The emergence of electronic security has forever changed the physical security industry, as physical security professionals and products evolve to maximize the benefits of new technology and trends, including smart locks, mobile access and biometrics, as well as cloud-based systems and “one pane of glass” platforms that harness the power of AI, video and data analytics.
These themes and trends are highlighted in the 2025 Security Industry Association (SIA) Megatrends report, including the following key stats:
· 52% of surveyed SIA members said the future impact of AI on the security industry is greatly or somewhat underappreciated.
· 81% of security industry manufacturers and solution providers say predictive data analytics are a meaningful or very meaningful component of their existing or soon-to-be-released products, software or solutions.
· 91% of security solutions developers characterized their firms’ research and development investments as being fully, heavily or somewhat focused on AI – an increase from the 74% reported in 2023.
Biometrics and Mobile Credential Adoption
The topic of mobile access and credentials – and identity management overall – has risen in importance to such a level that SIA held a Mobile Credentials event at ISC East 2024, in N.Y., highlighting a crucial distinction in our industry between proliferation and democratization of mobile credentials. While these terms are often used interchangeably, Lee Odess, CEO, Access Control Executive Brief, says they represent fundamentally different trajectories for identity management.
“What we’re witnessing today is proliferation — a widespread increase in identity-based systems and their adoption,” Odess explains. “However, what our industry desperately needs is democratization — the process of making identity accessible and equitable to a broader audience by reducing costs, complexity and exclusivity. The current landscape remains expensive, complex and restricted to those who are either integrated into existing ecosystems or, in Big Tech’s case, granted permission to participate.”
The most significant shift is not in the technology itself, Odess asserts, but how identity and our preferred modalities have evolved.
“While mobile wallets have proven transformative — revolutionizing credential storage and elevating access control to mainstream levels and our industry’s first ‘luxury good’ — the real winner may be an unexpected bystander: biometrics,” he explains. “As identity-based systems continue their rise across sectors, biometric authentication is quietly positioning itself nicely. Few would have predicted when this journey began that the best marketing for a group that can’t seem to break through would be wallets and near field communication.”
The true winner in all this digital transformation, he points out, is the customer because they now have “the choice of modality, experience and level of assurance desired. But again, the true question with all this change is: Can we bridge the gap between proliferation and true democratization, making secure identity solutions accessible to all while maintaining the momentum we’ve achieved?”
Martin Huddart, senior VP and head of physical access control solutions for HID, notes in the Megatrends report that the mobile access costs are already in line with or lower than the badge office model.
“What we see is that often end users do not appreciate the total cost of physical credentials (ordering, storing, issuing, etc.),” says Huddart. “What mobile does is automate a lot of those physical and analog processes. We figure the payback period for upfront infrastructure work has been coming down and down as those processes become more efficient. End users need to have an honest review of what their total cost of physical credentials is.”
Single Pane of Glass
The “single pane of glass” mantra, which has been the holy grail for security pros and end users, is finally becoming a reality, as video, access control, and other data is managed, analyzed and mined within one software platform for critically important information, whether it is security related, operational or business-related.
“What changed was that the value of the data from these systems became more important to the security operations than the feature set of the devices themselves,” says Geoff Kohl, editor of the 2025 Security Megatrends report and Sr. Director of Marketing for SIA. “For the practitioner, that data was no longer associated with the device itself but was instead associated with the management software that extracted value from the data those devices could generate.”
Software providers continue to hold greater influence in the industry as these software systems can “identify data anomalies and aggregate data for the ‘bigger picture’ or nontraditional use cases,” he says.
The advantage of platform aggregation is that it “allows end users to utilize best-of-breed applications that may not operate together effectively,” adds Tara Dunning, vice president of Global Security & Infrastructure, Wesco, “It’s the best of both worlds – you get a single, holistic viewpoint or dashboard of your operations without having to sacrifice high-quality platforms or technologies. The impact that this trend will have simply cannot be overstated.”
