Megatrends are the five global shifts shaping the world we live in and they are listed as: Shift in Global Economic Power, Demographic Change, Rapid Urbanization, Rise of Technology, and Climate Change/Resource Scarcity. Each of these has a profound effect on each of us, even if we’re not aware of it.
Few industries can claim to be independent of technology anymore and increasingly, companies have had to adopt technological advances in order to stay relevant and competitive. For a world that is still, to some extent, managed by the Baby Boomers and Generation X’s, this is no small feat. Typically the older generations resist adopting technologies that are alien to them and that they simply don’t understand and therefore, many companies have found themselves becoming somewhat irrelevant in a world where change is inevitable and the speed at which things are evolving is incomprehensible.
But some industries are so closely aligned with technological innovation that they are exploding alongside the fourth industrial revolution. One of these is the security industry. With an array of innovations and gadgets designed as if for James Bond himself, technology is being presented to the industry on a silver platter, begging to be utilised. From biometrics, a powerful and elegant identity verification approach that is complementary to other security mechanisms, to drones, the opportunities are endless in this space.
With military precision, security companies can now identify intruders, track the movements of both stock and people, verify credentials, monitor unusual activity remotely and even coordinate armed response and emergency medical services based on data-feeds that alert control rooms of any imminent dangers, medical or otherwise.
In years gone by, security services were to some extent bottom-feeders – an industry that capitalised on people’s fears and employed unskilled labour to get feet on the ground. Fast-forward to today and you find a highly trained workforce, skilled in armed combat and negotiation techniques. The modern security company is an innovative hub of technology that controls and monitors sites and people. It is shaped by relationships based on trust as clientele become more vulnerable to cyberattack, violent crimes and stealthy and intelligent criminals. The backup required is much more than a guy posted at the entrance to a property, it is access to satellite feeds that link to teams on the ground, it is expert and in-depth knowledge about criminal behaviour and it is about immediate response and effective action. All of this depends on new technology, the secret weapon of the industry.
