Meet the new Pelco

CLOVIS, Calif.—Since taking over as CEO of Pelco by Schneider Electric in November of 2015, Sharad Shekhar has worked tirelessly to create a new identity for Pelco within the larger Schneider Electric organizational structure.

“Like many of our peers in the industry, Pelco faced a few significant changes and challenges over recent years,” Shekhar told Security Systems News. “Our transformation as an independent company to a division of a much larger organization affected our corporate culture on many different levels. This slowed down our technology development cycles during a period when new competitors were coming to market with cheaper and in some cases superior products. We also experienced a change in channel marketing that impacted our stronghold of dealers and distribution partners.”

Over the past 18 months, though, Shekhar said, “We have been re-charting our course as a company across literally every aspect of operations. This includes the design and development of new and exciting technologies and products; the restructuring of our manufacturing and quality control processes; fortification of our relationships with reseller and technology partners; and the implementation of new sales and marketing strategies that will publicly reshape our image and drive new business opportunities.”

With all the changes that have been going on at the company's headquarters here and across its global operations, Pelco is on course to “regain our position as the leading supplier of security and surveillance solutions globally,” Shekhar said. “All the pieces are in place with a new product roadmap engineered to deliver meaningful innovation to our customers, and new sales, marketing and customer support initiatives structured to best serve the ever-changing needs of the industry. We've summed this up in our current theme—'moving ahead by your side'—to let our customers and industry partners know that this is the new Pelco.”

He continued, “We want to let industry professionals know that Pelco is back and better than ever. This is not just marketing hyperbole, it is our primary business objective, and we have strategically restructured Pelco to ensure this outcome.”

In terms of product offerings, Shekhar pointed out that Pelco has three core categories: management and control solutions, like the company's new VideoXpert Pro VMS; imaging technologies, like its Optera multi-sensor panoramic cameras and ExSite explosion proof cameras; and accessories to support the latter.

“We have refocused our product and system solution engineering to focus on meaningful innovation—not technology for technology's sake,” he explained. “We have, and will continue to enrich our solution offerings with technology innovations from leaders in the industry who have pioneered and developed processing innovations that are just beginning to trend in our marketplace. Over the last year alone, Pelco has partnered with almost 20 new technology partners including both Dell EMC and IBM who have extensive experience in network solutions, deep learning and artificial intelligence. This shift in development and supply chain strategy will further enable us to deliver the precise solutions our customers want and need today and tomorrow.”

Shekhar said that he is excited for the year ahead for the new Pelco, and expects “significant gains in revenue YoY 2016 versus 2017.”