SIA reveals 2024 Security Megatrends

SILVER SPRING, Md.—The Security Industry Association (SIA) has identified and forecasted the 2024 Security Megatrends, which outline the top 10 factors influencing both short- and long-term change in the global security industry.

SIA’s 2024 Security Megatrends were selected based on fall 2023 survey data and focus group input received from hundreds of top security industry business leaders, association leadership, key volunteers and speakers for the 2023 Securing New Ground (SNG) conference, which took place Oct. 17-18 in New York City.

The 2024 report revealed that there is no trend larger or more impactful to the security industry than artificial intelligence (AI), but this trend is so vast and multifaceted that it is split into four components that are trends unto themselves. 

With AI rising to the No. 1 spot for 2024 and cybersecurity moving into a “foundational trend” spot, the Security of AI trend includes somewhat of a blend of AI and cybersecurity (and a lot more). Trend No. 2 – AI: Visual Intelligence, Not Video Surveillance) is something of a synthesis of two trends: 2023’s Nov. 10 Megatrend, the Proliferation of Sensors, and that year’s No. 2 trend, AI.

Generative AI (No. 3) is brand new to the Megatrends for 2024, but this trend is an expansion of the overall AI trend that was ranked No. 2 in SIA’s 2023 report. Entirely new for the 2024 report, Regulation of AI (No. 4) rides on the wave of substantial legislative activity happening in the United States and the European Union.

Each year, SIA produces the Security Megatrends report, which is made available to download for free. 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. 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.

In surveying SIA members as part of the research for the 2024 Security Megatrends report, 93% said they expected to see generative AI like ChatGPT make an impact on their business strategies within the next five years, and over 89% said they had AI projects active in their research and development (R&D) pipelines. SIA has responded to this hyperfocus on AI by immediately establishing the SIA AI Advisory Board, a group comprised of industry leaders with a mission to educate our members about relevant trends, applications and regulations.

“Our industry is deeply focused on adding value – from thinking creatively about how security technologies can provide value to office property owners who are seeking to make their buildings more efficient as they adapt to a long-term trend of mobile work to support small businesses like retailers who need their security investments to serve to not only protect their operations, but also give them the insights they need on their retail performance,” said James Rothstein, SIA’s Board of Directors chair and operating partner with Lee Equity Partners. “As every great business leader knows, the value of their people is of the most importance, and that still holds true in a world that relies more on AI. Protecting people will always be the greatest value we can provide, but as an industry, we are insatiable in our quest for progress and will never stop as we unlock new value for our customers, clients, and partners.”

Additionally, new for 2024’s report was a section on foundational trends – trends that have become so important that they are now structural to the business of security.

The trends of cybersecurity, workforce development, sustainability, global tensions, the cloud model for technology delivery, changing economic conditions and supply chain assurance (some previously long recognized as Security Megatrends) are now so much part of the fabric of the world that they are viewed no longer as future-looking megatrends, but instead as common concerns that all business leaders must manage as they operate within the security industry.

The 2024 Security Megatrends are:

1. AI: Security of AI
2. AI: Visual Intelligence, Not Video Surveillance
3. AI: Generative AI
4. AI: Regulation of AI
5. Expansion and Evolution of Security’s Return on Investment
6. Evolution of the Integration Business Model
7. Security as a Service
8. Impact of the Megatech Companies
9. Real Estate Reoptimization
10. IT-OT Convergence

Key stats highlighted in the report include:

• 54% of security technology firms said their public perception of some AI technologies (e.g., facial recognition) was limiting their further expansion into AI applications
• 33% of surveyed SIA members expect sustainability initiatives to make a strong impact on their business or product strategies within the next five years
• 78 million security cameras were shipped globally in 2022
• 74% of surveyed security solutions developers characterized their firms’ R&D investments as being fully, heavily or somewhat focused on AI

In addition to defining the latest Security Megatrends, the 2024 forecast report shares perspectives on how these trends can affect security practitioners, integrators, and chief security officers, examines key “microtrends” bound to impact business operations and security programs, features a collection of premier executive takeaways and includes numerous challenges and disruptors, as well as predictions for how trends will play out over the next year.

View and/​​or download the official 2024 Security Megatrends report here.