants, from IT/ ITeS MNCs to MSMEs, and so on. There are instances of layoff of security guards and non-payment to them during lockdown. Obviously security is the first one to bear the brunt of any austerity practice across all businesses. SecurityLink India intends to understand the state of private security industry during the COVID 19 phase and threw a few questions to the industry. Here are the excerpts of some replies: Milind Borkar Speaks Milind Borkar Vice President (India & SAARC, Middle East and Africa) SecurityLink India (SLI): What is your take on recent Coronavirus spread and the business of security – particularly in India? Milind Borkar: The recent pandemic of COVID 19 has certainly impacted the business as a whole adversely but technology based businesses which can be monitored and controlled remotely are coming as a rescue in the time. Patients and contacts are being traced through mobile GPS. Apps are greatly helpful in tracking patients. The Government of India has created an App called Aarogya Setu which tells how an individual can check whether he is close to any person who is afflicted or is at a potential risk. Health security has currently become a big issue – whether contemporary technologies can track and/ or contain a biological attack or anticipate and/ or prevent one. SLI: Kindly state the role of Indian private security industry towards Pandemic COVID 19 in terms of contribution, limitations, success and failures. Milind Borkar: If there is anyone thing that the COVID 19 outbreak has shown to all of us it’s the true worth of people and organizations that keep our society safe and well as we go about our daily lives. Medical professionals are rightly at the pinnacle of public attention at the moment, but the global pandemic has also highlighted the vital roles that so many people play in our world – from cleaners to delivery/ logistics teams, supermarket staff and the emergency services including security services – all of whom are doing their critical jobs, whilst also battling the potential of being infected and being ill themselves. This is the overseas example while in India people go about creating panic, as well as try to spread intentionally the virus as God is supposed to be on their side. In Kuwait specifically any expatriate who violates the law is simply put in lock and is deported – no questions asked. A Government clarification states: Roles essential to supporting law and order, with the potential to reduce demand on policing, also meet the critical worker definition. This would include, amongst other areas, the guarding of empty or closed commercial, retail or office premises; the monitoring of similar through CCTV or other remote means; and the provisioning of alarm response centres including mobile units. But do we have this hardware in place, probably yes, but is it working? Protecting people and property: Times of crisis undoubtedly bring out the best and the worst in people, which means for the majority a greater community spirit and desire to help and share with others. Sadly, there are always criminal elements who see nefarious opportunities to take advantage of – as we have observed through various news platforms of print as well as electronic media. These people should be arrested immediately, and a FIR be lodged irrespective of who so ever they may be. Medical security: With a huge focus on the medical efforts of both the government and the private sector during this outbreak, it is easy to overlook the heightened security needs there too. Security in quarantine areas need to be strictly enforced, medical teams and supplies need to be protected. With the amount of panic buying going on recently, medical supplies (such as painkillers) are in demand, whilst many restricted medical drugs will always attract criminals (and addicts) if they are not properly secured. There are several cases where pharma stores have been vandalized. SLI: The Corona regime appears to manifest the significance of human factors in the business of security, how do you advise? Milind Borkar: On 11 March 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared that an outbreak of the viral disease COVID 19 – first identified in December 2019 in Wuhan, China – had reached the level of a global pandemic. Citing concerns on the alarming levels of spread and severity,…

Sudhir Tiku Vice President – Sales, Asia Pacific Bosch Security & Safety Systems SecurityLink India (SLI): At the outset, kindly accept our congratulation on your promotion. Kindly brief the journey so far! Sudhir Tiku: I joined Bosch Limited in the year of 2012 as the Head of Bosch Security and Safety Systems, India. In 2015, India was also assigned with the operations for SAARC countries and then, I began overseeing the strategy, growth and operations for South Asia region until January 2020. I have taken up the responsibility of the Head of Sales for Asia Pacific region after that – since February 2020. This region is one of the fastest growing regions of the world and it is always exciting to be part of such a dynamic region with plethora of opportunities and challenges. SLI: Our last one to one interaction was during the Beyond Mobility 2.0 in 2018. How has Bosch Security Division (BSD) done during this period? Sudhir Tiku: The Indian security and communications market has consistently been growing for the last many years, and will continue to grow. This, along with our innovative products and solutions, has enabled us to constantly keep growing, and allowed us to penetrate new areas of the market, execute our vertical strategy and deploy multiple ‘Made in India’ products. SLI: What is your