We continue our series of 2026 security industry predictions with Matt Barnette, president and chief executive officer of PSA Network. He offered his 2025 reflections on the industry in a previous post. Here, he looks ahead to what might happen in the next 12 months and beyond in the sector.
Matt Barnette 2026 Security Industry Predictions
Read on to check out Matt Barnette’s 2026 security industry predictions. We’ll have many more predictions from others among the brightest minds in the security industry throughout the month!
Security Sales & Integration: What technology category or solution area do you see as 2026’s ripest, most profitable growth opportunity for security dealers, installers and integrators? Explain your reasoning.
Matt Barnette: If you strip out specific brands, the ripest category for dealers and integrators in 2026 is managed, cloud/hybrid physical security platforms that bundle video, access, alarms, audio and analytics into recurring services.
This is happening because ACaaS and VSaaS adoption is accelerating as customers chase easier upgrades, reduced IT burden and predictable OpEx. Services and monitoring (remote video verification, health monitoring, system admin, reporting) are one of the fastest-growing slices of the market.
Private equity and manufacturers are pushing models that drive recurring monthly revenue (RMR) and stickiness; integrators who align with that trend can dramatically improve valuations and resilience. Profitability doesn’t come from the technology label. It comes from packaging standardized designs, repeatable deployments, baked-in service contracts and reporting that shows business value beyond “nothing bad happened.”
SSI: Which emerging security technologies do you think are overplayed? Which ones do you think will truly transform the practice of security integration in the coming years?
Barnette: Overplayed, at least in the short term, is the “Magic AI” that solves everything by itself. A lot of analytics claims are still ahead of reality in messy real-world environments. Training, tuning and false-positive management are often underdiscussed.
Truly transformative over the next several years: unified physical security platforms (video + access + alarms + audio + analytics) with open APIs. This underpins operational efficiency, data sharing and real RMR offerings.
And hybrid-cloud architectures: Not fully cloud, not fully on-prem with the flexibility to run workloads at the edge, in the cloud or both is what will let integrators serve everyone from SMB to enterprise.
Lastly, with large industry players coming out with biometric readers, if the price points hit the mark, it may finally be time for the industry to move from credentials to biometrics which provide a better user experience and higher security.
SSI: What’s getting better about the security industry these days? What seems to be getting worse?
Barnette: I believe what is getting better is that security technology maturity. Cloud, artificial intelligence and open platforms are less “wild science project,” more “robust product” than even a few years ago.
Business sophistication among integrators: Top performers are focusing on process, RMR and operational maturity instead of just chasing top-line revenue.
End user understanding of risk: More customers recognize security as a business enabler and compliance requirement, not a begrudging budget line.
What’s getting worse is the skills gap and labor constraints. There is a well-documented cyber and security workforce shortage; the same pressure is felt on the physical side. System designers, technicians and engineers.
Complexity: integrators are expected to juggle cyber, IT, OT, cloud, AI, privacy and regulations, often without a pricing model that reflects that complexity.
SSI: What’s likely to catch dealers/integrators off guard in the coming year?
Barnette: A few landmines that lurk are cyber and compliance obligations attached to physical systems. As more physical security platforms get audited against SOC 2, ISO 27001 and privacy regulations, integrators that don’t have strong cyber practices and documentation may suddenly be disqualified from bids.
The real cost of owning “AI-enabled” systems: Managing model updates, analytics tuning, data retention and privacy requests is non-trivial. Many integrators are underestimating post-install service workload.
Margin compression on hardware: As hardware commoditizes, margin quietly erodes while support expectations climb. Without a strong services/RMR layer, some dealers will wake up and realize they’re working harder for less.
Customer expectations for interoperability and unified UX: Franken-systems with five logins and 10 dashboards are losing ground. Customers are starting to demand single-pane-of-glass platforms and standardized workflows.
SSI: What’s the single most pressing challenge that professionals in the security industry must tackle right now? And how would you suggest tackling it?
Barnette: The most pressing challenge right now is building sustainable, cyber-resilient, service-centric businesses in an environment of rapid technology change and skills shortage. I believe how to tackle it (practical version) is standardize and productize.
Integrators should create a limited set of “reference architectures” for SMB, mid-market and enterprise. With defined hardware, software and service bundles instead of custom one-off science projects every time. This reduces install time, training load and support chaos.
Commit to RMR/managed services as a core strategy, not a side hustle: Tie every install to health monitoring, updates, basic analytics tuning and periodic business reviews. Price it realistically so you can fund the talent and tools you need.
Invest in people and processes, not just tech: Integrators need to build internal training paths for techs and engineers including IT/cyber basics, scripting, cloud architecture. Develop documented workflows from presales through commissioning and ongoing service.
Treat cyber as non-negotiable: Adopt repeatable hardening baselines, patching routines, credential policies, MFA for all admin access and incident response playbooks for the systems you deploy.
This isn’t glamorous but it’s what separates the profitable integrators from the exhausted ones.
SSI: Finish the sentence: “2026 will be remembered as the year that the security industry…”
Barnette: … finally stopped thinking of itself as a hardware trade and started behaving like a data-driven, service-led technology business.
That’s the pivot: from boxes and bids to platforms and outcomes. The technology like AI, cloud and mobile identity is just the toolkit. 2026 will be about who uses that toolkit to build recurring value and trusted, long-term partnerships.
Click here to check out all the entries in our 2026 security industry predictions series!
