SIA’s Security Market Index shows positive signs for industry

SILVER SPRING, Md.—Provided to Security Industry Association (SIA) members as a review of current market conditions, the September/October 2020 Security Market Index (SMI) shows industry confidence continues to climb, returning to pre-COVID numbers.

The SMI for September/October 2020 is 49, up from 32 in the July/August report and up from 30 in the May/June report. The last time the security industry’s confidence was this high was in the March/April SMI, which recorded a confidence level of 50 before the full effect of the pandemic impacted the security industry. An index above 50 indicates that conditions within the industry are largely positive and that security industry professionals are predominantly confident in their business outlooks.

SIA noted that confidence in the video surveillance sector continued to improve this month with 75 percent of video surveillance professionals saying current business conditions are “good” and the other 25 percent describing them as “fair.” In July, 50 percent said conditions were “good” and 50 percent said they were “poor.” In May, 25 percent said conditions were “good,” 25 percent said they were “average,” 25 percent said they were “fair,” and 25 percent described conditions as being “poor.”

After seeing a bump in confidence in July, the access control market improved again this month, boasting a segment-specific SMI of 75. The SMI for July was 33, and in May it was 26. Fifty percent of access control professionals reported current business conditions as being “excellent,” while 50 percent described conditions as “good.”

While video surveillance and access control continue to see increases, confidence among security systems integrators continued to decline this month, with 67 percent of survey respondents in the sector reporting that their confidence in current business conditions is “average,” and 33 percent saying it is “fair.” In July, 25 percent of survey respondents reported their confidence as being “good,” 25 percent said it was “average,” and 50 percent said confidence was “poor.” In May, 50 percent of integrators said their confidence was “good” and the other 50 percent said it was “poor.”

In November 2019, 100 percent of those in the integration sector reported their confidence in current conditions as being “excellent.”    

“We think COVID-19 has both delayed projects and had funds re-directed for that reason,” said one integrator who considers current business conditions to be average.