market share today and how do you plan to increase it in the coming days? Sudhir Tiku: Supported by the industry market growth and our introductions of innovative products and solutions, it has enabled us to grow consistently in verticals of Industry, Transport, Government and Commercial. We will continue to maintain our vertical focus approach for the Asia Pacific region as a whole, and continue our focus on business insights with push in video and fire consolidation in key countries. You will notice that our approach to market is three-dimensional in nature. We focus on people, products and solutions; and then on market verticals. Looking from that perspective, we typically want to get into a vertical where we can sell end-to-end seamless solutions, and not just products. SLI: Which is the best-selling vertical for you and why? Sudhir Tiku: Industry, Transport, Commercial and Government verticals are the main focus for us. However, currently with the rise in need for efficient, convenient and faster means of transport, and further driven by urbanization – transport vertical has seen promising potential for the past few years and will continue to do so especially for India. Added to this, we at Bosch Security and Safety Systems have a plethora of products and integrated solutions to offer to this all important and growing vertical of transport. SLI: Kindly share in brief about your contribution in transportation sectors? Sudhir Tiku: When we scanned the market to understand the trend and trails, we found that Transport segment is one critical vertical where customers wanted companies like Bosch to enter the space and offer a wider platter of solutions. Because this is the one area where millions of people use diverse transports services on daily basis. Just for instance, if you look at the Delhi Metro, around seven lakh people are found to be using the Metro service on a daily basis and this will only grow. In a country like ours where the commuter numbers range in dozens of millions, the vertical offers tremendous scope for companies like Bosch to develop products and solutions for diverse levels of application. So, when the numbers are so large, it is important that stakeholders like us, step up and develop solutions to ensure safety and security of people who use public transport services daily. I think that is one area where we can come in as an expert and provide security solutions based on IP, analytics and/ or integrated services based on the requirement. We are happy to share that we have had some good successes in this vertical. When we say transport, we mean urban metros and generic train services as well as port services. We are also there in water ways in a small way, but we intend to get into the space shortly with more strength. As of now, specifically said, we are focused on air ports and metro rails, and railways in general. SLI: How do you see the trend in security business – particularly in India? Sudhir Tiku: Indian industry is not comparable to that in other countries. Arguably, security has never been an important subject for most Indians. In general, we do not take it too seriously, for the simple fact that most believe in ‘destiny.’ This is one reason why we have invested in our Experience Center in Bengaluru to showcase the importance of security, and our solutions to address various kinds of security issues. With a view to further value-add our efforts to increase the security awareness, we have been providing free-of-cost training to our partners, customers, contractors on the issues of safety and security. Having said all that, I believe there are still some niche areas where the security should have been an integral part, but it is not. Our efforts are however on. In general the growth in the security domain is on the rise and cuts across verticals like – Industry, Transport, Commercial, Government, Hospitality etc. SLI: What are the existing security challenges you see across verticals? Sudhir Tiku: There are numerous security challenges that exist across verticals, few of them are as follows – Possible terrorist attacks and vandalism. Early detection and handling of fires and explosions. Detection of intruders and unauthorized personnel. Management of access privileges. Dealing with weather conditions and extreme environments. These assets and systems have one thing in common – gaps in their security or safety can seriously threaten public health, the environment, the economy, or even national or global security. In the case of hazardous, extreme, and toxic environments, it is particularly essential to comply with extremely strict security, safety and communication standards. Since, ensuring human safety and preventing environmental disasters have…

  Milind Borkar Vice President India & SAARC, Middle East and Africa , Infinova Milind Borkar is regarded as a veteran of security and surveillance industry with an experience of over 4 decades. His endeavoring spirit to lead ahead with perseverance, trust and integrity has graced Infinova with several breakthroughs. Currently, as the Vice President of Sales for India & SAARC, ME and Africa at Infinova Group, he has set benchmarks by building up a successful team right from the grass-root level. With his fortitude and hard work, he has enriched customer profile as well as credential base of Infinova across MEAI region. Infinova is honored with excellence and credence while successfully dealing in several major critical infrastructure projects such as city surveillance, airports, seaports, defence, metros and railway stations. As Intersec 2020, Dubai is at the corner where Infinova is associated as the platinum