Top 10 security megatrends revealed

Once again this year, the folks at the Security Industry Association (SIA) — including Don Erickson, Scott Schafer and the rest of the incredible team there — have identified the key “megatrends” that are impacting the security industry as we move into 2020.

Hard to argue with any of the trends on the list, as SIA always has its finger on the pulse of the industry, providing thought leadership and bringing top industry subject matter experts together for education at key industry conferences such as ISC West/East, Securing New Ground and Cyber:Secured, to name just a few.

Drum roll, please … The 2020 Security Megatrends are:
• Cybersecurity Impact on Physical Security
• AI
• Facial Recognition
• Emphasis on Data Privacy
• Cloud Computing
• National Security Concerns
• Connectivity and IoT Everything
• Workforce Development
• Move to Service Models
• Identity as the New Perimeter

SIA's signature annual Security Megatrends report defines these top 10 factors influencing both short- and long-term change in the global security industry.

“Cybersecurity resoundingly tops the list of Security Megatrends again for 2020. With the increased risk and frequency of cyberattacks, today's systems integrators and product developers are working to make sure that security solutions meet or exceed an organization's cyber-preparedness standards,” Scott Schafer, chairman of the SIA Board of Directors, said in the announcement. “SIA also forecasts that the trends of artificial intelligence and facial recognition will dramatically impact the industry in coming years. Both AI and facial recognition are experiencing clear technology advancements, and SIA will continue to track the industry and consumer tech adoption rates and emerging applications for these dynamic Security Megatrends.”

The selection of 2020's Security Megatrends was based on fall 2019 focus groups and survey data gathered from top security industry business leaders, association leadership, key volunteers and speakers for the 2019 Securing New Ground (SNG) conference taking place Oct. 29-30 at the Grand Hyatt New York in New York City.

Each year, SIA produces the Security Megatrends report, which is made available 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, expected to have far-reaching impacts on businesses across the industry. As such, these trends play an instrumental role in the insights and discussions at SNG, an annual conference bringing together the leading entrepreneurs, luminaries, CEOs and investors in the security industry for top-level information sharing, networking and business analysis.

For the second year in a row, cybersecurity was identified as the predominant trend shaping the security industry and a major concern for C-suite executives, government buyers, enterprise organizations, integrators and more. Moving up the list from being ranked fifth in SIA's 2019 Security Megatrends report to ranked second for 2020 was the trend of artificial intelligence (AI). Respondents noted AI's role underlying advancement behind nearly all technology promises.

A resounding number of respondents called for facial recognition to be added as a 2020 Security Megatrend, bringing the newcomer to the number-three position. Also new to the 2020 Megatrends are national security concerns and identity as the new perimeter.

In addition to defining the latest Security Megatrends, the forecast for 2020 also denotes potential disruptors in the security industry and other forces at play that may have a clear impact on some or all businesses.

The official 2020 Security Megatrends report will be published in December 2019 and available online for download and/or purchase.