Volume 12 | March 21, 2023
Hello and welcome to Volume 12 of the Access Control Executive Brief titled "MIPIM Just Hit Different. Here is Why." It is the first day of spring, and I am fresh off my first trip to MIPIM in Cannes, so before we get into ISC West next week, and while they were fresh, I wanted to give you all my impressions, observations, and thoughts on MIPIM.
I hope you enjoy the Brief, and I am excited to get on Slack with you and discuss it.
A couple of other reminders of upcoming IRL opportunities to get together a community:
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ISC West: The Lounge is back - bigger (600 RSVPs so far) and better than in past years. You are all invited to use the lounge as members of the Access Control Executive Brief on March 29th and 30th. It is an interactive networking and meeting space for you to use. We have space to meet, grab a coffee, join us for happy hours, etc. Thank you FieldHub Inc, HID, Torus, Kwikset, We The Dreamer, Moms in Security Global Outreach, PSA Security Network, Brivo, Active Witness, Soloinsight (CloudGate Platform), SS&Si Dealer Network, sesamsec GmbH, Advanced Data Risk Management , Geokey, LiftMaster, Wicket, Volt AI, Digital Barriers, Orion Entrance Control, and Geokey for sponsoring and the partnership!
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The Security Event: On April 25th and 26th I will be partnering with LenelS2, Sentry Interactive, Tapkey, and WaveLynx on the show floor and putting on The Access Control Executive Brief Theatre. We will be activating three days of thought leadership, use case presentations and discussions all centered around access control and smart locks.
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CREtech London: Along with iLOQ, Torus, ZKTECO USA, HID, SwiftConnect, and LenelS2 we are creating The Access Control Village to demonstrate what today and tomorrow looks like for the global real estate market on May 10th and 11th. Please join us and also come to CREtech to get more involved in the proptech community.
I hope to see you all in person soon! Alright, back to the Brief Volume 12!
Thank you,
PS: I am sure some of you may forward this on but please do so sparingly and encourage others to sign up here. Thank you!
MIPIM Just Hit Different. Here is Why
First, for background, what is MIPIM?
MIPIM is billed as "the world's largest real estate market event...The most influential players from all international property sectors: office, residential, retail, healthcare, sport, logistics, and industrial are brought together at MIPIM, the world's leading property market. Offering unrivaled access to the greatest number of development projects and sources of capital worldwide, MIPIM gathers all players from the commercial property value chain for a year's worth of business in four intensive days."
There were roughly 23,000 people there. It felt like 75,000.
It has a long history and, in recent years, has been held in Cannes, France. Putting aside the location (all joking aside, it is worth going for that alone), MIPIM brings a unique group together and offers a unique opportunity if you invest time, money, and effort.
Frankly, it is wild. And worth the time and investment.
This show was notable for many reasons, but one area stood out: the country exhibits. Why was it just this one area for me? Because of the way the countries told their stories. It is a vision of how shows should be. The country exhibitors' storytelling and attention to detail were immaculateā€”notice I did not say everyone. I am being particular here in highlighting the country exhibitors. Why?
Easy. It was how the countries activated and told the larger story and then, and only then, how they got into the specifics.
Let us take London, for instance. Here you have a large structure called "London Stand," built to celebrate and tell the story of London. The city, its people, the culture, and the businesses. It brought everything together, so when you walk in as a visitor, you are in the proper mindset of, "I'm here to learn about London." It was an absolute celebration and flex of "we are London."
From there, London invited you to learn more. Kind of like a "choose your own adventure." To the right, I could participate in one of the many programmed panel discussions. Or I can go left and dive deeper into details of London and even meet some of the companies and people who live and work in London that can speak to the nuances of London. Or I could go forward and see a massive display of London highlighting this city's different neighborhoods, alleyways, and textures. It was impressive. Then just beyond that, I was greeted with British beers and foods of my choosing.
A fantastic and immersive experience. One big story with 100 specific stories all under one roof.
