Our 2025 security industry reflections continue with Gerard Figols, chief operating officer at i-PRO. He gives his thoughts on the state of the industry along with the most surprising and important developments in the sector in the past 12 months.
We’ll share Gerard’s 2026 predictions for the security industry in a future post.
Security Sales & Integration: What kind of year has 2025 been for the electronic security and physical security industries?
Gerard Figols: 2025 has been a strong year overall. The industry continued to grow globally, and we saw solid performance across all markets as i-PRO maintained its double-digit growth. What stood out most was how quickly innovation continued.
We are seeing meaningful progress in areas like artificial intelligence accuracy and real-time detection, and these improvements are now delivering practical benefits to end users rather than being theoretical discussions.
SSI: What has been the most surprising development in the security industry this year?
Figols: Nothing truly surprises us anymore, because most new technologies enter our industry after maturing in other markets. But if there is one development worth noting, it is the shift toward practical applications of AI. For years, AI was something people talked about conceptually.
In 2025, we finally began to see consistently usable, real-world results that helped operators do their jobs more efficiently. That move from theory to practice was an important milestone for the industry.
SSI: What has been the most important change we’ve seen this year in security?
Figols: Generative AI becoming more standardized across different applications is a key change. We are now seeing AI tuned to specific use cases rather than broad, general-purpose models. Verticalized applications are proving far more valuable because they solve real operational problems. This year was the beginning of AI being deployed in a way that is both more specific and more meaningful for actual users.
At the same time, the regulatory environment around AI is evolving quickly. New frameworks and early legislation are emerging that focus on transparency, risk assessment, and accountability. This is an essential step for the industry, because AI cannot scale without trust.
For us, that means advancing a structured, ethical approach to development and deployment. It is why we were first in the industry to achieve ISO/IEC 42001 certification for responsible AI development. As AI becomes more powerful, customers want assurance that it is being used responsibly, that systems are explainable, and that data integrity is protected.
