Upbeat sentiment for 2019 expressed by Security 50 companies

Most Security 50 companies voiced their optimism they’ll achieve growth this year, with revenue coming from various verticals, especially retail. For next year, most also expressed a positive sentiment, saying the current growth trend is unlikely to stop anytime soon.
 
In terms of vertical market, 2018 saw security investments from most verticals as end users spent on security for security and non-security applications. “Major vertical markets that spent money on security in 2018 were utility/industrial/commercial, pharmaceutical and education, largely due to economic improvement, increased threat and implementation of new or increased security standards,” said Dror Sharon, CEO of Magal Security Systems.
 

The industrial sector was a major spender on security. “For industrial, one example is of course the technology of thermal cameras. Thermal cameras is an area that has grown quite significantly over the past year that will most likely increase even further in the coming years,” said Thomas Lausten, CEO of Mobotix. “You could have an industrial plant where you have big gas pipes that are transporting a significant amount of gas. You could also have leaks that cost a lot of money but that also put an impact on our environment. Such a leak can be detected by thermal cameras – they can detect basically what the human eye cannot see.”
 
“We continue to see good growth in most verticals, including education, healthcare, government, data centers and transportation. Also, retail continues to be a good segment as a result of pressure from online retailers to improve operations and customer experience in stores,” said Ray Mauritsson, President and CEO of Axis Communications.
 
Indeed, retail in particular contributed largely to vendors’ revenue as more and more retailers are now turning to security for business intelligence and efficiency.
 
“In retail, you can use analytics to detect customer behavior and make sure that the employees are standing at the right place in the retail shop, not only by the cash register but basically moving around in the shop based on where activities are happening,” Lausten said.
 
“We see good uptake in retail, and that's because people see the possibility beyond security. Regular security installations are a bit of a sunk cost, but if you add the beyond-security features, then you can actually calculate the return on investment. For instance the heat mapping functionality – you can actually from a shop perspective make money on that by placing your merchandises more smartly in the retail store,” said Kenneth Hune Petersen, CMO of Milestone Systems.
 

Positive sentiment for 2019

 
As for next year, most vendors expressed a positive sentiment, saying the current growth trend is likely to continue across the globe.

“We anticipate the global security market to continue its growth, and we are focusing our efforts on creating solutions that integrate security more seamlessly into consumer lifestyle choices,” said Horacio Morales, Director of International Sales and CI for Security at Nortek Security and Control.
 
“Our outlook for 2019 is cautious optimism that the positive trend experienced in 2018 will continue into the New Year. In 2019 we expect security growth around the globe, but perhaps strongest in APAC and North America,” Sharon said. “It is of course a little early to tell yet, but we feel we can anticipate increased revenue performance in 2019 over 2018. The engine behind 2019 growth is expected to be generally increased activity in industrial and commercial markets assisted by maturing of several pending global mega-projects in oil and gas and border security.”
 
“The global security market is expected to continue to grow, and demand for convergence products that can be linked to IoT, rather than individual devices, will increase,” said Paulo Byun, President of COMMAX. “Emerging economies are expected to overcome competition as the market grows. North America is also an important market.”
 
In terms of vertical market, city surveillance/smart city has been cited as a segment with more potential as municipal operators turn to AI and IoT to solve various city issues.
 
“One segment is safe cities, where a lot more can be done with new technologies, as well as IoT, Big Data and helping cities get a better overall understanding of how to be ‘smarter,’” said Mauritsson.