Interview Marc Staalman of Eagle Eye Networks

Marc Staalman has been Area Sales Manager Benelux at Eagle Eye Networks since July. In a conversation with ITchannelPRO, he reflects on the experience he brings from his previous job at Eagle Eye and he talks about camera security and the market growth.

Marc previously worked for a large distributor and is therefore well known in the channel. He has held roles in sales, product management and marketing. He left a company with thousands of employees to join Eagle Eye Networks , which is much smaller. So one of the first questions to Marc is whether that didn’t take some getting used to? “That’s better than expected. I do indeed come from a large organization, but we did work in small teams there. The size of such a team corresponds well with what I experience at Eagle Eye Networks. The Benelux team that I am part of consists of five people. About 70 people work at the EMEA office in Amsterdam,” Marc says.

He will then automatically come up with the answer to the next question, about the similarities and differences in the work. “I have a lot of experience working with manufacturers and partners. It suits me very well to jointly look for ways of creating value, filling in a latent demand”, says Marc. “Eagle Eye Networks has many similarities in that regard. But we are talking about a market that really has yet to be explored. That requires good contacts with resellers and we clearly need more of that. That is one of my tasks.”

Growing organization

The CCTV market that Eagle Eye Networks serves is large. The organization is still growing. They are investing heavily in attracting specialists for marketing, support and sales in order to facilitate market growth.

Eagle Eye Networks’ proposition is innovative and mature. It offers the possibility to store data from cameras, access control systems and the like in the cloud. The platform opens the way to much more intelligence because that data can finally be analysed, enriched and combined.

Cameras are getting smarter

According to Marc, the market for companies that supply camera systems is quite conservative. “That is why we are now showing that group that it is possible to add intelligence. Camera and access control becomes part of an IT architecture. It is based on our own cloud platform with our API,” explains Marc. “Our software makes it possible to connect almost any camera to the cloud platform. Existing cameras do not need to be replaced. They become a lot smarter all at once because they register more and better thanks to our software.”

Traditional installers of these security solutions can effectively upgrade a customer by linking the existing systems to the Eagle Eye Networks platform. It also ensures that those existing systems last much longer. Research shows that the TCO of a camera security system connected to the platform is between 20 and 50 percent lower than that of conventional systems that store the data locally.

Future-oriented business

Is Eagle Eye Networks’ proposition not a threat to the installer’s income? Marc: “Certainly not. Our partners receive a monthly fee. We help them become less dependent on transactional revenue. This allows them to take the first and important steps towards future-oriented business. Because only selling and installing cameras is very limited.”

Installers are one of the two target groups that Marc and his colleagues will be approaching more intensively. The other group consists of IT service providers. This group has an advantage in terms of knowledge and adoption. Marc doesn’t have to explain to them as much about the usefulness and advantages of recurring business.

Explaining the technique is not a challenge either. Marc shows an A4 schematically explaining the structure of the Eagle Eye Networks platform and all applications. According to him, that scheme is so convincing for partners, but actually for all users, that hardly any additional explanation is needed. It is so easy for Marc and his colleagues to convince the partners of the advantages of Eagle Eye Networks. The same applies to the end customers. “Eagle Eye Networks gives the partners a rock-solid proposition for services that everyone understands.”

Eve

The cloud video storage market is on the cusp of a real breakthrough. According to Marc, it is increasingly seen as the basis for more desirable innovations. “A building manager who does not know who is entering his building where and how many people are present can never realize the other benefits of smart buildings. That is also why the demand for our platform and our services will only increase.”

Eagle Eye Networks has multiple international partners with clients who manage real estate and use the cloud platform for standard security services and specific smart building features. Marc: “As said, we serve a very large and broad market through the partners. Sometimes that market is also very specialized. This is reflected in the growing number of partners. Eagle Eye Networks and the partners notice everything that cloud camera security is taking off quickly.”

(This article was translated from Dutch)

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