What will be important technology developments in the second half of 2022?

In an increasingly connected world, physical security is a major concern for American companies as a heightened threat environment prevails, spurred by geopolitical, economic and extremism. Businesses are facing more risks than ever before with security professionals receiving new information daily from Open Source Intelligence, social media, the Dark Web, weather feeds, technology systems, real-time news, HR systems, public event notifications and more. It’s crucial for businesses to have technology that enables them to detect, investigate and assess risks before they occur. In the second half of 2022, the most important development in the security marketplace will be a focus on actionability. Being able to keep track of changing situations in real-time and make quick decisions is the difference between simply knowing a threat is there and proactively acting on it. It’ll be imperative for organisations to mitigate threats proactively to preserve business continuity and build long-term organisational resilience.

This is a timely question because 2022 is a turning point in the video surveillance industry. Users will be able to search for specific video the same way they search the web, replacing the need to scrub through hours of video in a storage closet. Cloud-based artificial intelligence is powering this new technology, and we expect to see significant investment across the industry. Similar to the evolution of the internet, the future standard for video surveillance will be a Google-like search platform that is easy to use and accessible to all.

Generally, new security technology takes a while to mature and capture the attention of the market, so current trends (such as the use of Bluetooth security credentials via a smartphone) are likely to be at the forefront of demand during the second half of the year as well. Looking further ahead, IoT devices are having a big influence on security systems and how they are used, so expect to see more use of smart sensors that feed data back to the integrated security and IT network. As we have seen in the security industry already, greater integration puts more pressure on providers to use standardised platforms, so we are likely to see lots of conversations between security providers about shared protocols and networks. The other consideration with security and other IoT systems sharing a network will be the strain this puts on network bandwidth and resources.

It’s tough to say any one technology will receive the notoriety of ‘most important,’ but there will certainly be key themes in the marketplace that are poised to play a large role in shaping the future of security technology. One will be the integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and analytics into every aspect of video surveillance and security technology to optimise and enhance all aspects of performance. Advancements in AI video analytics will further enable new use cases – beyond traditional security use cases – as the technology evolves across industries. Alongside this, it will also be important for the marketplace to focus on integrated solutions, such as access control and audio that communicates with surveillance technologies, to further provide comprehensive and robust security offerings that span business operation imperatives.

In my world it’s all about entryway security. Through that lens I see major developments in AI, drone uses, auto-locking technologies and immediate deployment of countermeasures. There’s also a movement to decrease the number of entryways along with an increased adoption of access control that includes prevention of prohibited items such as guns with a weapon screening program and known prohibited people. Technology that will safeguard your entryway will continue to be key and will require increased training and retraining along with major efforts to reduce workplace violence.

Touchless biometric technology will take big steps, especially facial recognition. The pandemic has been changing a lot worldwide, including the physical security industry, especially the booming demand for contactless biometric systems that prevent virus spread, lower infection risk, and eliminate unauthenticated access. Face recognition will be among the most widely implemented and accepted biometric solutions. According to a report of Mordor Intelligence, the global biometrics market was valued at USD 12.97 billion in 2022 and is projected to be worth USD 23.85 billion by 2026, registering a CAGR ([Compound Annual Growth Rate]) of 16.17%. According to Global Industry Analysts, the global facial recognition market will be valued at USD 15 billion, registering a CAGR of 18.2%. Face recognition brings users a safer environment, more efficiency, and less risk of physical contact with the biometric data protected. It will be in the pioneer position of biometric industry development in the second half of 2022.

For the second half of 2022, I see three areas of development, each driven by the need to provide customers with an easier way to cover more of their environment, without requiring more operators, and continue to support a remote workforce. The first is that analytics availability and reliability have increased over the years and are now integrating with platforms such as video management systems (VMS). Customers are looking to use best-of-breed analytics in their deployments to help monitor situations around operational efficiency and life safety without having to replace their VMS platform. The second is the drive to provide reliable and secure remote access and management for systems. The cloud is one way to achieve remote access and management, but it does not have to be the only way. The third area of development is with system density. Camera resolutions continue to increase, and customers want to use the highest frame rate of cameras to get the most out of their video systems.

In the second half of the year, it is likely that more firms will require services that enable the use of video analytics to extract operational value from visual data, while using AI-powered tools to protect privacy. Both public and private organisations are turning more towards video analytics as they can be useful in many different contexts. They can help in saving time for CCTV camera operators, help efficiency in monitoring places for crime, and can be integrated into other systems – i.e., counting footfall at different locations – as well as use for smart parking, automatic licence plate recognition, and facial recognition. 2022 will also bring further growth in consumers investing in personal video surveillance for their homes. With the pandemic having forced many to stay at home, home security has become more of a priority. Ring, which produces doorbell cameras, is increasingly popular: They are now the largest corporate-owned civilian-installed surveillance network in the U.S.