Research into the impact of COVID-19 on physical security purchasing decisions suggests a sharp increase in the necessity and urgency for businesses to adopt hosted video surveillance (VSaaS) and access control (ACaaS) says a hosted security provider. While 70pc of 1000 senior decision makers in IT, security, FM and HR roles agree this to be the case, 78pc also anticipate their organisations’ use of cloud technologies to increase, as a result of COVID-19.
The survey found that three-quarters (76pc) of senior managers in UK, Germany and Sweden have increased their use of video conferencing (such as Microsoft Teams); 65% have increased their use of office applications (such as Microsoft 365); and 70pc of those in the security sector are now strongly inclined towards cloud adoption.
About half, 51pc say their company is currently using a cloud-based service for video surveillance (VSaaS) and/or access control (ACaaS). This broadly reflects projected growth in the physical security market from USD $93.5b in 2020 to USD $120.3b by 2025 at a CAGR of 5.2pc, the firm says.
Rodrigue Zbinden, CEO of Morphean SA, said: “The results highlight a hosted physical security market that will see strong growth in 2021 as cloud applications are proven to deliver business continuity in challenging times. At the height of the lockdown, many business premises were unoccupied and potentially vulnerable, but remote monitoring and maintenance made possible by hosted security were a welcome advantage. We also saw a spike in demand for
frictionless access control enabling a totally hands-free experience and negating the need for physical contact. Business leaders will now be considering the learnings from the past year and looking to apply them to boost productivity, streamline costs and make organisations more agile.”
For those already working with cloud services, the growth in connected digital devices through the IoT is resulting in a growing appetite for physical security, such as network cameras, to enhance IT systems and assist business intelligence gathering. Most, 95pc agree that if an existing security system could deliver insights beyond security to assist decision making (i.e. occupancy or test and trace analytics), it would influence adoption.
More flexibility in working locations is the benefit respondents are most likely to identify from moving business functions to the cloud (50pc), followed by easier collaboration (44pc); cost-effectiveness (44pc); and safer or better security (38pc). Most, 82pc anticipate the levels/frequency of remote workers and flexible working in their organisations to be higher post-pandemic and in the longer term than they were pre-pandemic.
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