As protests build in the US, the US security industry faces an uncertain and hotly disputed future. The only thing that is not disputed is that the security business is down sharply in the last few months.
Integrators remain hopeful that the US will get its confidence back and start picking up soon. At the same time, they worry that projects funded a year ago are finishing, yet few new projects are in the pipeline. In the middle of this, Frost & Sullivan this week forecasted that the economy would pick up as soon as summer and that IT convergence was actually accelerating. Amazing.
I disagree. Sometimes all you have to fear is fear itself, but today it’s not paranoia – the economy is really out to get us.
As we examined in our newly released 2nd edition of the 2009 Video Surveillance Industry Guide, the negative pressures against the security industry continue to build. We see four main forces impacting the security industry – (1) massive fall in long term consumer spending because of the bubble bursting; (2) a long-term shift to lower cost products; (3) a delay in replacing existing systems; and (4) an overall lower priority on anti-terrorism spending.
Our theory is that these impacts will actually build and hit the security industry even harder over the next few years.
As part of this trend, we looked at the future of security trade magazines. Print publications, in general, are under pressure both by the shift to the web and the recession. I expect we are going to see fewer, but more global security web publications with people from around the world collaborating and
sharing information (like this US column in a European based publication).
During the boom, IT convergence was all the rage. Sensible people in the industry are now realizing the necessary future path is more assimilation than it is conquest.
This week, we discussed the most common mistakes that IT people make in coming into security. Do not think of it as IT vs Security. It’s better to consider and appreciate how different security is from other business units like sales, marketing, operations, etc.
These differences are significant and fundamental. They result in a much different security industry requiring unique practices and tactics.
Finally, as part of our ongoing look at how convergence is changing, we debated the benefits and alternatives to video encoders. Over the last few years, out of necessity, encoders were the main tool to bring CCTV cameras into IP video systems. Now, with the ongoing maturation of hybrid systems, design options and flexibility are increasing.