partner and SecurityLink India is the media partner, we are privileged to recently have availed an opportunity to be one-on-one with Milind. Here are some excerpts: SecurityLink India (SLI): Where do you place Infinova today – in terms of business, growth, and competitiveness – apropos India and the globe? Milind Borkar: We are rapidly moving towards Internet of Things (IoT), edge based analytics, and cloud based platforms. As IoT gains momentum, edge analytics is becoming crucial for the companies worldwide. The massive glut of data collected over time is difficult to manage unless you have proper analytics algorithms in place. Improvisation is a stepping stone to achieving success. Infinova always maintains a one-point focus – improvising its solution-offering and uplifting its service standards. This has helped Infinova reach several milestones so far. Apropos growth, it has been modest in the past few years. SLI: Infinova is the integrators’ manufacturer, kindly elucidate with some examples. Milind Borkar: Yes, Infinova is integrators’ manufacturer – meaning thereby, we help various system integrators (SIs) in integrating with our video management software (VMS) as well as various third-party devices at no cost. We also help the end user and SI to negotiate with various other hardware manufacturers to work with them, and get them a better price; as we have been dealing with those in other regions. All the commercials are done by the SIs and end users themselves – we are just a facilitator, giving consultancy at zero cost. SLI: What keeps Infinova ahead of the pack – kindly elaborate. Milind Borkar: The credit goes to our tech support and the good sales team. They gather various information of relevance of the competitors, and the new trends which are there in the industry. The entire team is pro-active and exchanges information within the organization transparently. Besides, as an industry leader, Infinova offers numerous advantages – not only in technology and product development but in customer service as well. SLI: Where does Make in India in security industry stand today in your view, and what are Infinova’s maneuvers in this line? Milind Borkar: Make in India is a great concept but it is too early to say that it is making great strides in our industry. Most of the components have to be imported, and sadly we do not yet have a great finishing quality on things such as housings, IR, brackets etc. Also as far as I am aware, we do not manufacture chip sets and the likes which are used extensively in the surveillance industry e.g., the kinds of Ambarella, TI etc. SLI: Kindly give a brief about your manufacturing unit at Pune. Do you have any plan to expand? Milind Borkar: It started a few years ago and doing wonderful. And yes, we are in the process of manufacturing expansion in India as we are investing heavily in that sector. SLI: How has the year 2019 been for Infinova – both in India and globally? What have been the challenges and learnings? Milind Borkar: We have seen a steady growth with the various other brands that are under the Infinova umbrella. We have to learn and be aggressive in developing more products that the industry needs for the future as mentioned above. SLI: What are your plans for 2020 to excel – especially in India? Milind Borkar: This year and the next we hope to sign a few more major contracts for projects. We are a project driven company and are not into box and volume sales. SLI: What, as you see, is today’s trend of security and surveillance industry in India, and where is it heading? Milind Borkar: There are many buzz words in the industry, and not many people understand what they are saying and what their requirementis. Once they come to know the cost of storage and network, they would like to reconsider the pixel chosen in the camera. A lot of education is required to the end user. Some companies will give you a data sheet that makes no sense and at the time of the proof of concept (PoC) they are able to show those features. There is a lot of hype around us in the market. SLI: The current government has taken bold decisions on issues such as demonetization, GST, digital India, abrogation of Article 370 and likes, which often face criticism as well. What is your take on them in relation to the business environment in India as on date and in future? Milind Borkar: The media is terrible – I feel – as there is a lot of fake news all around. The majority wants to criticize just for the sake of criticism. The same is happening in the case of the President Donald Trump as well in the USA. Read the recent article on Bloombergh web site at what he has achieved in 2019. This is not mentioned by the media.The similar is the case in India as well. I was in Jammu & Kashmir seven weeks ago. I was told that there was curfew in the state and people are being harassed, arrested etc. But, I could not see the likes of those unless there is another J&K. Even the recent riots on CAA…

