No matter how many times through the years I have participated in security industry presentations — be it as a speaker, moderator or panelist for a webinar, virtual gathering, thought leadership summit or major conference — I’ve always looked at it as an honor and a privilege to share and bring value to the audience and the event organizer.
I have been fortunate that several of those opportunities have come my way over the past several months. That includes engaging in an education session at ISC West 2025 in Las Vegas, a show at which I’ve had the pleasure of presenting a half-dozen or so times in previous years.
Although contributing to seminars like this requires going beyond one’s standard work regimen, investing extra time and effort for planning and preparation, I enjoy the process and the collaboration. It forces you to reassess and organize your thoughts around a given topic, which can be very beneficial. In a sense, it allows the instructor to learn, as well.
The New Role of Video Fueled by Artificial Intelligence
For this ISC West go-round, I teamed up with Ai-RGUS CEO Daniel Reichman — his company is a technology partner of my organization — for “Video Surveillance Services: How to Get Better Outcomes.”
As security solutions advance, video and artificial intelligence are increasingly becoming inextricably intertwined. Thus, we approached the subject matter by tackling six key discussion points: 1) technology tailwinds the past 10 years; 2) defining better security outcomes; 3) AI performance expectations; 4) using security expertise to optimize AI; 5) the regulatory impact on AI; and 6) maintaining cybersecurity in AI environments.
The following are some takeaways:
Tailwinds
- Technology is approaching what we once dreamed of in terms of imaging, bandwidth, automation, intelligence, reliability, analytics and AI.
- Doorbell cameras and voice assistants have brought mass public acceptance of surveillance.
- The pandemic accelerated analytics and AI uses for people counting, occupancy monitoring, etc.
- Remote guarding has enabled response within seven seconds for real-time crime prevention.
- AI voices will soon be indistinguishable from humans, and incident response will be near instantaneous, continuing the evolution of reactive to proactive to predictive (behavioral analytics).
Outcomes
- This could be safety, or operational, or budgetary (ROI), or all of those.
- The potential to avoid crime, losses, liability, endangerment and damaged reputation.
- The ability to form private-public partnerships and boost first responder safety.
- The potential to achieve more apprehensions, mitigate lawsuits and eliminate insurance claims.
- Ultimately, it depends on the customer, the application, pain points and solutions.
Expectations
- The well has been poisoned from the post-9/11 video analytics backlash and facial recognition controversy.
- Many end users have misperceptions due to TV, news, movies or overhyped product pitches.
- License plate recognition and remote guarding are strong examples of today’s positive AI results.
- AI might have built-in biases; it’s not a silver bullet but, rather, an additive tool to enhance performance.
Performance
- Forensic site design is critical, ensuring an environment that is free from impediments to image capture.
- Remote guarding needs full coverage for person/vehicle detection, with an emphasis on perimeter.
- Run calibration period to ensure that cameras, analytics and network are optimized for the solution.
- Deploy remote servicing software to quickly remediate issues, ensure uptime and avoid truck rolls.
Regulations
- Data privacy is a major, sensitive issue, as is data ownership.
- Follow local compliance, regulatory and standards requirements; tailor the solution to the client and the use case.
- Mask cameras to avoid capturing anything unnecessary for the solution or the desired outcome.
- Save and maintain recorded video footage only for as long as required or according to client instructions.
Cybersecurity
- Ideally, run separate networks from the end-user/corporate network.
- Change default passwords for all IoT devices; regularly check and update firmware.
- Use port forwarding judiciously, with alternatives considered like VPNs for remote access.
- Fortify potential breach points with high-end platforms like Beyond Trust (formerly Bomgar).
Here’s the bottom line: Video, coupled with AI, machine learning and data aggregation, is rapidly advancing what is possible. It’s increasingly stopping crime, terror, emergencies, disasters, etc., and boosting safety, operational efficiencies, effectiveness and profitability across endless applications and use cases.
The really exciting upshot of all these developments is that the market is trending toward not only more recurring-revenue opportunities for integrators, dealers and monitoring centers but also higher-dollar service offerings.
https://www.securitysales.com/insights/security-integrators-adapt-ai-additive-video-value/611938/