Avoid Surprises: Security Execs Say Don’t Let These Catch You Off Guard in 2020
Monitoring rates, legislation and wellness opportunities are just a few areas security experts say you should keep a close eye on in 2020.
As part of SSI‘s 2020 Industry Forecast, we asked a dozen experts to share what might catch security pros off guard in 2020. Here’s what they had to say:
▶ “The legislative and regulatory environment that will impact systems integrators. Likewise the opportunity and risks involved in compliance of these evolving standards. Integrators must realize they are the responsible party for compliance to all codes and standards that are imbedded within specifications, client agreements and contracts, as well as building and life-safety codes.” — Chuck Wilson, NSCA
▶ “How quickly monitoring rates and multiples will come down in the near future. Providers will need to offer better service models, better inherent value in selling smart homes. Don’t be dependent on selling contracts; think margins and overall value to the consumer.” — Clint Choate, SnapAV
▶ “The industry and the rest of the country have been lulled into complacency with the unprecedented length of the current economic expansion. Security professionals could well be caught off guard by a downturn in the economy in 2020.” — Charles Durant, Sandra Jones and Co.
▶ “The convergence to Cloud-based video is going to take longer than the industry anticipates. Analysts initially predicted the transition from analog to IP surveillance cameras would take just a few years. While network cameras are common today, we are still undergoing that transition. Cloud adoption for video surveillance will likely be similar.” — Daniel Gundlach, FLIR
▶ “As the security market evolves and is reinvented, the traditional big players of the residential security market may have the most to lose in their need to adapt, and reinvent themselves and their business models. Advantage to smaller dealers!” — Judy Jones-Shand, Napco
▶ “The amount of opportunities with wellness and the aging in-place audience. We continue to live longer and the ability to live at home versus the cost of assisted living creates a whole new value proposition. Sales pros need to understand the challenges the elderly and their families face and how they can offer solutions to provide quality of life and assist caregivers.” — John Piroli, Guardian Protection
▶ “With the acceleration of mergers and acquisitions, security professionals need to continually assess their partnerships with manufacturers, or face unwanted surprises when previously reliable suppliers suddenly fail or get swallowed up by a competitor.” — Fredrik Nilsson, Axis
▶ “Even with all the new competition and whatever the future holds, security professionals will be surprised how resilient the security sector will prove to be across most verticals, specifically on the commercial side.” — Rob Aarnes, ADI
▶ “Aerial drones will likely see significantly increased adoption in 2020. There are a few large, sophisticated enterprise end users that have piloted drone solutions the past 18-24 months with very positive results. These solutions fit well in exterior applications that cover large geographic areas, so key verticals will be industrial manufacturing, oil/gas, electric/utilities and municipalities.” — Carey Boethel, Allied Universal
▶ “Much like the convergence of physical security and IT, we will begin to see a similar evolution occur with the addition of data processing. Security, data processing and IT will form a new security triad that will influence the way businesses think about security.” — Matthew Kushner, Stanley
▶ “Police response to alarms will continue to plague the industry even with the full-court press by SIAC and others. Audio as primary with video as secondary verification will become the norm. Audio can ‘hear’ around corners and is a valid verifier of false activations, and it’s less expensive than video to boot.” — Kirk MacDowell, MacGuard Security Advisors
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