Guest post by Carlos Francisco
The security industry is going through a whirlwind of change these days. 2023 will be the year for growth, new tech, clarity, and education. Opportunities for security companies will keep growing as demand rises, security tech will keep on evolving with the help and partnership of clients, and the security risk approach will be focused and well-measured.
There has never been a time like today when the smaller national and regional contract security companies can step up and show us what quality security is all about. There is no better time than 2023 to bring to the client specific white glove service with a high rate of appropriate response and show the quality care that the client needs. The shortage of qualified security professionals will continue to decline as the demand rise missing the equilibrium mark. The contract security company that will be able to shift folks who have worked in the customer service-based industries successfully into security hosts will win!
2023 will also be the year when security technology companies can step up and become more creative than ever with the help of clients. It will also be the year when clients who already have capable technologies will go in deeper and start using the technology they already own to the fullest. This partnership will occur through education and exploration. 2023 will be the year when AI meets physical security. The integration of systems through AI will allow the workforce availability issue to be just a small blip in the physical security conversation.
The key will be to integrate access control recognition into the clearance of everyday alarm situations. If I can clear more alarms without having to physically clear more alarms, I’ll need less of a workforce. The other key will be the partnership between the security technology companies and the client. The client should allow the security tech companies to test the new gadgets they are offering and share with the tech companies feedback on tech they already own. If we don’t open up and help each other, we will continue to be the old dinosaurs we have been.
I also believe that the major budget cuts and layoffs that occurred through the second half of 2022 will allow us to make decisions that are more risk-based than the idea that Spiderman or a real-life 007 threat agent exists and will make entry into your place of business or plant a 1960s Batman style booby trap. For the past years, too much money has been thrown into lowering risks that are portrayed in the movie industry and never extremely rarely to never has come to reality.
Risk acceptance will grow by companies understanding and being educated that the potential loss from said risk is not great enough to warrant spending loads of money to avoid it. The risk tolerance attached to risk avoidance will become in everyone’s mind as companies will be willing to take on less risk and become more conservative, and more risk will be transferred to others or insurance companies; why pay $250k a year to protect $100k of merchandise if my insurance covers up to $1 million?
The talk of risk in 2023 will become more intelligent and focused on the true risk and not some cartoonish story told on TV.
