U. Bharath (cbedit@imaws.org)
A global leader in producing reliable networking devices and smart home products and products for the HoReCa segment, TP-link has been consistently ranked as the world’s top provider of Wi-Fi devices.
The company is committed to delivering innovative products that enhance people’s lives through faster, more reliable connectivity. With a commitment to excellence, the US-headquartered TP-Link serves customers in over 170 countries and continues to grow its global footprint.
Setting its sights higher, TP-Link is to augment in operations in India, and the company’s plans include 100% manufacturing (Make in India) in the country itself and setting up its factory in India soon.
Kitchen Herald had a chat with Bijoy Alaylo, VP, Consumer (Networking & Surveillance) TP-Link India Pvt. Ltd. and the excerpts from the chat are given below:
Kitchen Herald: How do your cameras handle low-light conditions, which are common in kitchens and back-of-house areas?
Bijoy Alaylo: The newest full-colour cameras are equipped with the lowest lux. Even in the lowest light conditions, they can give full-colour images. Also, current Full-colour cameras come with inbuilt lights to light up the area to provide sharp colour images in front of it. Even TP-Link Cameras come in Hybrid versions, where modes between IR and full colour can be shifted as per requirement in the area of exposure.
Kitchen Herald: What level of customer support and maintenance do you provide, and how quickly can you respond to issues?
Bijoy Alaylo: Multiple Touchpoints for customer resolution are achieved by us which generally resolves within 24 hours TAT Viz.
- RMA Centres – We serve the customers through our strong service centre coverage in around 17 cities and expanding rapidly
- Toll-Free and Technical support – A robust network of engineers supports the customers through Toll-Free numbers in various L1/L2/L3 levels of support to cater to every need for the channel partners / System integrators as well as consumers.
Kitchen Herald: Can you outline your company’s expansion plans in the Indian market, and what new products or services are you developing to meet the evolving needs of the food industry?
Bijoy Alaylo: With the current onset of CCTV being a primary necessity in the hospitality industry, TP-Link has always been at the forefront with the path-breaking networking solution and now with VIGI we have taken the solution to the next level.
We have a separate pre-sales team to cater to the hospitality industry to provide correct and accurate solutions tailor-made to their requirements. With basic analytics like object abandonment, motion detection with real-time alert notification the detailing in the video surveillance has gone to the next level . TP-Link is leading to get these features in their complete range of products we offer.
Kitchen Herald: What specific security challenges do restaurants, hotels, and other food businesses face that your CCTV solutions address?
Bijoy Alaylo: CCTV solutions help food businesses by enhancing overall security, reducing theft and vandalism, ensuring workplace safety, and maintaining regulatory compliance. The ability to monitor both front- and back-of-house activities with real-time alerts and video footage provides businesses with tools to quickly address potential issues, whether it’s an employee-related concern, a customer incident, or a security breach.
Key Security Challenges in the hospitality are:
- Theft and Shrinkage (Employee & Customer Theft)
- Security of Cash and Valuables
- Workplace Safety and Employee Protection
- Customer Safety and Incident Monitoring
- Vandalism and Property Damage
- Monitoring Parking Lots and Drive-Thru Areas
- Regulatory Compliance and Food Safety
- Customer Behaviour and Crowd Management
- Monitoring After-Hours Activities
Kitchen Herald: In the ongoing trend of digitization, what opportunities do you see in the Security & Surveillance space?
Bijoy Alaylo: Analytics is a feature which has an in-depth study of the details we can see through the Surveillance Camera. This opens up quite a big horizon for the Security and surveillance space.
With Cloud integration and IOT merging and CCTV products moving into the IP technology, it has numerous more opportunities to be explored.
Kitchen Herald: How do you position your brand? What are your USPs and target segments?
Bijoy Alaylo: We of course start from the small projects, home projects, and the small SI’s or installers to experience our brand and take it ahead. Every product of TP-Link VIGI has a USP over its competitors. Be it the AI features in the 2mp range, or the 2-way audio feature in the 4mp and above range, we have been innovating and studying the market continuously to get the best to our partners and end-customers.
Kitchen Herald: Please brief us about your Make in India plans, and the progress made so far and your future plans in this regard?
Bijoy Alaylo: We already have 80% of our surveillance products Made in India and in future 100% MII will be achieved. We also continue to invite our partners to experience our MII process to understand that we just don’t Assemble in India but also that the whole process is done from scratch to the end product in India itself. Currently, we do contract manufacturing but very soon TP-Link’s factory will be set up in India having complete control of the process.
Kitchen Herald: What are your plans for the next two years in terms of new product launches and market expansion?
Bijoy Alaylo: As always, TP-Link will keep launching multiple products in the VIGI segment every month. We plan to have more than 200+ SKUs in the next 6-8 months. We are committed to taking this business to the next level and giving maximum benefits to our aligned partners.
