As anyone who operates in the enterprise space already knows, enterprise-level access control is not just a bigger version of the SMB market.

Call it analytics, big data, business intelligence, machine learning, AI, or something else — these terms are not interchangeable, but in today’s security landscape they are often used to mean approximately the same thing: the idea that you can take traditional security technology (video, access control, intrusion, etc.) and expand its use to benefit the business side of whatever customer you are applying it to.

Today’s intercom solutions are not the same as in the past. With technological advances including IP, PoE, networking and mobile, these technologies are truly part of a fully integrated security solution and should be presented, sold and installed accordingly.

Is the smart home market maturing and stabilizing, showing a clear path forward for security dealers wanting to capitalize on the new desires of homeowners to interact with many areas of their home life, including security? Not exactly. But there are definitely signs that it has moved to another level of adoption and interest, making the time ripe for action on the part of those who want to adjust their business model to capture opportunities and revenue in this fast-growing space.

In a world dominated by high-tech talk like IoT, AI, cloud, mobile credentials, etc., it can be easy to overlook the fact that one of the original electronic access control technologies — the keypad — is not only still relevant today, but could be the best fit for certain applications.

Cyber security has been top of mind for the physical security industry for the past few years; but often the conversation begins and ends with how to harden systems you are installing on a client’s network.

The topic of video monitoring is hotter than ever, and more and more dealer-owned and central monitoring stations are offering some version of it to customers.

When asked about their biggest challenge in the coming year, security integrators and manufacturers alike often say the same thing: attracting workers.

For decades the dominant story in access control has been that it was a victim of its own success: that is, customers were reluctant to change out what was still working — even 15 or 20 years on — and didn’t see the benefit in spending the money to upgrade, even for significantly new or different features.

Access control discussions today often center around the latest and greatest features, new technologies, integrations and high tech options.