The commitment in Latin America, future plans, new products and challenges, are some of the key points highlighted by Thomas Jensen, CEO of Milestone Systems, in an interview granted to Security Sales during MIPS 2022.
by Security Sales
Thomas Jensen, began his journey as CEO of Milestone Systems in 2020 and had to face different challenges during the pandemic. Two years after his appointment we learned about his plans as brand leader for the global VMS market and for Latin America in particular.
In this interview conducted at MIPS 2022, the event that brings together Milestone's customers and suppliers and took place in Minnesota (USA). At the end of October, Thomas Jensen said that Latin America is a market in which they have been investing, and as proof of this, there is the recent office for the region recently opened in Mexico, in addition to the commitment with new appointments to continue increasing its presence in the region.
"We can anticipate that Latin America will be a significant part of the business in the Americas and we will definitely grow in double digits," said the CEO of Milestone, who in this interview was accompanied by Mauricio Swain, sales director for Latin America.
Precisely, Mauricio complemented in this regard that "based on the special plan we have we are working on increasing our resources with new appointments with which we want to strengthen our position not only in Brazil, but throughout the Southern Cone area."
Mauricio added that "we have no limits in our region, on the contrary we are managing three pillars: the first is greater presence, the second is to create incredible experiences for our customers, and the third is to have a growth of our participation within the industry; I am sure that every year we are expanding our presence against competitors in Latin America."
Below we share the full interview:
Security Sales: How does Milestone capitalize on the growth of technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, IoT and the expansion of 5G?
Thomas Jensen: 5G has given us many advantages, because it is now possible to have access to networks where before there were many difficulties to get good traffic speed, so 5G has helped us accelerate our innovation and connectivity.
AI and IoT is something that can be used in video as well, so our ability to innovate in new technology allows us to accelerate our developments in that regard; But it also means that we have more responsibilities, because new technologies bring higher challenges, such as the issue of the use of personal data or privacy, and we must handle those issues with the greatest commitment.
VDS: What are the verticals in which you see the greatest potential in Latin America?
Thomas: In verticals, such as retail, transportation, casinos and hotels or conference centers, our core product is very suitable today. There are some areas where we have immense success among retailers, such as strategies for law enforcement, city or traffic management, the latter an area where we have many strengths.
Here I must clarify something and that is that we focus on hospitals as a product developed specifically for that vertical.
VDS: What is the bet with the new Kite solution?
Thomas: Kite is a unique addition for small businesses that may not need the resources of a premium system, so Kite is a unique product, because it is very easy to use, install and integrate and is aimed at an important medium-sized audience that is also in Latin America.
For example, for the headquarters of large industries such as oil companies we have Milestone XProtec, our solution with which we are very strong, but for gas stations, which are small businesses, it is probably exaggerated to provide with a system of this kind. That is why we see the need for a lighter option, and with the combination of Kite we can solve the expectations of this class of customers with a more cost-effective technology.
VDS: What are the main challenges facing Milestone?
Thomas: I think the main challenge we have so far is to be close to our customers and have more presence, and that's why we've put more resources into those places, because we want to understand much better what customers need.
We're putting all those pieces together to deliver a solution for our customers, not only with Milestone, but also with our technology partners like camera suppliers and analytics vendors. That is what we are doing and that is our main challenge.
VDS: Where is the BMS industry headed in the coming years?
Thomas: We believe we are one of the leaders in the VMS industry. So, we are sure that we will be one of the companies that sets the direction. Our industry colleagues can choose something else, but I think there are three absolutes where we are aiming:
The main thing, get more data-driven insights, more analytics, and more information derived from video. Secondly, to deliver more value from video to our customers and that's what we call business outcomes: how do we make sure that when the user has video and paid for cameras and VMS, we actually help them get more services instead of just using them for access control or video surveillance?
The third is responsibility, we have to aim to be even more responsible in the way we act; We feel that all technology companies will and we cannot be left behind in that intention.
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