How can the industry do a better job of promoting emerging technologies in physical security environments?

The answer to promoting emerging technologies is pretty simple: getting people excited about them. Emerging technologies have the power to transform the ordinary into the extraordinary, and that’s what makes them exciting. These innovations do not just enhance safety and convenience; they enable us to reimagine what’s possible when it comes to security and technology. Beyond making jobs easier and people safer, they can solve problems in creative, unconventional ways. When we embrace this potential, we help others see how game-changing these tools can be. Think of how smart doorbells became so popular—not only did they make home security more accessible, but they also brought a new layer of intelligence to something as simple as answering the door. By making technology relatable and memorable, we spark curiosity and enthusiasm that drives widespread interest and adoption.

It's all about framing. It's one thing to talk about all the features that your technology might have. It's another to highlight what it provides to a security team altogether. A lot of companies focus too much on what the product does by listing out a laundry list of features, but few really get to the heart of how it impacts a business' bottom line. Does it streamline operations? Does it save operators time when responding? Does it make it easier for people to do their jobs? Those are the kinds of KPIs that buyers care about, and the industry would serve itself better by focusing on outcomes versus features.

Within the security industry there is an ongoing struggle when we launch, promote and market new technologies into the physical security environment. Teams of Marketing and Product Managers sweat over the promotional and messaging options for days and weeks, if not months or more. Yet change the scenario out and start talking about cyber or data protection and suddenly the world is alive with marketing executions that leverage off all manner of stories focused on the imminent threat of a business apocalypse. Therein lies our fundamental problem. On face value physical security frequently doesn’t tick the serious crisis box! So where should we focus our marketing energy? It’s simple. On the stories and human experiences of what physical security delivers: From keeping sons and daughters safe to optimising business efficiency to keep the doors open on the 100-year-old family business. Real stories of real people will win. Just find your stories.

In today’s fast-evolving security and technology landscape, many manufacturers are pushing the envelope with innovative solutions. However, one of the biggest challenges for end users is the high cost of adopting these advancements. To make these technologies more accessible, the industry must embrace the idea of low-cost or even no-cost proof of concepts. This requires collaboration from both manufacturers and system integrators. Well-established manufacturers often have more flexibility to offer such trials, while smaller, emerging companies may rely on integrators to introduce their technology to potential customers. Integrators play a pivotal role by showcasing new products to their existing clients and providing necessary installation support. For manufacturers, adopting creative pricing models is key—offering low-cost entry points can incentivise early adoption, with greater financial returns down the line as the technology proves its value. This approach can drive widespread adoption and foster long-term relationships between manufacturers and end users.

The industry can do a better job of promoting new emerging technologies in physical security environments by running proofs of concept. New technology often offers the opportunity for new use cases, new services, and new ways of doing things that can be more efficient and more profitable. For example, using AI technology that alerts you when a maintenance request is needed for a user is a much more cost-effective method to offer a maintenance plan and can bring in new revenue at a much lower cost.

The security industry is generally very receptive to new technologies. However, they do often take a long time to come to market as hardware is generally designed to last a long time, and there is always a wariness around new technologies until they are proven to be robust and reliable (something which is not easily done without them being adopted in the first place). For example, in recent years, mobile credentials have come to the fore as an essential requirement for many new access control systems, despite the technology and ownership of capable smartphones having been around for a long time.

Promoting new technologies in physical security is not just about developing cutting-edge innovations—it's about ensuring those technologies are seamlessly integrated into existing systems and maintaining the skilled teams to deliver interoperability effectively. Providing hands-on training to security professionals empowers them to endorse and integrate new technologies within current systems, and provide the servicing needed across the security platform. Whether it’s a new device powered through cellular, Wi-Fi or Bluetooth, or a new software protocol such as Power G, Z Wave, or Zigbee, teams must have the skills and technologies to integrate these into the security systems, maximising value and safety for the user. If you are siloed on a particular technology and your team is not trained to implement new innovations, it is difficult to adopt emerging technologies into a system – you can’t react fast enough with something new comes your way. It's important to develop an “App Store” for security, where every physical security solution can be added to the same apparatus, and the trained teams that can promote and implement them into the same interoperable platform.