Take that London example and do it for Egypt, Qatar, Belgium, Poland, Switzerland, and just about every corner of the earth. It. Was. Amazing.
And it opened my eyes. This is precisely what the access control and smart lock industry is missing. It is exactly what I am trying to do with the Access Control Executive Brief and what we are doing with activations at ISC West with The Lounge, at CREtech London with the Access Control Village, and at The Security Event with the Access Control Theatre.
We are bringing a higher-level story together as an industry and giving companies that support that story a place within it to tell their unique and differentiated story that strengthens the overarching one on the "value beyond locking and unlocking."
It left an impression on me. It also gave me more motivation and gas to keep pushing.
Here are additional reasons I plan to come back, and I encourage you all to take a hard look at MIPIM 2024:
First, it is about real estate and all real estate. And because of that, you get various sectors - commercial, student housing, multifamily/residential, co-living, etc. So no matter what your products or services serve, there is a customer base and community for the need. They had the right people there with real opportunities and looking. Everyone I met talked about how good the show was for them. That is not typical of many shows, so seeing it was great.
Second, it was global. There is a heavy European focus (especially from the UK), but it is global. North America, South America, Asia, Africa, and everywhere in between were represented well. So you were able to get a pulse on what was happening worldwide. At one booth, you were deep into what is happening in Egypt, right next to a massive location of companies from Belgium and even down to areas within countries like the Midlands. More or less, people are from everywhere, so it was a wonderful place to get a crash course into the financial, social, and anything you want about a region, country, state, city, or even neighborhood but do it with a real estate and development lens. Where else do you get that in one show?
Third, everyone, I mean everyone there is selling - countries, developers, service providers - everyone. It was fascinating. I have never experienced anything like it. The result was an entire show full of people open to talking, networking, and getting to know each other. It was refreshing. You got out of this show what you put into it. In one place, as mentioned above, you have countries selling why developers should invest in their city, developers selling why they are the right partners for building those buildings (and cities), and service providers selling why they are the right partners for those buildings. And you have everyone else in between. You just had to get out and talk.
Lastly, specific to access control and smart locks, my main observation was that there is an excellent opportunity for the industry to act like London (reference the text above). Brivo, Salto Systems, Sofia Locks, KIWI, unloc, Proptech.ai, and SmartRent represented our industry well. They really did. Still, we should collectively be making a more substantial showing as "all boats will rise" with a modern story and the power in numbers. Unfortunately, we are seen as a low-value utility, almost solely as an expense. We are not currently positioned as an industry that has perceived value. Everyone I spoke to understood and appreciated how important keeping people safe is, but they want that and more. It was clear that if we do not give them more, they will find a community that will. We will continue to be a part of the built environment, but the rules and norms of the past will not dictate the expectations of the future. Everyone I spoke to was moving forward. It is our opportunity to show and tell how we add value to the environment, society, a larger safety story, or how our technology is helping with productivity and revenue generation.
The small group representing our industry did a fantastic job when the opportunity presented itself, but they are only one shovel in a large gold mine of opportunity. If we all grab our tools, come together, and tell that new proud story of what access control and smart locks today can do for them tomorrow, the world is our oysters.
This leads me to ask, would I go again?
100% yes, but I would do it bigger. I plan on building off this year's breakfast that I did in partnership with Brivo and Salto Systems which brought 28 people from all over the world and different parts of the ecosystem for some great 8 am networking and food. I will look for other ways to get the access control and smart lock story out of the basement (it was literally in the basement of the expo hall called Propel Station) and onto more of the main stage (kudos to Salto Systems for sponsoring the Co-Liv Conference. That brought great exposure). Our companies should be at every country pavilion, on every main stage, talking about trends, ESG, and data, and hopefully, by then, we will command the space we occupy.
Maybe, just maybe, I will see you at The Access Control and Smart Lock Pavilion in 2024 at MIPIM. ;)
Nexus Labs partnership and discount
