Video: 10 Minute IT Jams - Another update from Milestone Systems

Milestone Systems is focused on innovation. That was the message from Ash Romanica, Country Manager for the South Pacific at the video technology firm, in a recent interview giving an update on the company's progress and outlook.

"We are a software company and a surveillance software at its core," Romanica said. "Our biggest strength in the market is our open platform capability which means we create these amazing solutions with a wide variety of technology partners that plug into our software and deliver real business outcomes on top of securing facilities and really the core focus of what surveillance is about."

Milestone's video management software provides organisations and institutions with the tools to integrate cameras, sensors and analytics. Its award-winning platform, Expert Tech, serves more than half a million customer sites globally. The company continues to broaden the possibilities of what video technology can achieve, both in security and in wider operational applications.

Recent years have seen a significant transformation in Milestone's offerings. "We've been on quite a fast track pathway to creating on-prem solutions that are now going into off-prem solutions and cloud-based offerings," Romanica explained. "A bit of a buzzword in the industry at the moment is cloud - many manufacturers are building cloud solutions but not necessarily focusing on the core essence of it, and especially in the South Pacific we have varied bandwidth issues in the way we process and store data."

Romanica pointed out that Milestone has invested heavily in creating a complete cloud solution portfolio. These range from entry level systems to fully Amazon-based cloud solutions, catering for a spectrum of client needs.

When asked about trends shaping the market, Romanica noted a shift from traditional reactive security to proactive and even preventative approaches. "The biggest trend at the moment is we're going beyond security but also looking at preventative measures. When you look at security from the aspect of prevention, we're creating a little bit more operational efficiency and also adding better business outcomes and business intelligence through third-party technologies or edge-connected devices."

A notable aspect of Milestone's ecosystem is its partnership with camera manufacturers such as Axis Communications. "A lot of the capability they're putting into the edge of the camera in terms of analytic capability is inherently built into how we display and manage it from a software base," Romanica said.

Milestone's presence in the Asia-Pacific region has been growing rapidly. "I would say five or six years ago we were a handful of staff, a little over," Romanica recalled. "We now have 24 staff in South Pacific, and that is spread out across the country."

This team, he explained, is structured to meet the needs of a broad mix of customers. "We have internal sales representatives that focus on the large number of small to entry-level businesses, then we've got our channel business managers that work on the big projects and work directly with our integration partners. And on top of that, we've also got key account managers that work directly with end customers - institutions such as health, finance, and education - and also work on developing consultant specifications in collaboration to make sure that Milestone solutions are front of mind for future projects."

The company also maintains a significant operational backbone. "We have our back end team that supports our front-facing sales representatives. We have a pre-sales team based down in Melbourne and a technical support team in-country," he noted. "We're quite renowned for our support capabilities and it is a 24-hour support, but we also have that inherent in-country representation too."

He highlighted that Milestone's coverage extends to both Australia and New Zealand, with an improved cadence of on-the-ground support for Kiwi customers now ensured by regular visits.

As for how video technology is evolving, Romanica sees an accelerating role in business intelligence and operational innovation. "We have integrations to third-party technology companies in the access control world and in the AI world, where we're actually analysing a hell of a lot of data and then delivering that in a very clean and operationalised front-end that creates efficiency in the way that a business can operate," he said. "If we think logistics, we save time which effectively saves money."

Such developments mean that surveillance is no longer purely about security. "It's a new approach to how security and visibility actually changes video technology's capabilities," Romanica added.

For prospective enterprise clients, engagement with Milestone is straightforward. "There's probably several answers to that question and it's probably a good thing that there are," Romanica explained. "First and foremost we have a very simple way to get help on our website. We sell through a channel-based mechanism which means we have distribution with a wide reach, and a very similar mechanism for creating contact."

Additionally, Milestone is active on social media and ensures that any enquiry will receive a response. "You're guaranteed to get a representative to at least touch base with you very quickly to establish what you need and then the appropriate person will continue that conversation," Romanica said.

Reflecting on the company's growth and ambitions, Romanica is optimistic. "It's gone so quickly over a short amount of time," he said. "We're getting good coverage in the market and making sure that our messaging is out there to our partners and the industry as a whole."