Prasad Patil Chairman – SECONA , Director – MIPL SecurityLink India (SLI): What is the entity called Maha Infotech Pvt. Ltd. (MIPL) and what is its unique selling proposition? Prasad Patil: Maha Infotech Pvt. Ltd. (MIPL) was founded by me and my Co-director, Sudhir Deshpande – almost 18 years ago. MIPL primarily provides IT and security consultancy, and we focus on the application of technology to solve information challenges and mitigate security risks. SLI: Kindly give a brief about some of your flagship projects? Prasad Patil: We have been very fortunate to be involved in some extremely challenging – and hence satisfying – projects, especially in the security domain. We pioneered the concept of safe cities in India with our Nanded Safe City project, which was a true safe city project that happened in 2012 – much before even Mumbai! It involved not only video surveillance but also public address, panic switches, a unified command and control, and a network that was completely owned by the city. The project won several awards in India and internationally. Another very interesting project we designed was the Tank Truck Locking System (TTLS) project for an oil & gas major in India. TTLS involved the application of technology to eliminate instances of adulteration and pilferage in the transportation of fuel from terminals to retail outlets. Several technologies were used in the project such as secured locking, global positioning system (GPS) based vehicle tracking systems (VTS) and a customized application that would generate one time passwords (OTPs) etc. The substance of satisfaction that we achieved during this project was the opportunity to help solve a very real social problem – and a problem that is absolutely unique to India. It was the first time that this technology was applied to the oil & gas transportation sector anywhere in the world! SLI: What are the challenges that, as per you, prevail in Indian Security and Safety market? What are your recommendations? Prasad Patil: The challenges are multi-fold – the first and foremost being the lack of knowledge and skills. This is a genuine challenge and one that is holding back the growth of the industry. The upgradation of knowledge and skills is imperative for any industry to succeed. This can happen only through upskilling across the board, across all the stakeholders of the industry, and all of us regardless of our role have to be involved in it. If an industry is not upskilling, it is slowly killing itself. The government has a role to play here in terms of standards and certifications. It is great that Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) has now established standards for surveillance cameras – but it is only the beginning. Eventually we need to have Indian standards for even security installations. Similarly, there must be certifications mandatory for providing security technology services. Very often, those involved in the design and application of security technology projects have little understanding of the technology per se, which leads to project delays, time and cost overruns, and eventually all-round heartburn that affects the growth of the industry. SLI: What is your take on the status of the Government’s 100 smart cities projects as on date? Prasad Patil: The rollout of the smart city program has certainly been tardy. My frank take on the smart cities project is that it is too focused on technology. It is almost as if the technology is the end and not a means to an end. A successful smart city program can be evaluated only by its impact on the quality of life. That has to be the objective and not just spending tons of money on technology that we may not need. Also, there has to be a serious thought to sufficiently customize – or ‘Indianise’ – the technological components. Eventually, every urban or semi-urban, or even rural area would like to smarten itself. They also have to be empowered to do so. According to me SMART is an acronym that signifies Security, Mobility enhancement, Access to needs, Resource conservation and Training. The last part – Training – is the most critical part that can lead to genuine transformation. SLI: Being one of the leading safe city experts, kindly elucidate how far our cities are safe and smart on ground, and what are the delaying factors, if any? Prasad Patil: There is a lot being done on the ground to make our cities safer. Police and city administrations are certainly thinking in the right direction – in fact no government can afford to ignore issues of security and safety. So there is enough sensitization to roll out safe city programs. However, one must not equate a safe city with just installation of thousands of cameras. In addition to video surveillance, we need to use preventive, predictive and perceptive technologies. There is also a tendency to convert safe city programs into IT programs – and that should be clearly avoided. I also fail to understand why Indian cities spend so much money on leased networks, when at a fraction of the amount they can establish their own networks, which are independent, scalable and able to be leveraged by other applications. Citizen engagement is also a continuous and critical task and every smart city program should actively encourage the same to redefine and evolve the deliverables. SLI: What is your take on the safety and security culture in India, how it is important and how can that be built fast to commensurate with the growth of technologies to achieve better results? Prasad Patil: I am sorry to say – but there is no safety and security culture in India. ‘Safety First’ is often only a slogan for many and the mindset is ‘if there are any safety and security rules, they have to be followed by others, not by me.’ The only permanent solution here is to conduct education and awareness programs in our schools and colleges – at least our future generation will be more conscious about keeping themselves…

