The flourishing economy of the Philippines gives rise to a wide range of markets demanding for various security and safety products. Here are some hot verticals and their demands in the Philippines.
Public-Private-Partnership (PPP)
With the public-private-partnership (PPP) investments upgrading the transportation infrastructure in the Philippines city surveillance is gaining more attention as a solution for road congestion monitoring and the dispatch of police officers to solve road incidents. This often requires real-time monitoring of traffic. In Makati City, mesh technology is being used for stable transmission for signals from HD ip cameras to the command center, allowing for quick reaction to any incident or alleviation of traffic congestion to be carried out.
Many PPP projects are also pursuing for integrated transportation systems. Electronic ticketing systems with the "tap-and-go" concept is needed to increase passenger flow efficiency, and minimizing fraud, and lowering maintenance costs.
Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) Centers
The security systems for these off-shore operation centers must be high to minimize, if not eliminate, all possible data breaching possibilities. Some BPO centers are very strict with their security and safety and would not let staff bring in pencil or pens.
Having an employee card that is pre-programmed with access permission can restrict unauthorized persons from entering specific rooms. The same card can be used as a log-in key for a personal computer, providing the control center with a record of who processed which files at what time.
Currently, the adoption of access control is still in its early stages in the Philippines. As network surveillance gains ground in the country, it will not be long until mobile access control guards the doors of the Philippines.
Construction of High-Rises
As BPO firms scale up and expand from Makati City to Cebu, Bacolod, Dumaguete, and Iloilo, the sustained growth of BPOs also fuelled the construction boom of high-rise buildings that accommodate offices and high-end residential condos.
In fact, other than conventional industries with high-rises, there is a demand for high-rise schools to address the classroom shortage problem in Metro Manila. The Department of Education and the Department of Public Works and Highways hopes that high-rise classrooms can solve the shortage problem for the 4.6 million youths that would otherwise be kept out of school.
As a security solution and service provider that targets mid- to large-scale projects, Ademco is optimistic that the Philippines can offer many projects that demand a great amount of integrated security solutions to protect the expanding BPOs, hotel industry, and residential condominiums.
"NO CCTV, NO Permit"
The "No CCTV, no permit" policy was first strictly implemented in Quezon City - the largest city in Metro Manila. Now, this policy is being proposed for both private and public sectors throughout the Philippines by congressmen the Rodriguez brothers.
The high crime rate in the Philippines has taken a serious toll on the economy, especially the country's tourism industry. The "No CCTV, no permit" ordinance requires businesses wishing to apply for or renew a business permit to install CCTV system. The "high-risk" businesses identified include restaurants, retail stores, theaters, office buildings, hotels, gas stations, and warehouses. Through the mandatory surveillance system, the country wishes to deter crime especially theft and robbery, and to enhance the quality of life.
Gaming Industry: Big Bets on the Philippines
The Philippines hopes to join Macau and Singapore to become one of Asia's top three gambling destinations with the opening of the $1.2 billion Solaire Casino in 2013. In order to do so, the Manila Bay Project was approved to set up a gaming and entertainment strip called the Pagcor Entertainment City. Gambling has in fact long been legalized in the Philippines, but most exisiting casinos are run by the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR), and lack the glamorous points and hotel capacity to attract both foreign investors and players.
The dazzling Solaire Casino, opened by the international shipping tycoon Enrique Razon, is the first of four large-scale gaming resorts to open in the Entertainment City at Manila Bay. The four resorts are all going to be multi-purpose complexes with shopping malls, movie theatres, and other entertainment facilities to go with the casinos.
In the most ideal situation, the surveillance system in a casino should not just be recording for evidence, but be an intuitive tool that alerts management when something is wrong. There are constant interactions at the gaming tables, at the cashier's box, the slot machines, everywhere. In fact, a casino needs cameras to not just monitor if players are acting suspiciously with cash and chips, but also keep an eye on employee's behavior and how operations in general are being enforced to meet gaming regulations.
"Before the casinos were hesitant to use IP because of the latency problem caused by the low frames-per-second; however, as most IPs are standardized with 30 fps, latency should not be too much of a concern now. Some video content analysis are desired if casinos have databases of the frequent players," said distributor Max Chayco, GM, NETDOC IT SOLUTIONS.
