Smart-i Electronics Systems Pvt Ltd, a company based in Mumbai, has been engaged in the Development, Manufacturing and Marketing of Electronics Security Systems in the B2B Market in India for the past 12 years. With a special focus on physical access control and integrated security systems as two key product verticals for end-to-end specialised solutions, Smart-i caters to various sectors such as BFSI, Pharmaceuticals, Datacenters, Retail/Warehousing and further extends its focus towards Education, Corporates and Government.
Smart-i is a frontrunner among the leading brands in its domain that designs and manufactures its products in India right from its inception. Thus proudly championing, the “Make in India” initiative. To consolidate this leadership, Smart-i Group has taken a step ahead and setup its own E-surveillance Command and Control Room in Pune under the brand name ‘iAM – Integrated Active Monitoring Pvt Ltd’, which provides monitoring services to multiple sectors and Smart-i Channel partners who essentially provide it to their end customers as per their needs.
Leader Holding the Reins
Ganpat Shinde, Director and Founder of Smart-i, has done B.E in Industrial Electronics from Mumbai University and is actively involved in the development of various industrial electronic products. From 1995 onwards—the year ZICOM Electronic Security Systems Ltd. was founded, Mr. Shinde became a part of ZICOM Team, one of the first Indian Electronic Security product development and manufacturing companies in India.
In 2000, Mr. Shinde formed an independent company to manufacture Access Control products for ZICOM, which subsequently evolved in 2006 as Smart-i Electronics Systems Pvt. Ltd. with in-house product development and manufacturing setup to serve the entire Security System Integration industry. In Smart-i, Shinde spearheads the strategic leadership with a focus on key accounts, product management, marketing, business development, team management as well as sales and business policy.
While Mr. Shinde actively takes charge of business activities within Smart-i, Pankaj Zanwar holds the responsibility as the Technical Director, consequently being the core brain after every product innovation in Smart-i. A thorough Versatilist & Technocrat, Pankaj Zanwar is also the Founder/CEO of iAM Pvt. Ltd., the service-oriented group company, of which Mr. Shinde is also the Director.
Transforms Trials into Triumphs
Being for almost 20 years in the Electronic Security industry, the management of Smart-i is well versed with the tasks and mitigation plans to convert challenges into opportunities. Although the industry is heavily dependent on imports, since security is a solution driven industry and not product driven, Indian manufacturers have good opportunities to capture the market share. Smart-i has taken lead with this strategy by providing relevant solutions to high demand sectors such as BFSI, Pharmaceuticals, Datacentre and Retail. “There is still a very high market potential, which has remained untapped for innovative solutions due to lack of awareness among the end users”, opines Mr. Shinde.
A ‘Make in India’ Company
Indigenously developed solutions and a ‘Make in India’ company since its inception, Smart-i has served the customers better than its competitors. The company holds a competitive edge over others, which is highly ‘import dependent’. Strong domain knowledge generated over the years gives Smart-i the power to develop advanced solutions at the right time that suits the Indian Security diaspora. Entry into Security Monitoring services is one of such initiatives that will give the group an early lead into growing services business in Security Market.
A Tale to Tell
Smart-i has myriad of experiences to share with its peers. However, the service it provided to Alkem stands as the most promising endeavour taken so far. Alkem in Pharmaceutical is using Smart-i solutions for their warehouses, factories and server rooms for many years. With the addition of monitoring services, it is now having a more holistic experience, as Alkem’s critical facilities are now being monitored 24×7 for any security and safety threats. IndusInd Bank, ICICI, HDFC, Crisil and many others have consulted Smart-i as the OEM to select right solutions for their upcoming facilities. This implies their trust in Smart-i Brand. Vertiv (Formerly Emerson) trusted Smart-i and got developed a unique security solution for its new Datacenter Rack product.
Tailored for Indian Continent
Indigenous innovation and ‘Make in India’ are the two major paths Smart-i Group has adopted from the beginning and is continuing to strengthen the same. Security needs of each continent are different. While following the global guidelines of standardization on product level, the solution needs are going to be customized for Indian continent that is where precisely Smart-i is going to make difference in the future.
Smart-i has setup a state-of-the-art R&D centre at Electronic Estate in Pune. Smart-i is expanding its manufacturing capacity with an addition of 15,000 sq. feet of manufacturing setup at Bhumi World, Pimplas, Thane, which is an infrastructure project under ‘Make in India’ initiative—a smart Industrial Complex supported by Maharashtra Government. iAM (Integrated Active Monitoring Pvt. Ltd.) has setup a high-tech 24×7 monitoring services Command and Control Room at Electronic Estate in Pune. With the renewed infrastructure expansion and quality workforce, Smart-i will make deeper inroads in the electronic security market.
Turn Customer Input into Innovation
“We are proud of our methodology for capturing customer input that focuses on outcomes, which has objectively contributed to our majority success”, says Mr. Shinde. Mary Barra, the CEO of General Motors has said once, “My metric for success can be summed up in one phrase: earn customers for life.” Mr. Shinde adds, “What we have understood is that customers teach you everything, we have to just listen to them carefully, both what they intend to say and what they don’t. Focusing on innovations that will help customers address their concern areas and make them free to focus on their core Business is what Smart-i believes and strongly adheres to”.
Trend and Future
Security is not just all about products but it is about services too. Providing precise event-based information is going to be the future of Electronic Security and that is the undercurrent trend in the Electronic Security Market. The industry is maturing from security & surveillance products sector to solutions industry with heavy stress on providing business intelligence. No one can ignore the emerging government intervention for implementing stringent safety systems in public infrastructures. Also ‘Make in India’ drive with M-SIPs are incentivizing domestic electronics manufacturing industries.
Smart-i and iAM (Integrated Monitoring services) together are gearing up to provide both security products and services to Indian market. By achieving the synergies of iAM’s services & Smart-I’s rich product portfolio, the customers can expect the best business efficiency that will free them from the hassles and help increase profitability. With the emergence of IoT & continuous software evolution in the hindsight, Smart-i has understood the trend that the enterprises will be keener on investing in solutions that can finely integrate and communicate with each other, thus providing an ease of operations and essential scalability. The unique need for industry-specific solutions has enabled Smart-i to identify, weave and develop solutions coherent to the specific business security needs of that particular industry.
Smart-i Electronics Systems: Driving Indigenous Innovations in Electronics Security Systems
