Genetec recently released insights from its state of the industry report results that looks at how the role of physical security continued to evolve in 2021 as organisations adapted to changing conditions.
The survey found that physical security is being used for more than securing people and assets. Organisations are becoming more resourceful and creative about operating, updating, and deploying their security systems. They are thinking more broadly about the role of physical security and what it can do beyond traditional applications to deliver more value. Organisations use physical security solutions to move beyond safety objectives and use the data collected to optimise and enhance business operations in unique ways.
The report addressed rising trends within the field:
- Physical security is an ever-evolving field, changing from being seen as a tool for mitigating risk to playing a much more significant role in organisations’ digital transformation as two-thirds (69 per cent) of respondents described physical security and related data as “mission-critical”.
- With the pandemic forcing physical security professionals to work from home, 45 per cent of larger organisations (with over 1,000 employees) have already adopted cloud solutions, indicating a 19 per cent increase from 2020’s results. However, only 14 per cent of respondents in the Middle East indicated that at least 25 per cent of their physical security environment is cloud or hybrid cloud. This could be due to the strict regulatory environment in some Middle Eastern countries, as respondents from the Middle East were most likely to select “hosting data outside your country” to deter them from deploying cloud security solutions.
- When asked about the type of solutions they were planning to invest in to advance or improve their physical security environment in the next 12 months, over half of respondents (52 per cent) picked access control.
Physical security departments were reluctant to move their systems to the Cloud in the past. But the functionality provided by cloud-based solutions has become more attractive as some organisations had to close or partially shut down during the pandemic. 35 per cent of respondents indicated that the pandemic had either triggered or accelerated their cloud strategy specifically related to physical security. This is an increase from last year’s survey when 31 per cent of respondents indicated the same.
