2021 will hopefully be the year of opportunity for the security industry as a whole.
If there is one overriding trend we have identified following the start of the pandemic, it is a new-found respect for security officers and the vital role that they perform. The crisis has stuck them firmly in the limelight and security companies should continue to support and celebrate the positive contribution their officers make to ensure that they are not pushed back into the shadows again.
At this time, a major opportunity for the security industry is the potential to bring in new talent. At Axis, we are seeing a higher percentage of new recruits attending interviews, albeit ‘virtual’ ones. This may be because of the downturn in other sectors, such as hospitality, and it will be interesting if this is a trend that continues into the longer term. But what it does allow is for the industry to showcase itself as one with more career opportunities than an ‘outsider’ might imagine, and that has to be a positive development for our industry in the future.
Those security companies who are in the best position to strengthen their reputation will be those who build on the new-found collaboration which emerged between themseves, the supplier, and their customers, who were in more need of guidance and advice than ever before, and who showed a greater willingness to share best practices from other buildings. Future opportunities and advancement of the industry relies on us developing the collaboration where customers are more prepared to listen and are actively looking to our industry for solutions, rather than telling us what they want.
Aside from new opportunities, there is one constant: threat levels are still there – terrorism has not gone away, nor has the requirement to protect against anti-social behaviour, theft, fire, flood, etc. and indeed, our role in furthering customer service – and so COVID must not be a distraction from our primary purpose. Our focus will remain the same.
David Mundell
Managing Director
For further views on this topic, see related articles from our Police & Partnerships, Risk Management and Security Management categories, including:
Neil Moscrop, CIS Security on the new roles for security officers
Paul Dodds, Genetec on state-sponsored attacks
Stephen Emmins from HIKVISION on how the security function is evolving
Philip Ingram on the biggest risks for security in 2021
