2021 is bound to be an interesting one for the security industry, particularly as its role expands to encompass functions which haven’t traditionally fallen under the security banner.
The effect of the pandemic has been to accelerate trends which, to an extent, were already on their way. It has helped to prove to a wider audience that security technology has evolved beyond simple alarms, video surveillance and access control, to provide integrated critical functions such as temperature screening and mask detection. Video security is becoming part of a wider suite of video-enabled functions, with security at its core but delivering valuable information and practical, actionable data.
We’re likely to see contactless access control increasingly become the norm. At Hikvision we’ve had immediate success with our MinMoe terminals, which integrate face recognition access with mask detection and temperature screening functions, both of which can be configured to allow or deny access if triggered. And face recognition can be complemented with proximity readers for additional layers of security as required. These are ideal for busy city office buildings, where commuting staff are keen to rapid gain access, but don’t want to sacrifice security or defy public health guidelines to do so.
In 2021, we’ll increasingly see video security and AI-based analytics software integrated with public signage systems to aid in circumstances where social distancing enforcement is necessary and live information is critical. We’ll see video security systems utilised in most environments: from retail to hospitals, from educational establishments – where the ability to swiftly pivot to distance learning will be increasingly important – to public transport, bank branches, and hotels.
And while the public health aspect of these solutions may drive their short-term uptake, the very fact that they are able to harness highly effective, well-designed software to enable these additional capabilities will also create an environment where further non-security functions are perceived as conveniently and non-controversially as smartphone apps, and indeed many will be accessible via phone and tablets. Once the benefits are clear, video security and access control will remain at the heart of the new systems, but their wider functions may be the way most users interact with them on a regular basis.
Stephen Emmins
Corporate Business Development Manager,
Hikvision UK & Ireland
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
Philip Ingram on the biggest risks for security in 2021
David Mundell – 2021 the year of opportunity