Although functions such as facial recognition could be really useful in terms of identifying unwanted guests, casinos have yet to embrace this technology full heartedly, as they are afraid of mistaking innocent customers (or worse, VIPs) for cheating. Other video content analysis functions such as people counting and crowd flow analysis are more acceptable as tools that can actually relieve some burden from old-school man guarding.
To really attract foreigners to the Philippine gaming strip, it is very important that the Philippines is perceived as a safe country, with friendly transportation. Hence, again, the government is working hard toward bettering much-needed infrastructure and security measures to sustain economic growth.
Ademco's subsidiary Esscor was awarded in 2009 to secure the Resort World Manila. The complex, comprised of a hotel and casino, required a fully integrated access control management system, including intrusion detection, video surveillance, and attendance system. Approximately 140 doors and 300 panic buttons were installed for this security system.
Financial Industry
The Philippines' banking industry has been highly reliant on remittance by overseas Filipino workers (OFW). In 2012, $21.39 billion was remitted to the Philippines. In order to cater to this large need, banks in the Philippines are seeking aggressive expansions.
In the mean time, the banking industry is also consolidating, as seen with the merger of Philippine National Bank (PNB) and Allied Bank. The central bank, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said that having fewer but stronger banks can lead to more competitive growth. The Philippines has approximately 700 banks, of which 37 are considered as universal or commercial banks, and some 600 more as rural banks. Rural banks are privately owned and serving the inhabitants of a specific area within a certain boundaries; owners of rural banks are usually known and trust by the local community.
The Philippines' heavy reliance on manned guarding is now shifting towards electronic access control systems, as the synergy of technology has proven to be cost effective for 24/7 crime prevention and evidence recording. Visitors of facilities can be tracked electronically as well by scanning an ID such as a driver's license, replacing the old-school paper logbook that is less secure. Also, due Korean & Japanese factories moving to the Philippines to the rising occurrences of ATM hacking and fraud, BSP has ordered that all ATM cards in the Philippines be replaced between 2015 and 2017. The new cards will have new security features such as Europay MasterCard Visa (EMV) electronic chips. An EMV-enabled card is preferred because the data is stored on a chip instead of the magnetic strip on the back of the card. By storing information on a chip card, the data is dynamic. It is estimated that 25 to 30 million ATM cards will need to be replaced. Currently, very few ATMs in the country can read EMV-enabled cards, so the machines will also need to be upgraded or replaced should the change be made. The 12,285 ATMs nationwide will have to be equipped with the 3DES system.
Manufacturing
In 2012, FDI in manufacturing rose to $1.03 billion from $119.4 million in 2011. The manufacturing industry is especially attracting Japanese and Korean investments as they look at the Philippines as an alternative to China, regardless of political issues and minimum wage differences.
Koh from Ademco noted that when providing solutions to manufacturing plants it is very crucial to customize a value-added security platform that enhances business operations. For example, a centralized management system for surveillance and time attendance is greatly sought after in enterprises.
Currently, analog technology still dominates the market because cabling is inexpensive. However, the security industry in the Philippines is picking up IP-based technology quickly. Many engineers in the Philippines have received education or training abroad, and are quite keen on improving security with IP-based solutions.
Outlook for Security Market
Manufacturers should take advantage of the Philippines' prosperous economy and lack of security solutions, as installation of suitable modern technologies for surveillance and property protection are needed. Having set up in the Philippines for almost two years, GKB Security's marketing team said that to compete in the Philippines, it is very important to showcase the ability to plan and deploy a security platform with all the key elements such as integrated and easy-to-use surveillance cameras and access control.
Many local channel players are good engineers with academic degrees and field experience, so as long as manufacturers are providing some training for new technologies, the Philippines will not have problem catching up to modern technologies.
Many international players have their mind set on the government, manufacturing, and bank business in the Philippines. Axis said that they are determined that now is the time to be more aggressive in these sectors, as competition from Taiwanese and Chinese products are prevalent when expanding business in the Philippines.
Mobile-enabled surveillance is on the rise, too. With wireless infrastructure improving and 3G and 4G coverage being tested by local telecoms, remote surveillance as a method to secure and protect will be pursued.
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