As security professionals and building managers are juggling more platforms than ever before that impact safety, security, energy efficiency, operating costs and more, “platform aggregation provides these professionals with powerful insights at their fingertips, allowing them to make more informed decisions to help better manage their operations,” she says.
Steve Van Till, founder and CEO, Brivo, points out that the emergence of AI and cloud-based systems is changing the way we look at the aggregation of systems and data within a platform. “When we talk about integration of platforms in the past, what that meant was they were all on the same dashboard/screen, so it was more about user interface, not experience (a two-dimensional view),” he explains. “The discussion is shifting now to using a single AI type layer to interpret results from many different subsystems. That’s not a visual metaphor – it’s a linguistic metaphor. The visual representation will become less important.”
Rise of the Cloud
The changing and evolving workplace has certainly hastened the adoption of cloud-based systems, as more and more businesses and enterprise level corporations put their trust in these systems daily. According to the 2025 Genetec State of Physical Security Report, as organizations evaluate cloud solutions for physical security, most are “prioritizing a hybrid strategy that aligns with operational needs, budget constraints, and storage requirements,” allowing critical data and applications to be managed both on-premises and in the cloud.
In fact, the report found that 43% of end users envision hybrid deployments as their preferred approach within the next five years, compared to just 18% favoring fully cloud-based implementations and 17% planning to remain fully on-premises. This preference for hybrid cloud is echoed by consultants and channel partners, with 66% of consultants planning to recommend hybrid deployments in the next five years.
“Year after year, respondents continue to prioritize investment in video management and access control systems, as these are central to their success,” says Christian Morin, vice president, Product Engineering, Genetec Inc. “They need purpose-built solutions that deliver long-term value with reliability, cybersecurity, and openness they can depend on. As they plan for the future, end users are looking for systems designed to grow with them, supporting their goals today and tomorrow. This includes flexible hybrid-cloud solutions that balance the benefits of cloud scalability with the control of on-premises infrastructure, ensuring optimal ROI and adaptability as their needs evolve.”
This data not only reflects the rising demand for adaptable deployment models but also highlights a measured approach to cloud adoption as the industry matures. By focusing on operational realities, varying costs of the cloud, and evolving security requirements, organizations will be better positioned to successfully adopt the cloud at a pace and cost that reflects their needs, the report found.
“There’s no all-or-nothing with a hybrid-cloud approach,” says Moran. “Businesses remain in total control of how they deploy their systems across various locations. With an open ecosystem, they can implement the best technology — whether on-premises or in the cloud — that meets their business needs and avoid unnecessary compromise without ever being locked into proprietary solutions. This allows them to deploy, scale, and upgrade systems faster, streamline processes, and strengthen their security posture in the most efficient and effective ways,”
An AI-Powered Future?
The rate of AI adoption within security continues to grow as the industry prioritizes and learns how to harness AI’s power for practical applications. In fact, the State of Physical Security Report reveals a significant rise in the interest toward AI adoption in physical security, with 37% of end users planning to implement AI-powered features in 2025, up from just 10% in 2024.
At the heart of priorities and budget, researchers noted, is the ongoing need to build reliable access control and video surveillance systems. Organizations are focusing on ways to adopt new technology into their existing infrastructure to help them improve operations, increase cyber resiliency, and deliver physical security in a more cost-efficient way.
With 42% of end users seeing AI as a tool to streamline security operations, organizations are focusing on practical applications, such as refining threat detection and automating routine processes, with intelligent automation as the goal.
“I object to the term ‘artificial intelligence’ because it’s anything but,” says Pierre Racz, CEO, Genetec. “AI stands for ‘absolute ignorance,’ and the problem with using that term [AI] is we tend to anthropomorphize it. The things that humans do well – computers struggle with them. I like IA instead — ‘intelligent automation’ — where you put a human in the loop to provide judgment and creativity and let the computer do the heavy lifting.”