Integrators can sometimes be reluctant to promote emerging technologies due to a lack of understanding, training, and a reasonable tendency to use proven solutions. As manufacturers and consultants, we must strive constantly to improve our education and training for integrators on emerging technologies, so they feel comfortable bringing the latest technology to their customers as soon as possible without risk. We do this by providing targeted training and resources to integrators, key decision-makers, and end-users. Having an open platform and partnerships with a range of best-in-class developers helps create tailored solutions for specific mission-critical verticals like transportation, infrastructure, healthcare, and education. As cybersecurity becomes increasingly more important, we must provide best practices and training to help secure networks as adoption of IoT devices continues to rise. Demonstrating a clear ROI, whether through cost savings, enhanced security, or by providing operational and business insights, leads to growth and trust.

The security industry needs to build cybersecurity and privacy capabilities into their emerging security technologies from planning through building the deploying the products. As 48% of technologists mentioned in the recent "The Impact of Technology in 2025 and Beyond: an IEEE Global Study,” in 2025 the top use of AI applications will be for cybersecurity vulnerability identification and attack prevention. Given an increase in technologies like these, security professionals must include clear instructions and training for their customers to make sure they understand not only how to correctly and effectively use the new technologies, but also know the security and privacy capabilities and how to set them. The most stringent security and privacy settings should be the default settings. Security manufacturers who build comprehensive cybersecurity and privacy capabilities into their security products will be able to better promote their emerging security technologies. Such capabilities will also provide them with marketing differentiators.

As many of us know, the physical security industry is slow-moving when it comes to embracing new technologies. I believe a lot of this comes down to education. When new technologies emerge, consumers are hesitant to embrace them just because they do not know the ins and outs of what they can offer. It's our job as developers and manufacturers to make this clear along the way. Right now, for example, there are a lot of unknowns and fears surrounding AI. It hasn't been around long enough for users to understand what it can provide for them. The same goes for the AV over IP movement. While people have been slow to adopt AV over IP technology, the ones that do are reaping the benefits, like increased collaboration, seamless scalability, and enhanced integration. We can develop ways to highlight those success stories and show how end users are benefiting from emerging technology to lessen the fear of the unknown. Additionally, collaboration among industry stakeholders is crucial. Industry associations and trade shows can play a pivotal role in fostering this dialogue. By promoting forums that allow for knowledge exchange and providing opportunities for hands-on demonstrations, we can instil confidence in decision-makers.

Before we can fully embrace the promise of new technologies, we need to shift from reactive to proactive strategies in security operations. Many emerging solutions can help us make this transition faster. AI is one of these powerful tools, but it comes with a dark side—AI-generated fake security and video data can undermine the very systems we rely on to ensure safer environments. This is why real-time authentication and verified video data are so essential. This allows us to focus on ensuring security data is verified from the point of creation. Showcasing how these innovations transform the industry from reactive to proactive will build trust and encourage wider adoption. Then, we can foster a more resilient, forward-thinking security landscape—one that’s prepared to embrace the possibilities of emerging technologies rather than fearing them. By shifting our mindset and demonstrating the value of these tools, we can move forward using these new solutions to prevent problems before they arise.

The security industry can do a better job of promoting emerging technologies in security environments by linking their solutions to measurable outcomes that matter to CISOs. Those outcomes could be to either reduce sales friction or to show measurable progress in key risk indicators that board members care about. For example, while according to the recent "The Impact of Technology in 2025 and Beyond: an IEEE Global Study,” 48% of technologists said that the top application for AI in 2025 will be real-time cybersecurity vulnerability identification and attack prevention, vendors should still be prepared to explain how investments in their solutions can produce progress over time and support agreed-upon business objectives, outside of the technical benefits. Unfortunately, most emerging technologies primarily discuss technical benefits and features, not business outcomes. For example, if a CISO cares about multifactor authentication coverage, vendors should explain how their solution improves coverage and ties that to higher business resiliency. That would also reduce friction in B2B sales where a high degree of MFA coverage could be cited as a key control in a SOC 2 type 2 report, for example.