Products – and the technologies that power them – are changing. Customer requirements are changing. The go-to-market strategies we leverage shift daily within each vertical market.
The fact is, the security market is growing and changing at a very rapid pace – and we are feeling that impact at every level across the industry.
Change can certainly be challenging because it often brings with it a new concern to even of the most flexible professional – how to maintain relevance in the midst of change. Much like physical retailers are exploring how they can stay relevant in the era of online shopping, so too are security professionals exploring how their own skills and areas of deep expertise can help them maintain their relevancy in this quickly changing market.
With PSA TEC 2019 just around the corner (March 11-14 in Denver), let’s take a look at how you can leverage your time at this one event as an example of ways to boost your own relevance in the market.
T is for Training
This one may seem obvious, but one of the best ways for you to maintain your relevance in the market is to seek out continuing education opportunities. Regardless of your career level, attending training sessions throughout the year is one of the best ways to learn new skills or to boost the skills you already have.
It may be one of the most obvious solutions for maintaining relevance, but training it is often the most difficult to accomplish because we can all get so busy. When I try to sneak in digital training online in between my daily workflow, it is easy for other things to creep up the priority list and I put off the digital training. This is actually one of the reasons why I like attending training conferences so much. Sure it’s a bit more time away from the office, but it is focused time where I am able to concentrate on a training subject with more attention and intention and seek out a greater variety of training in one fell swoop vs. waiting around for the next online session promotion or searching for the next webinar.
This year’s PSA TEC will feature more than 100 education sessions, workshops and certification trainings from industry leading experts and partner organizations. That is a lot of content in one location, making it easy for professionals seeking training opportunities to find the right mix of sessions suited to their needs in a focused setting.
E is for Emerging Trends
Keeping an eye on emerging market trends is important for any security professional – not just those who are in executive leadership roles. Maintaining relevancy means knowing what the emerging trends are, listening to what key players in the industry and outside the industry are saying about those trends, and understanding how your organizational role could impact or be impacted by these trends.
Over the last five years, cybersecurity has been a significant trend in the physical security industry; and a new trend – managed security services provider business models – is emerging as a trend to watch that was born, in part, out of the cybersecurity trend of the last few years.
PSA TEC will be shining a light on managed security service provider (MSSP) programs during an immersive workshop on March 11 – “The MSSP Model Changes Everything! Are You Ready?”
Keeping tabs on emerging trends such as MSSP is important from an awareness standpoint – even if your business is not interested in this emerging model, your competitors just might be as a way to boost their own market relevance.
C is for Connecting
Networking and connecting with other professionals in the security industry is another way to build and maintain your relevancy in the market. Who you know can be just as powerful as what you know, so building relationships with others in the industry should be considered a very powerful tool.
Industry associations such as the Security Industry Association (SIA) or ASIS provide a multitude of ways for industry professionals to engage with each other, as do industry trade events such as PSA TEC, which hosts a number of networking events and a full day of dedicated exhibit hours for attendees who want to make those connections face to face.
Kim Garcia is Director of Marketing for PSA Security Network, which hosts PSA TEC on March 11-15. Learn more about the event at www.securityinfowatch.com/12337415.
