What happened to the mobile phone industry will happen in security

When was the last time you bought a mobile phone? Mine was in 1998. It was one of the first Nokia phones where the most ‘awesome’ feature was a game called snake. I remember the gulp of air I took as I handed across my hard earned cash.  It’s hard to believe that almost 20 years have passed since the last time I purchased a phone.

 

Today, the whole concept of buying a mobile phone seems utterly foreign, but that is the point. When the ‘24 month phone plan’ became widely available, the adoption of mobile phones in Australia took off like a rocket ship hitting 82% by 2005 (from <40% in 1998)[i].

Suddenly, every person could afford the technology that everyone every person wanted. Finance was a key catalyst to fuel this incredible growth. It was easy, accessible at the point of sale, and simple to understand.

We’re at a similar turning point in the adoption of smart building technologies including automation and energy management, security and control.

The smart building industry, of which security is a key component, is expected to grow globally to a $100bn industry by 2022 with Asia Pacific the fastest growing region.[ii] This is an annual growth rate of 11-38% per annum depending on which study you look at.[iii] Finance will be a crucial contributor to the explosive growth in uptake of these solutions.

The reason for this is that like me and my mobile phone, most businesses simply don’t want to allocate their hard earned cash to non-core matters. To most owners and managers – security systems and smarter buildings are simply not as important as inventory, staff, and promotions.

As a client of ours, Darren Blake from Programmed Maintenance recently said “One of the biggest barriers to project implementation today, is the limited working capital many organisations have at their disposal to investment in new projects, technologies, and systems. Through simple structured payment plans, that are typically take effective, businesses can better manage expenditure. Regular fixed value repayments can be allocated over a term and that is both attractive and manageable for our customers. This ultimately results in us winning work to deliver exceptional building improvements”

The simple message: Like mobile phone plans, payment plans for security and smart building technologies let business owners get something they want today and pay it off over time without draining the business’ working capital.

 

About the author: Security Lease

At Security Lease, our vision is to make buildings smarter by working with the people who make it happen – the suppliers. Security Lease is competing with banks in the strongly growing business of security and building automation finance by being quicker at decision making and offering more flexibility- both very important to SME’s. Security Lease has created a series of online 24/7 tools that allow for instant point of sale finance. Get in touch – 1300 795 695 or www.securitylease.com.au

 

[i] http://www.mobilemuster.com.au/media/107666/australia_s_mobile_decade.pdf

[ii] http://www.reportsnreports.com/reports/267717-smart-building-market-building-automation-systems-physical-security-building-energy-management-systems-bems-building-communication-systems-parking-management-water-management-networking-worldwide-market-forecasts-and-analysis-2013-2018-.html

[iii] http://www.reportsnreports.com/reports/219401-global-building-automation-controls-market-2013-2018-by-product-lighting-security-access-hvac-entertainment-outdoor-elevator-controls-building-management-systems-bms-application-geography-americas-europe-apac-row-.html