Ashish P. Dhakan
MD & CEO
Prama Hikvision India Pvt. Ltd.
SecurityLinkIndia (SLI): Nearly 18 months of pandemic disruption so far and the third wave is largely anticipated – it has not yet been ruled out – what are the impacts on your business, and the security industry at large?
It was a great learning experience as it had taught us to be alert, resilient and compliant in the face of adversity. The pandemic disruptions were so sudden and unprecedented that it impacted everybody in some or other way. The security Industry was adversely impacted due to supply chain disruptions and various challenges during this period. We too faced multiple challenges of disruptions, but resilience helped us to overcome the odds.
When the entire world and humanity is fighting a crusade against the pandemic and trying to overcome the devastating impact of the second wave, we are setting up a new agenda for the future and acting up on it for the growth of the security industry with a profound human approach. It was a great learning experience for all of us to go through the various phases of pandemic challenges and recovery. We have the resilience and innovative marketing strategies on our side to communicate and engage the target audience in a simple and effective manner.
SLI: What are the CSR initiatives you have taken during the pandemic situation?
While continuing with our fight against the pandemic, Hikvision India has organised a vaccination drive for its employees, workers and their family members. The vaccination drive was conducted on 20 and 26 June 2021. Through this vaccination drive approximately all employees got covered. The vaccination drive for employees and their family members was organised by Hikvision India as a part of employee welfare initiative to support them in providing protection from the pandemic. The vaccination drive covered the vast pool of employees, which include not only our employees, workers and their families, but also those in the extended ecosystem.
Hikvision India had helped the ecosystem partners in the pandemic by providing oxygen concentrators. It has delivered a substantial number of oxygen concentrators to the applicants across India as a part of its CSR Initiative to support its employees, partners, end-users and extended security professional community. The company has launched this CSR Initiative on 27 May 2021 to provide timely support to security business community, system integrators, distributors, vendors and employees and their family members. Under this CSR initiative, oxygen concentrators were successfully delivered free of cost to the verified applicants across India.
SLI: How do you foresee the future of security industry amid third wave, and beyond?
The medical expert and government bodies had predicted that third wave of the pandemic will have a less severe impact due to vaccination and enhanced awareness. Security Industry ecosystem should continue to be alert, resilient and compliant to the pandemic guidelines and protocols. One thing is clear at no point, we can afford to be complacent about the risks of the third wave and other threats related to pandemic. The security industry has to move forward with planning their future beyond the spectrum of pandemic. They need to identify the emerging opportunities and trends.
Hikvision India has lived up to the challenge of the pandemic situation by doing extensive research and development to offer pandemic safety solutions (temperature screening, face mask wearing alerts, social distancing and flow control solutions). We were one of the first movers in the industry to offer temperature screening solutions. We are grateful to our partners and end-users for their consistent support and unshakable trust. We are hopeful that security market will get back to its peak performance level. Though the pandemic situation had created a major challenge for the security industry, but a resilient approach has helped us to win over the odds.
SLI: Which new initiatives Hikvision India is taking especially for Indian market?
We had the resilience and innovative marketing strategies on our side to communicate and engage the target audience in a simple and effective manner. There are no easy solutions, but the resilience and compliance of the pandemic protocols are the best solutions in these times. We are following stratagem from the market’s own alchemist to ensure a perfect roadmap to recovery.
The key priority for us at Hikvision India is to keep on innovating and evolving as an organization while navigating through these challenging times. We have set the strategic priorities of our marketing initiatives to tackle constraints on capacity, capital and capability. It also involves strategic decision making and prioritizing budget for key initiatives and media engagements. Our focused initiatives are based on the evolving market trends, technology advantages, customer and employee demand for societal impact.
We have a dedicated special R&D center in India to do the research and development on India specific products and solutions to provide the security solutions as per the requirements. Here some of our innovations go beyond the customization needs of the end-users and create a unique solution as per changing needs.
SLI: Which are the significant milestones achieved by Hikvision India?
Hikvision India is the leading video security solution provider in the security market. There are three most significant milestones Hikvision India has achieved in the recent times, one is the undisputed market leadership position, the second is ‘Make-in-India’ 2.0 manufacturing plant and the third is going digital across the channels. These three initiatives were rolled out with foresight and missionary zeal. The company has the leading position in the Indian security market and management has shown incredible skills in handling supply chain disruptions and resolving core issues faced by the partner community. We are implementing a series of digital transformation initiatives to keep customers engaged and satisfied undisputed market leadership position, the second is ‘Make-in-India’ 2.0 manufacturing plant and the third is going digital across the channels. These three initiatives were rolled out with foresight and missionary zeal. The company has the leading position in the Indian security market and management has shown incredible skills in handling supply chain disruptions and resolving core issues faced by the partner community. We are implementing a series of digital transformation initiatives to keep customers engaged and satisfied.
SLI: What as per you would be the next normal in terms of security products and technology?
We foresee that ‘New Normal’ in the security sector in the post pandemic phase will not be business as usual of the pre-pandemic phase. It will require lots of resilience and caution to avoid the risk of the third wave and impact of other threats. Two major technology trends will accelerate in the post-pandemic world – contactless technologies and highly automated robots that augment human tasks. It is likely that we will see additional robotic automation and AI in supply chains, customer service and beyond.
SLI: What is the latest development on Hikvision India’s skilling and training programs?
We are extremely focused about the training imperatives on the digital platforms. We have been conducting various training initiatives for our partner ecosystem.
Hikvision India has partnered with the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) to offer security technology training for India’s youth. The company is providing security and video surveillance products and technology related training and certification programs HCSA and HCSP by collaborating with the Skill India program of NSDC. This partnership will help in creating a security industry specific skills and ecosystem development, which will further prepare India’s technical workforce for getting jobs or setting up their own business enterprises.
We are proud to be associated with the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) with a unique two year partnership contract. It is our endeavour to impart training with all the necessary technical skills so that India’s youth can turn into successful entrepreneurs in the security industry. The HCSA and HCSP training and certification programs are helpful to enhance the skills and knowhow of in[1]stallers, system integrators and security professionals and have the requisite skills needed for the future.
SLI: What are your future plans in terms of launching new products and technologies and expanding your business?
We are consistently working on the ‘Make-in-India’ vision and future roadmap over the years. Apart from various marketing strategies the cornerstone of our growth strategy has remained customer centricity. We as a responsible Indian corporate organization are putting our best efforts and commitment towards Digital India, Skill India and Make-in-India programs to support the government initiatives.
Our state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Vasai near Mumbai is a shining example of our long term commitment towards ‘Make-in-India’ vision. We have made a big ticket investment and plans are underway to do more investment for further expansion.
