SSI's upcoming April issue includes the results of our 2011 Systems Integrator Study. While the expansive report spans eight pages and includes 42 graphs detailing company, access control and video surveillance trends, there was still lots more great data gathered that did not make it in. But that's part of what makes online so great, being able to convey even more valuable information.
Following are exclusive statistics gathered from our annual research project, which was conducted with the help of PSA Security Network and Reed/ISC. Specifically, below are select results from the intrusion detection and fire/life-safety portions of the study with brief captions.
INTRUSION ALARM REVENUES BY MARKET
Office buildings 15%
Retail/Entertainment 12.8%
Hospitals/Schools/Universities 12.5%
Industrial manufacturing 11.7%
Government facilities 11%
Residential 10.3%
Warehousing/Trucking/Transp. 8.1%
Financial institutions 7.7%
Utilities 5.9%
Gaming/Hospitality/Arenas 3.3%
Mass public Transportation 1.8%
Retail/Entertainment exploded during 2010 according to these results, almost doubling its activity from 6.7 percent a year ago. Hospitals/Schools/Universities moved ahead of Industrial manufacturing.
INTRUSION GROSS PROFIT MARGINS
Security dealers 33%
Systems integrators 27%
While systems integrators' intrusion gross profit margins remained at 27 percent, they gained 2 percentage points on security dealers as they dropped 2 percentage points.
AVERAGE PRICE CHARGED FOR INTRUSION SYSTEMS
Residential $1,209
Commercial $7,420
The amount earned for both residential andf commercial intrusion projects dropped by $377 and $934, respectively.
INTRUSION ALARM MONITORING
Use third-party central station 76.6%
Use own central station 14%
Clients monitor themselves 9.4%
Perhaps as a sign of the economic need to hang onto more business as opposed to outsourcing, the use of third-party monitoring centers dropped more than 10 percentage points. Both keeping monitoring in-house and client self-monitoring rose.
INTRUSION ALARM TRANSMISSION TECHNOLOGIES
Integrators Dealers
Telco landlines 67.7% 73.8%
Cellular 14.8% 15.2%
VoIP/Internet 13.7% 7.8%
Long-range radio 2.7% 3.3%
Integrators' use of landlines dropped by about 9 percentage points, with cellular rising some 5 percentage points and VoIP and radio increasing roughly a point a piece.
HARDWIRED VS. WIRELESS INTRUSION
Strictly hardwired 41.2%
Combination 32.9%
Strictly wireless 25.9%
There was little change in this graph, in fact strictly wireless actually declined by about 2 percentage points.
PERCENTAGE OFFERING FIRE/LIFE-SAFETY SYSTEMS
Security dealers 53%
Systems integrators 37%
The percentage of systems integrators offering fire/life-safety systems and services dropped by 7 percentage points from a year ago. Perhaps tough economics have led some to concentrate more on core competencies that in some cases preclude fire business.
AVERAGE FIRE SYSTEM GROSS PROFIT MARGIN
Security dealers 31%
Systems integrators 27%
As with intrusion business, integrators' gross profit margins stood pat. They gained notably on dealers, however, who saw 8 percentage points chopped off their margins.
KEY FIRE/LIFE-SAFETY SYSTEM NUMBERS
Average commercial system price $18,452
Average monthly systems installed 8
Average number of smoke detectors 35
Percent including CO detection 11%
Percent that install sprinklers 22%
Percent that sell mass notification 56%
Percent integrating w/building controls 44%
The amount charged per system declined sharply, as did the average number of smoke detectors. The percentage of integrators installing sprinkler systems more than doubled.
Scott Goldfine