CONTEST YIELDS DIVERSE PRODUCTS, DIVERSE VIEWS

Sep 1, 2005 12:00 PM, LARRY ANDERSON, EDITOR

WHAT DO YOU GET when you put an end-user, an integrator and three consultants together in a room along with information about all the latest products for the security industry?

Among other things, you get an earful.

That was my experience in New York recently during the judging process for our New Product of the Year competition. Turns out the security industry is made up of opinionated types who are quick to share their views on the industry's technology and where it's going. The diversity of those views was striking.

Discussion erupted as the judges commented out loud about various entries as they strolled around the display tables. “Did you see this?” one judge would ask another. Then there would be an impromptu discussion about the merits (or faults) of the designated entry. You might hear “It made the top of my list” — or, conversely, “That technology has been around for years.”

It is interesting to note that, while the cutting-edge products caught our judges' eyes as expected, there was also enthusiasm for mature technologies as long as the product reflects a different approach or a spark of originality.

Our judges saw and read more product claims in one day than a typical security customer would see in several years. Afterward, the judges concluded that the industry as a whole should do a better job of communicating its product features and technology capabilities.

“What's the value proposition?” the end-user asked. New product claims can seem to run together in customers' minds, and it takes one clear point of product differentiation to make an offering stand apart from the rest. That point is what customers are waiting to learn about.

In the end, the judges saw the New Product of the Year contest as a celebration of the broad array of product offerings for our industry. “In this room there are small products and big products,” commented one judge — and the industry clearly needs both. What, after all, is a new product except a solution in search of a challenge it can meet?

The security industry has no shortage of challenges. Product innovation, therefore, will surely continue to flourish.

---

YOUR THOUGHTS

We are looking for reader feedback. E-mail landerson@primediabusiness.com and tell us what you think!

Want to use this article? Click here for options!
© 2012 Penton Media Inc.

This month in Access Control

• Targeting The Customer
• Electronic Pedigrees
• One Hero Among Many
• Who? What? When? Where? Why?
• More from September's issue