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While there has been no shortage of market pressures and disruptive influences on the security business lately, systems integrators nonetheless performed well last year. As a group, the integrators encapsulated in SDM’s 2015 Top Systems Integrators Report didn’t show much growth — just 0.3 percent. But that had more to do with the structure of the report than with the companies’ individual accomplishments in 2014.

Motivational writer Napoleon Hill wrote in his 1937 bestseller, Think and Grow Rich, that “You are the master of your destiny. You can influence, direct and control your own environment. You can make your life what you want it to be.” Fast-forward several decades and one could apply that same quote with a few liberties; for example, swap destiny, environment and life with the word “home” to describe what technology can do for the residential security market.

Advanced technologies combined with lower costs have made outdoor perimeter video more accessible for more end users. So while critical infrastructure assets, including electrical substations, refineries and petrochemical facilities, remain the highest-profile applications for outdoor perimeter video, there are more and more opportunities for a security integrator to take advantage of in other sectors, as well.

Recent changes to commercial fire alarm system codes have driven changes to fire panels, impacting how the panels communicate with the central station. Although some authorities have not yet adopted the latest codes, it’s a good idea for security integrators to be familiar with the latest requirements.

The security industry looks to the SDM 100 — a group of 100 of the largest security companies ranked by their recurring monthly revenue — as a wellspring of industry trends and operational best practices. So, which manufacturers and distributors are behind the SDM 100, supporting them with the products, solutions and services that have helped make them successful?

When it comes to access control cards and credentials it is difficult to have a discussion about technology without considering some of the seemingly contradictory trends in the marketplace. For example, the largest installed base of cards is proximity — a 20-year-old technology with known security issues. Yet in an industry that often seems to move at a glacial pace, the credential space is filled with some of the hottest buzzwords inside and out of the security industry, including Near Field Communications (NFC), Bluetooth, biometrics and even wearables such as the Apple Watch.

What is big data and how does it benefit you? If you are like many security integrators the subject of big data may barely be on your radar yet. However, looking to the future of the industry, it seems inevitable that as more and more devices become both smarter and more connected (think Internet of Things), the desire to do more than just sit on all of that information will prompt users to demand more from their security system, their integrator — and, increasingly, their data that may go way beyond the scope of “security” today.

Most of the largest security dealers in the industry confirm they were on solid footing in 2014, and their 3.8 percent aggregate growth in RMR proves it. But for many dealers, new competitors are too close for comfort.

Roughly 10,000 Baby Boomers are turning 65 every day, and will continue to do so for the next 14 years. Couple that with longer lifespans and you’ve got a growing customer base for a PERS business.

The Attrition Measurement Study continues to develop meaningful trends. Results from 2013 —the latest year for which data are available — show that attrition-lost-to-competition increased and residential net attrition rose to a three-year high.