I don't know about anyone else, but it seems to me the world is moving faster than ever before — especially when it comes to technology. Every day it seems we need to learn some new way of doing a task using a newer, better, faster technology. And while progress is good, it can also sometimes be daunting.

I can’t get out of my head the phrase I wrote about last month, which the futurist speaker at the Women in Security Forum noted when talking about generative AI: “You will never be caught up with technology again.”

What does that mean for our industry? And how can we do our best to at least keep up with the Joneses (or everyone else, including customers and competitors) when no one can predict what is coming next?

In this month’s cover story, our annual State of the Market: Access Control Report, Senior Editor Rodney Bosch writes about a “transformative tide” in which security professionals “are reporting a surge in demand for innovative access control solutions driven by technological advancements, heightened security concerns and the pervasive influence of digitization.”

He also touches on some of the SIA 2024 Megatrends, which in addition to devoting the top three trends to AI and generative AI, also added a couple of new ones to the list, including “Expansion and Evolution of Security’s ROI” at No. 5 and “Impact of the Megatech Companies” at No.7, both of with Bosch explores with industry experts.

Technology-wise, the access control space is expanding its concept of what access control is and does, with mobile credentials really starting to take their turn in the limelight, as well as managed services and visitor management, as well as the idea that access control can be the central point of a larger business information system.

Customers are wanting to move to the cloud at an increasing velocity and this continues to put pressure on large legacy on-premise access control systems, explains Louis Boulgarides, president and CEO, Ollivier Managed Security, a company which itself has undergone a transformation from pure integrator to a managed service provider. One of the verticals his company focuses on is multi-tenant commercial real estate, where, he says, “Tenant self-administration, tenants being able to use their own cards on the sites, mobile credentials and visitor management are driving the conversation. … “Commercial real estate companies are bending over backwards to retain and attract new tenants and they are needing access control and visitor management system that provide the flexibility and usability to accommodate these requests. In my opinion, this migration is similar to the analog to IP migration on the video side of the business.”

Speaking of which, this month also features an article by former SDM editor, Laura Stepanek on using those now-ubiquitous IP cameras for niche jobs beyond just surveillance.

She notes that IP cameras are now more powerful, especially with the advent of AI, as well as more open, allowing them to excel at some very niche applications such as safety in all forms — from monitoring flood waters to alerting drivers to “vulnerable road users” in real time.

And in the end, isn’t that what the security industry has always done — innovate, expand and roll with the punches when new disruptors enter the market? Whatever is coming down the pike, whether that is generative AI, megatech competitors (we have seen that before!) or something else yet to be thought of, the security industry will no doubt not only thrive, but come up with new ways to use it to benefit the industry and its customers.