Trends behind today’s security and access control innovations

Even the recent developments with the current global pandemic will disrupt the business-as-usual assumptions that have defined industries and their outlooks. In fact, for some of these trends, it is already predicted that their influence will accelerate and their impact will amplify.

Let’s have a look at what those components are and how they are affecting the security industry today.

Urbanisation challenges vital infrastructure services

The nature of the demand for security solutions is primarily changing due to urbanisation. The world’s population is increasing and the proportion of people living in urban areas globally is expected to increase from 55% to 68% (around 6.7 billion people over the next 30 years) by 2050.

Many countries will face challenges in meeting the needs of their growing urban populations. These needs include, for example, transportation infrastructure and services for people and goods, especially with increased e-commerce and international trade. Read more about trends and transportation security in our previous blog post.

Cities and people need reliable energy systems and telecommunication networks, a sufficient supply of potable water and also processing capacity of waste water, not to mention other infrastructure with housing and safe environments. The challenge to protect the critical components of an infrastructure network includes intrusion, vandalism and theft in both highly populated areas as well as geographically dispersed sites.

Climate change generates more sustainable operations

Climate change and resource scarcity is a growing concern worldwide. There is a robust need to use more sustainable resources for energy and consume it more efficiently in different operational processes and energy-consuming solutions.  

For those of us in the security industry, this trend indicates that our solutions must help critical infrastructure operators save energy and act more efficiently.

Critical Infrastructure companies typically have a large number of employees or subcontractors responsible for operating and maintaining remote sites and the miles quickly add up. Where today’s security solutions can help save time and energy is by introducing more sustainable solutions for site access, including remotely programmable keys and digital keys, removing the need to collect the right physical keys from central locations before heading out to the sites.

Digital solutions make customers’ workflows more efficient and save them time and costs, making the investment into new security solutions both sustainable and profitable.

Political change breaks the status quo

In the same manner as climate change, political change and increased uncertainty overall are changing our world and thus increasing the risk of security threats.

Earlier forecasts projected that the shift of global economic growth is one of the most important megatrends. This includes the shift of business activities from G7 economies, including the U.S., Canada, Germany and Japan to name a few, to E7 countries including, e.g., China, India, Brazil, Mexico and Indonesia.

Due to this uncertainty and unrest, security threats are not decreasing; instead, threats increase demand for security solutions to protect what is critical for society. That’s why robustness, high quality and meeting with standards are vital requirements for high-security technologies, and cannot be compromised in product development.

Digital leap from legacy systems to smart ecosystems

Last but not least, developments within digitisation and Internet of Things (IoT) are affecting working methods and making sure critical operations are secured and people are kept safe. Even though there are not yet clear views on how the world will look in our new reality in light of the pandemic, it is already predicted that the shift to the digitally connected economy is playing out on a global scale. It is suggesting that the pace of the rollout of technologies like the IoT, automation, robotics and AI may accelerate as new economic and industry norms take shape.

Changing behavior and the needs of businesses and consumers increase emphasis on reliability and convenience as well as the use of data for decision making. Almost everyone has access to a personal digital device and this provides opportunities for new, digitalised solutions. The introduction of mobile credentials is disrupting the industry and also breaking traditional business models.

Thus, we can expect a need for solutions that provide a smooth transition from mechanical solutions to electromechanical and digital solutions, creating a bridge to the future.

Digitisation enables new, efficient and the most secure ways to identify people with the required credentials for access. Connected and easy-to-use graphical user interfaces for access management systems help security and operational managers increase situational awareness, including people and assets.

Thanks to the modular structure of platforms, even systems outfitted with the latest digital innovations can be managed entirely within a single system via various types of security solutions, whether they’re mechanical, electromechanical or mechatronic.

Cloud-based, scalable services companies can implement exactly the operational model they want, with options for online monitoring, reporting and analytics as well as integration into third-party systems to increase the efficiency of workflows and operations. 

In summary, the big picture in our industry we can see is that the demand for security solutions in critical infrastructure and professional end-user segments is increasing, but its nature is changing.