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As 2013 begins, new options for account purchasing via dealer programs can help companies meet financial and operational challenges in the industry. An option that could see a lot of activity in 2013 is the ability to get funding for new accounts without actually selling the contracts — or to sell accounts based on need, rather than selling 100 percent of one’s customer accounts and leaving no equity or recurring monthly revenue (RMR) in the business.

Technology advances are bringing significant changes to the security industry. In 2013 we’re likely to feel the impact of at least seven new technologies or developments among existing technologies. Here’s our list of the top seven technologies to watch in 2013, including how security dealers told us each development would affect their business.

Winning a security project today is a bit like playing a game of chess. With every potential job, you face a wide variety of opponents (competitors) who have an even wider variety of moves (security offerings/competitive advantages), all aimed at putting your king into checkmate; in effect, freezing you out of the job.

Cloud access control is not a new concept. Some companies have been offering it for decades. If this sounds surprising it is because cloud access is nothing more than hosted or managed access control, renamed.

While the industry has been buzzing about home automation merging with security for some time now, this transition has now come to the forefront as more manufacturers are adding home automation features to their security panels.

On-board video storage on the edge using an SD card has gained traction lately in the video surveillance world. The main reason is that today’s SD cards offer substantially larger storage capacity at a substantially lower cost than in years past.

The security world is constantly evolving and adapting to keep pace with new technologies and practices, such as the cloud, mobile, storage at the edge, and integrated solutions. Video management systems (VMS) are also changing to adapt to these technologies in order to maintain their key differentiators and remain competitive in an increasingly more competitive industry.

Commercial fire alarm panels traditionally have not been one of the most dynamic product development areas within the security industry — a situation that has arisen, some say, because of heavy code requirements. In recent years, however, fire alarm panel manufacturers have introduced several new capabilities that can save business customers money, enhance system performance, and even generate new recurring monthly revenue (RMR).

At the Central Station Alarm Association (CSAA) meeting in October, there was plenty of buzz about video alarm verification as participants engaged in healthy discussion and debate on the issue. While proponents of video verification are excited about the advancing technology and the possibilities verified alarm systems have to offer, advocates for more traditional systems are not so sure. However, forces outside the security industry may soon drive them to reconsider.