A majority of security leaders said they had a positive view of the state of the industry, according to the July/August Security Market Index (SMI) survey, with integrators being particularly bullish. 

The SMI measures security industry executives’ current status and future expectations through a select survey of Security Industry Association (SIA) members. 

When asked how they would rate current business conditions for their company, 74 percent of survey participants said either “excellent” (22 percent) or “good” (52 percent). Integrators reported positive sentiments that exceeded the overall average, with 82 percent describing conditions as either “excellent” or “good.” 

A respondent from a facial recognition company commented, “The market seems receptive to our offerings,” while a robotics company representative attributed growth to “new technology that is emerging and gaining in adoption.” 

A small number of respondents offered mildly negative assessments, though. A survey participant from the access control sector observed that there has been “slower activity in summer months,” while a manufacturer of multiple security solutions said, “There is a downturn in intrusion and more in access control and video. The net is flat to minor incremental growth.” 

Only 8 percent of respondents in total described current conditions as “fair” or “poor.” 

The July-August SMI, which is calculated using a proprietary formula based on three-month projections related to five key business components, dipped three points from two months earlier to 48, six points below the 12-month average of 54. Among integrators, however, the July-August index was 57. 

The Index’s goal is to provide a macro-view of confidence levels in the security industry every two months while closely examining six specific business measures: 

• Number of employees or hours worked
• Marketing spending
• Product production or service output
• Capital equipment spending
• R&D spending
• Product or service sales 

Special focuses of SIA’s July/August 2024 SMI include: 

• Industry leaders’ expectations for short-term growth in the next three months
• Renewed fears of a recession in light of an unexpectedly weak jobs report in July
• Security companies exceeding their 2024 projections 

“The security industry continues to grow and expand its offerings and become even more integrated into the overall tech ecosystem,” SIA Board Chairman Scott Dunn said. “We look forward to these trends continuing as we head into the fall trade shows and conferences, especially ISC East.”