The security trends set to arise from coronavirus

Stuart Rawling, Vice President of Market Strategy, Pelco, offers his insight into how the coronavirus is set to impact on trends going forwards in the security industry.  

As we embarked on a new year this past January, none of us could predict the way that the first four months would impact individuals around the globe. Each day, businesses are affected as workers remotely report for duty, finding new ways to connect with colleagues and proactively do business, and the security industry is embracing this trend, too. Now, as the world starts to reopen various facets of the economy – with stringent rules in place – it’s apparent that many of the trends that we predicted last year for the security landscape may be taking a back seat to more immediate needs.

From virtual training sessions to team building via video conferencing, the ability to remotely manage teams, as well as the facilities that we left vacant (or that are facing lower occupancy rates during the time of reopening), is crucial to the success of an organisation. So much so that the demand for remotely managed and controlled video solutions is also in high demand from end users to gain a better view of their facilities.

Even still, the changes in priorities in just a few months will possibly set the tone for work and security as we know it, which include trends in…

Building an agile, remote workforce

There are a number of organisations that were poised to quickly shift to more remote work as a result of embracing flexible, work-from-home policies during “normal” times. However, other companies that relied heavily on in-person and face-to-face meetings were forced to adapt almost overnight to a new way of doing business.

The trend now will be toward leveraging technology that allows for remote work and telecommuting, including platforms that support video calls, internal messaging, document sharing, and more (and making sure each of these has robust protections against breaches).

Embracing new forms of outreach

Over the last six weeks, the security industry has more than embraced the digital age. But the way information was shared about the technology being developed was highly antiquated. Printed pieces, data sheets, etc., were commonplace for manufacturers looking to get their information out there about new and emerging technology.

Now, however, we’re seeing these same companies dive headfirst into delivering online and virtual training, more webinars to discuss the state of the market, and more virtual trade shows to support some of the more traditional methods of outreach that we’ve seen in this industry.

Creating more overlap between systems

The demand from the market right now that doesn’t seem to be waning is the need for a more unified operating environment and overlap between multiple systems. Whether you refer to it as integration or convergence, the idea is the same: to be truly effective in securing a facility, organisations must be able to see their entire security posture in a single pane-of-view.

This means having the ability to pull in all the relevant information when analysing an incident. For example, a perimeter breach should trigger data from time-stamped video, access control data, people tracking software, alarm information, etc., to be used to initiate an efficient and timely response. Customers today require this level of unification from their systems.

Driving decisions through data

The rise of the Internet of Things (IoT) has driven the collection of data to unprecedented levels – that of which we have not seen in our lifetime. The numbers are staggering, but so many platforms are not equipped to offer insight into the majority of incoming data.

In fact, according to a study conducted in 2018 by Microsoft and Accenture, it was estimated that more than 90% of security video footage goes unseen. 90%! The need for innovative ways of collecting and analysing data into usable information that can drive decision-making is long overdue, and we’re going to see more companies embracing this technology to help augment security response.

Filtering information through intelligence

Of course, I would be remiss not to talk about the importance of machine learning capabilities and the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) in driving organisations toward more streamlined decision-making and response. As we’ve seen over the last several trade shows and conferences, more and more manufacturers are embracing deep learning as a means to strengthen analytics and how video data is used across a broad spectrum of needs.

This also includes the way data and intelligence is shared across departments, such as for marketing purposes, business operations oversight, security (of course), and now, the ability to enforce social distancing and occupancy levels in an effort to protect employees and visitors.

To be clear, the events of the last six to eight weeks across the globe have the potential to have a lasting effect on the demands from the market with regards to safety and security. But across the board, the ability of technology to solve complex problems with cutting-edge solutions is a trend that’s not going away anytime soon. With the increasing amount of data and devices driving so much of this demand, the companies that have a plan for using this information in a proactive manner to streamline response will be successful in addressing these needs now and long into the future.

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