IoT is synonymous with integrating technology into once-static elements, enabling new efficiencies and endless possibilities for business and societal growth. As a result, the IoT transformation continues to influence significant changes in how physical security systems are built, operated, and supported. Security system hardware components such as video and recording equipment, access controls, alarm systems, locks, and monitoring services have evolved, as has the software that controls and maintains them.
The IoT revolution unearths opportunities for physical security OEMs to upgrade products continuously. However, these new physical security solutions also require OEMs to deliver ongoing software support. As OEMs embrace an IoT-enabled future, leveraging a future-proof IoT platform is paramount for minimizing risk, enhancing security, and maintaining compliance.
OEM vendors in the physical security space must securely and cost-effectively provide support and device lifecycle management (DLM) from design and manufacturing to deployment and maintenance.
OEMs Must Meet Higher Customer Expectations
Before IoT technology, physical security primarily depended on securing premises and assets with standalone systems. Surveillance cameras with limited resolution and storage, standard landline alarm systems, and locks all required some degree of manual installation, operation, and intervention. Updates and maintenance required scheduling onsite visits, and customers had to wait.
Today, IoT devices are revolutionizing the way we approach security by enabling real-time monitoring, remote access, and the automation of most security processes. Customers are no longer satisfied waiting days for updates, maintenance, or support appointments. Alongside the new real-time, always-on IoT solutions, customers expect immediate answers. As a result, the burden on OEM support and maintenance teams increases exponentially.
According to the international security management organization ASIS, the security services market, including installation and equipment maintenance, is forecast to be worth $117 billion by 2026. Predictive maintenance systems and remote monitoring are impacting organizations' investments in security services, and they are shifting more to preventative measures and integrated platforms. The benefits of an IoT platform for meeting customer expectations are clear.
- Faster, always-on customer service: The ability to connect, verify, and react remotely to incidents in real-time through an IoT platform enables OEMs to deliver quicker response cycles and a higher degree of support.
- Proactive maintenance and support: Customers desire a degree of preventative maintenance that can only be achieved through proactive monitoring – capturing and analyzing real-time data and acting accordingly. OEMs must leverage a robust platform offering real-time data and over-the-air (OTA) functionality to deliver proactive maintenance within the complexity of today's IoT-enabled physical security systems.
- Manage software updates: Once issues are resolved, customers gain value. For IoT-enabled products, those issues are most commonly software-related. To deliver patches, bug fixes, or new versions, OEMs require an efficient infrastructure to deploy updates remotely.
- Integrated and central systems: Today, everything is associated with software, and OEMs need an integrated, intuitive end-to-end solution in which all systems can operate with fluid interoperability without silos. In leveraging a platform, OEMs gain control and efficiency by having the ability to operate from one central location.
To successfully compete in the IoT market, physical security OEMs need to adapt to the increasing and changing demands for customer support. The new IoT landscape requires a modern IoT platform.
OEMs Must Manage the Complexity of IoT Solutions
Before the advent of smart physical security, failures were often due to faulty cables or connections or the breakdown of parts or equipment. Today’s IoT-enabled physical security devices and applications are far more complex, requiring millions of lines of software code to create and manage them. Add in the surrounding and supporting infrastructure and systems – the iterations of products, versions, and software compatibility exponentially increase.
Effectively supporting IoT devices in physical security requires robust solutions that can deliver comprehensive monitoring and troubleshooting capabilities and manage the complexities of software-centric products.
- Software and firmware updates: IoT security equipment needs to be updated regularly to eliminate vulnerabilities that attackers can exploit. The manufacturer, rather than the device owner, is often responsible for IoT firmware updates. OEMs must ensure vulnerabilities are patched, and an IoT platform provides a secure and efficient method to address issues fleet-wide.
- Device authentication: IoT security devices, servers, and other networked devices integrate and connect. OEMs must authenticate each connected device to prevent unauthorized input.
- Fleet-wide monitoring: Monitoring the entire device fleet is the most secure and efficient way to ensure issues are proactively dealt with. Rather than becoming severe enough to affect customers and jeopardize the OEMs' reputation, proactive monitoring gathers and analyzes the data in real-time.
- Remote troubleshooting: Once deployed, the ability to troubleshoot and resolve issues remotely is crucial for support teams. While a robust monitoring system provides the OEM instant visibility into issues within the device fleet, remote troubleshooting allows them to address the problems before they cause disruptions or damage.
An OEM’s job doesn’t end with the launch of a new product. Sixty percent of software's lifecycle costs come from maintenance, with only 40% from development. OEMs need the right strategies and platforms to improve and maintain their IoT security solutions, including continuous integration/continuous delivery (CI/CD) software development cycle support to remain competitive and relevant.
Why is a Robust IoT Platform Mission-Critical?
As technology transforms the market, IoT physical security solutions are growing in complexity and scale, increasing the likelihood of encountering issues. Simultaneously, customer demands evolve, requiring faster, instantaneous support and resolutions. Software and its surrounding support infrastructure have never been more critical for the physical security market.
OEMs must ensure they have the best platform to meet customer demands and manage the increasing complexity of IoT products. The crux of an efficient operation on which IoT products (and the business) depend is that the IoT platform ensures that physical security devices operate smoothly and securely, minimizes the risk of costly security breaches, increases efficiency, and provides maximum uptime, thus delivering customer value.
Supporting a modern IoT platform is vital to the future success of physical security OEMs and their IoT-enabled products.
