In 2006 when our house construction was completed, I bought a couple of Mobotix video surveillance cameras for security, but mainly to observe the nature around us. Mobotix is a German manufacturer of very durable and high quality surveillance cameras, and time and again I have also used their products in different BaseN customer sites. While real time video feed is not the most common data processed by BaseN Platform, I’d say we’ve generated some 100k€ revenue to Mobotix since then.
Now when Mobotix announced the end-of-life to my cameras, they also apparently deleted our customer data. When I inquired upgrade options, they bluntly responded that there’s no longer support for these models and that I’d have to talk to a local distributor – who they didn’t even name. Use google, man. I’d understand had I paid 50€ for the cameras, but the purchase price was close to 3500€.
All this highlights the severe problem many manufacturers have. They still think they can fire-and-forget their products, and that the customer will magically purchase more just because they’ve done so before.
A smart camera manufacturer would have a spime, a next generation digital twin camera, which would then have physical twins – the camera hardware, as per customer requirements, changing over time. This would create recurring, sustainable business and also tremendously support internal R&D as all products out in the field would be analyzed and accounted for.
It seems that I must find a new surveillance camera vendor, who understands digital assets and builds on customer relationships.
//Pasi
