To kick off the year, we’ve created a list of trends that we expect to see in our business in 2019.
To kick off the year, we’ve created a list of trends that we expect to see in our business in 2019.
1. Businesses will re-evaluate partnerships to meet new cybersecurity standards
Cybersecurity regulations are becoming the norm as governments enact laws to hold businesses more accountable. The European Union’s
General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) was a first and that was soon followed by the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA).
With bigger consequences looming, businesses are being forced to consider the vulnerabilities of their security systems. They're re-assessing their chosen solutions and the providers who support them, asking questions like:
Are these vendors and installers trustworthy?
Are they following cybersecurity best practices?
What accreditations or credentials do they have?
IT and security directors are taking a proactive approach to cybersecurity as they know the responsibility of a breach will fall on their shoulders. They're asking more probing questions and re-evaluating their security technology partners with cyber resilience in mind.
2. Organizations will look for tools to monitor cybersecurity strategies
When choosing a new security solution, organizations are paying more attention to cybersecurity features. While manufacturers are taking note and adding new cyber defenses, it has become increasingly difficult for users to audit the security of their own systems.
Often, there is no easy way to see if and how these features are protecting the system.
It’s why we expect more manufacturers to start taking on the onus for how businesses can actively monitor the resilience of their security systems at any given moment.
It’s not enough to give companies access to features. Manufacturers must also help businesses use these defenses and monitor the effectiveness of their strategies. Organizations should be able to quickly identify potential vulnerabilities, whether that’s outdated device firmware or unchanged default passwords critical on infrastructure equipment.
3. Access control security will shift from cardholder management to identity management
There’s more to securing an organization than keeping the wrong people out of buildings.
Access to intellectual property, logical systems, and specialized equipment needs to be protected too. That’s why more businesses are starting to manage identities instead of cardholders.
What are identities? They are digital profiles for every person that comes into contact with the organization. These profiles can encompass many attributes such as role, pay grade, seniority, qualifications, accreditations, etc.
Using an
identity and access management system, an organization can automatically assign employee rights to buildings as well as logical systems such as relationship management (CRM) systems. This eliminates the resource-draining tasks of requesting and granting permissions while ensuring compliance standards are being met. Security teams will also get a clearer picture of potential threats by spotting suspicious behaviors beyond the physical risks alone.
4. SDSCs will change the future of community policing
According to BCC Research, the smart city market is set to hit $775 billion in 2021. And a big part of being a smart city is security.
This is why many urban centers have already implemented Strategic Decision Support Centers (SDSCs). An SDSC helps to unify and centralize public safety operations through a common operating picture and fosters collaboration with private organizations.
What’s changing is that the technology on which SDSCs are built is becoming more affordable and accessible to smaller communities.
These solutions can be designed to support agencies in specific neighborhoods and districts at a cost that fits their budget.
Using an SDSC, local officers have better awareness and more information at hand. This helps them reduce response times, increase clearance rates and build effective crime prevention strategies.
As we move forward, SDSCs will continue to play an important role in improving community policing in communities big and small.
5. Security data will be used to enhance operations
Increasingly, businesses are getting more value from their security systems. Companies are using
data from their security solutions to enhance operations and increase building automation.
Security data is being shared with teams such as customer service, marketing, human resources, and operations for their own objectives.
Consider a retail environment. A marketing team can leverage video analytics to monitor the success of a promotion or find ways to improve the customer experience.
In a corporate environment, facility management teams could improve building automation by tapping into security sensors such as video cameras. Should a camera not detect motion in a room for 30 seconds, the security platform could automatically turn off the lights and reduce the temperature.
That application would not only reduce operational costs, but also help the organization meet energy efficiency standards.
6. Demand will surge for video analytics
In the past,
video analytics were reserved for businesses with big budgets.
Video analytics have become much more affordable and easier to deploy, making them accessible to the masses.
Much of this is due to the fact that the cost of high-performance servers and software have significantly dropped. Over time, analytics solutions have become more reliable, requiring far less maintenance as well.
All of these factors continue to fuel demand for various forms of video analytics such as motion detection, privacy masking, people counting, etc.
As time goes on, the use of analytics by every organization, from airports to mom-and-pop shops, will only increase.
7. Deep learning will begin solving domain-specific problems
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve probably heard about artificial intelligence (AI).
Truth is, many people think that artificial intelligence can create algorithms based on learned actions, but this simply isn’t possible yet.
If we take a step back from the hype, data science and
machine learning are starting to deliver real-world results. One of the most promising techniques is supervised deep learning, which uses large sets of images classified by humans to differentiate the image content.
An example of this is an automatic license plate recognition (ALPR) system minimizing false reads by learning the difference between a road sign and a license plate.
Another example would be differentiating a car from a truck without having to define rules about what a car versus truck is.
This domain-specific machine learning will help businesses tackle specific inefficiencies to further boost productivity based on their individual needs.
8. Visually intuitive solutions will enhance the operator experience
Control room chairs used to be filled with trained security guards, retired police officers, and ex-military personnel. Today, there’s a new wave of younger, tech-savvy operators.
Since these operators have grown up with technology in the palms of their hands, they engage with security systems in different ways than their predecessors.
To keep these operators motivated and engaged, organizations are looking for solutions that are visually intuitive.
Long, logically-organized lists of cameras, doors, and sensors as well as inefficient workflows won’t cut it anymore. They want platforms that present big-picture situations to operators with more visual context, helping them move through tasks with greater ease and confidence.
9. Large enterprises will opt for Access Control-as-a-Service
According to an IHS Markit report, large enterprises will make up 19% of the Access Control-as-a-Service (ACaaS) market by 2022.
It’s a trend that we’re already seeing today as more businesses with over 50 readers opt for the cloud-based subscription model.
These companies are finding the features they need in new enterprise-class ACaaS offerings, while significantly lowering costs. That’s because they no longer have to buy expensive servers and task already-overburdened IT departments with maintaining yet another system.
Enterprise customers will show greater interest in outsourcing these tasks to ACaaS vendors who ensure their access control system is always up-to-date, resilient and secure.
10. Security operators will be empowered with decision management systems
Every year, more sensors are being added to security systems.
In some cases operators are also being tasked with managing thousands of devices across different sites. Responding to the influx of events and alarms and deciphering what is deemed urgent or not is virtually impossible.
This is why organizations such as airports, cities or public utilities will continue showing greater interest in collaborative decision management systems.
Decision management systems will help organizations move beyond simple event and alarm management. Through an advanced rules engine, this system spots complex situations by correlating various events from all sensors and classifies them into individual incidents. The system will then alert operators to the most urgent priorities while guiding them in their response following company policies and compliance requirements.
By automating tasks and ensuring this timely flow of information, a decision management system will become key to helping operators confidently handle any situation.