Throughout 2017, customers have been increasingly looking for technological answers to a plethora of their business needs, and the surveillance industry has seen a rapid boost because of this. In particular, we’ve seen more organisations harness video to fulfil much more than just their security requirements.
Combining physical and cyber security
Businesses are now using surveillance to address areas such as health and safety, sales and marketing as it fast becomes more of a business opportunity than just a surveillance one.
There has also been a sudden acceleration toward the merging of security solutions over the last 12 months. Organisations increasingly want their physical and cyber security systems combined, and as a result we’ve seen more providers - including our own business - begin to offer a greater range of encryption solutions as a complete package. This will be particularly important as data protection laws continue to grow and businesses need a way to safely store, manage and utilise their data.
AI will help flag suspicious behaviour
We expect AI to have a much stronger presence next year. We’re already seeing deep learning being used to analyse data much more effectively – particularly for monitoring crime. Using AI in this way to build a database of ‘queries’ or algorithms will help organisations assess what is deemed ‘normal’, and therefore flag suspicious behaviour before it materialises. As business systems continue to integrate, AI will continue to grow.
Ultimately, the winners in 2018 will be those who are able to evolve their conversations with customers to be about business outcomes rather than just cost, with more of a focus on long-term investment. There will also be a requirement for providers to understand the application of new technologies better. There’s a lot of free training out there and companies should use it as an opportunity to give their customers a more comprehensive service.