Priyadarshan Lakhawat Deputy Director (Academics & Training) NCHMCT,  Ministry of Tourism, Govt. of India The rising instances of fire in high-rises and hotels, and very frequent news of defunct security systems at places including in the cities like New Delhi put forth reasons to be concerned about the state of compliance of pertinent rules and regulations, and installation and maintenance of the needed equipment. The recent fire in a hotel in Karol Bagh, New Delhi must be taken as an wake-up call to address the issue on urgent basis. The lapses are prominently found at both ends – the system and service providers as well as the service takers. Besides, while at one end there are lapses in the hands of government authorities including the licensing ones, consumers are also not aware and alert towards their duties and entitlements. They appear to take security as granted and consider it of the least value in affairs of life. India necessarily needs to evolve a culture of security and safety. To understand the subject in detail and spot the points of lapses and improvements, SecurityLink India has recently spoken to Priyadarshan Lakhawat, Deputy Director – Academics & Training, National Council for Hotel Management & Catering Technology, Ministry of Tourism, Govt. of India. Mr. Lakhawat is the winner of two national awards for excellence in hospitality education – Best Teacher for the Years 2012-13 & 2013-14, and Indian Hospitality Congress – Educator’s Award 2015. SecurityLink India (SLI): How do you see Security & Safety in terms of necessity vs. business? Priyadarshan Lakhawat: Derek Bok, President of Harvard University, once remarked, “If you think education is expensive, try ignorance.” Same principle is applicable for the hotel security systems as well. Of course, security comes with a cost for the business but in comparison the price to be paid for its absence is humongous – particularly, in today’s environment when security risks in hospitality industry are varied and manifold. A guest is concerned about the security aspects in his immediate environment and it’s one of the important concerns for him in making a purchase decision. Investment in security is no more a choice but forms the core aspect of hotel operations, and can be overlooked only at the cost of paying a great price in the long run. SLI: Kindly mention some major threats of hospitality industry in the world’s perspective? Priyadarshan Lakhawat: Hospitality industry is highly vulnerable to security threats. Hotels are public places with lots of porosity. There is this constant conflict between maintaining the privacy and pleasant experience of guest while at the same time implementing the laid-out security procedures. If we look at the major security threats they come in the form of fire, cyber-threats, natural calamities, theft, assault, bomb threats, terrorism and physical brawls. However, this list is just indicative. As a matter of fact, any threat which we may perceive at any place is very well applicable inside a hotel as well. SLI: And what are the threats in India? Priyadarshan Lakhawat: Threats in hospitality industry in India are similar to any other part of the world. Infact, hospitality industry is more global in its character than most other sectors. So, issues and concerns are almost similar everywhere. However, in India an additional problem is with regard to implementation of regulation. Laws and regulations governing hotel industry in India are as potent as in any other part of the world. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said about the implementation of law. Particularly in semi-organised and unorganized sector many a times we find a blatant disregard for procedures. Responsibility lies with both, the business as well as the law enforcement agencies. Look at the recent fire tragedy in a Karol Bagh hotel in the heart of national capital. Do we need a wake-up call in the form of a loss of 17 precious lives? According to newspaper reports, all rules related to fire safety have been overlooked in this hotel and still they were able to operate. It’s a dangerous situation and does not augment well for the brand Incredible India. Effective deterrence mechanism is required for this kind of criminal negligence and connivance. SLI: Which of these do you rank as the top threats both for India and the world? Priyadarshan Lakhawat: I will put cyber crime and identity thefts at the top of the pyramid. Guest data is highly vulnerable as there are several points in a hotel where data is taken and recorded such as reservation, check-in, restaurant, any point-of-sale etc. There are also some external intermediaries who are involved in the process and chances of leakage are always there. Look at the case of Marriott International. In last 5 years, since Marriott took over Starwood, data of 500 million users is feared to have been compromised which includes not only the financial details but also the passport information. Marriott share has come down by 5.6% as per reports. While it is a case in public domain, I do not single out Marriott. This is happening everywhere and this may happen anywhere. There is an immediate need for hotels to get help of specialized agencies to counter this menace. Effective checks are required at all levels. I always say that the abuse of technology can only be countered through the use of technology. We cannot develop an ostrich mentality and bury our heads in the sand while the predators are lurking all around us and are impacting our business. Ransomware has attacked several central servers and has blocked not only hotel software but also in some cases the lock and key systems of hotel rooms resulting in not only huge inconvenience for guests but also great financial losses to hotels. All this points out to a pre-emptive approach and checks in place. Ransomware has attacked several central servers and has blocked not only hotel software but also in some cases the lock and key systems of hotel rooms resulting in not only huge inconvenience for guests but also…