Frost & Sullivan: Booming construction in emerging countries boosts voice alarm systems market

by Brianna Crandall — August 29, 2016 — The rapid growth of the construction sector in developing countries in Asia and the Middle East has given a huge boost to the voice alarm systems (VAS) market, according to new analysis from growth partnership company Frost & Sullivan. New buildings are proving lucrative end-user segments as they have codes that mandate VAS installation; existing buildings requiring retrofits, on the other hand, are harder to penetrate as they lack VAS standards. Manufacturers and value chain partners are acknowledging this issue by lobbying to include VAS installation in building codes.

The new report, World Voice Alarm Systems Market, finds that the market earned revenues of $584.1 million in 2015 and estimates this to reach $933.7 million in 2019. VAS has significant penetration in Europe and North America, while the Asia-Pacific and Rest-of-World markets are still nascent, but have high potential.

Building owners are demonstrating a marked preference for VAS as an extended fire alarm system due to its efficiency. In response, manufacturers are integrating VAS with fire and safety systems (FAS) and public address systems (PAS) to enhance operational and control management.

Frost & Sullivan Building Management Technologies research analyst Dhivya Sundara Manohar pointed out:

The need to safeguard life and assets is a crucial driver for investments on VAS in industrial plants, offices, tunnels, transportation, public utilities, museums and schools. In Europe and North America, a building of any size needs to install VAS to obtain certifications from the respective approving authorities.

Although most developed countries have standards in place for emergency alerts, emerging countries do not have common laws or standards. This heterogeneous spread of legislation and uneven code implementation, sometimes within the same region, has hindered market growth to a large extent. Stakeholders have to make concerted efforts to ensure the framing of global or regional common laws to improve product quality and market penetration across the globe, says Frost & Sullivan.

Deeper market penetration at the low-end and extended applications will go a long way in opening up the mass market to VAS. As the systems have a wide price range, costs are not likely to be a vital purchase factor. In fact, end users will prefer the higher-priced distributed system technology to central systems due to their greater ease of installation and integration, says the firm.

Manohar also noted:

Meanwhile, the rising need for integration is compelling VAS manufacturers to optimize their partnerships with system integrators and channel partners. Suppliers also have to increase the number of awareness programs, such as workshops and promotional events for end users and specifiers, to reach a wider customer base.”

In due course, product innovations as well as manufacturers’ focus on developing systems with intelligent technology will result in smarter and more cost-effective systems that will appeal to users across the spectrum, predicts the firm.

The World Voice Alarm Systems Market report is part of Frost & Sullivan’s Building Management Technologies Growth Partnership Service program. All studies included in subscriptions provide detailed market opportunities and industry trends evaluated following extensive interviews with market participants.