Cybersecurity, AI Remain Atop SIA’s Annual Security Megatrends
Newer trends on SIA’s list include “Changing Economic Conditions,” “Elimination of Industry’s Boundaries,” and “Proliferation of Sensors.”
SILVER SPRING, Md. — The Security Industry Association (SIA) has identified and forecasted the 2023 Security Megatrends, which form the basis of its annual Security Megatrends report defining the top 10 factors influencing both short- and long-term change in the global security industry.
SIA’s 2023 Security Megatrends were selected based on fall 2022 survey data and focus group input received from hundreds of top security industry business leaders, association leadership, key volunteers and speakers for the 2022 Securing New Ground (SNG) conference, which took place Oct. 18-19 in New York City.
Each year, SIA produces the Security Megatrends report, which is made available for free to SIA member companies and registered attendees of SNG, the security industry’s executive conference.
The Security Megatrends are the top forces at play in security, shaping executives’ business decisions and expected to have far-reaching impacts on businesses across the industry, according to SIA.
These trends play an instrumental role in the insights and discussions at SNG, which brings together the leading entrepreneurs, luminaries, CEOs and investors in the security industry for top-quality information sharing, networking and business analysis.
For the 2023 report, cybersecurity has once again been recognized as the top trend impacting the industry, narrowly supplanting artificial intelligence (AI), which fell to a close second place in the 2023 report.
The cybersecurity of solutions has become a business differentiator, and government requirements have led to changes among top government contractors and integrators, and policy changes like the NDAA and FCC requirements have created prohibitions on select firms while forcing other product manufacturers to change sourcing.
This trend has also led steadily to more convergence in how corporations manage their security posture, often creating greater relationships and improved information sharing among teams specializing in cybersecurity, physical security and information technology.
SIA says AI, though dropping slightly to a No. 2 position, continues to hold high promise for the industry, with many manufacturers embedding AI-driven analytics into their solutions. AI-powered solutions like facial recognition appear to be steadily gaining steam among public safety markets, particularly as policies and frameworks have been developed to ensure the intelligence is used ethically (“ethical and safe use of data and technology” was itself identified as a 2023 Security Megatrend, ranked No. 5).
Workforce development jumped to a No. 3 position in the 2023 report, and while some in the industry speculate that a cooling economy may alleviate some of the hiring backlog, many indicate that some roles, like security technicians, are facing such a critical shortage, that it will take long-term and coordinated efforts to change the talent pipeline crisis, SIA notes.
Newer trends on the list include “Changing Economic Conditions” (No. 4), “Elimination of Industry’s Boundaries” (No. 6) and “Proliferation of Sensors” (No. 7), which may indicate a world in which security must be highly adaptive to early business signals, provide more value to the business unit beyond a security and safety impact, and leverage data from any input in the quest to protect people, property and assets.
The 2023 Security Megatrends are:
- Cybersecurity and Physical Security
- Artificial Intelligence
- Workforce Development
- Changing Economic Conditions
- Ethical/Safe Use of Data and Technology
- Elimination of Industry’s Boundaries
- Security as a Service
- Supply Chain Assurance
- Autonomous Devices
- Proliferation of Sensors
“Cybersecurity rose once again to be the top Security Megatrend for 2023, with AI closely following at No. 2 and autonomous devices entering the 2023 ranking for the first time ever. These new solutions and services like AI and autonomous devices hold great promise for improvements in security,” says James Rothstein, chair of SIA’s board of directors and operating partner with Lee Equity Partners. “We were pleased to see the industry recognize cybersecurity and ethical and safe use of data and technology among the top trends for 2023. This clearly demonstrates that security industry business leaders are focused not just on business opportunities but are mindful of the global impact that our industry’s advanced technologies can deliver.”
In addition to defining the latest Security Megatrends, the 2023 forecast report shares perspectives on how these trends can affect security practitioners and CSOs and includes numerous challenges and disruptors, as well as predictions for how trends will play out over the next year.
Click here to view and/or download the official 2023 Security Megatrends report.
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