Rise in flexible working beckons shift to automation and AI for security industry

As businesses adapt to the post-COVID era by offering employees greater freedom in when and where they work, security professionals need to respond and keep pace with these dynamic, more fluid working patterns. As demand for flexibility grows, the need to monitor and protect premises and people becomes ever-more complex leading to a greater reliance on technology, automation and AI.

As social norms begin to be restored across Europe, flexible working is fast becoming the modus operandi for many. The offer of greater fluidity for employees is not, however, without its challenges for those responsible for the safety and security of such environments and the personnel within. And as the hybrid or flexible working model gains momentum, the paper highlights the opportunities for the physical security professional who is looking to unlock powerful business and security insights through VSaaS and ACaaS.

Not only do facilities, HR, security and office managers need to adapt to the regular coming and going of employees, but there is also a palpable upturn in the co-work space, a third dimension that sits between the office and the home-work set up, that has seen a 158% increase in openings over the past year[1]. With health security a key concern, it is increasingly physical security systems in the cloud that will unlock critical insights to support business decision making based on intelligence derived from surveillance data.

Download the whitepaper here.

Martyn Ryder, VP Sales and Marketing at Morphean, explained: “The COVID-19 pandemic has transformed the working world for many, opening up new possibilities around when and where they work. Creating secure and more efficient office spaces relies on intelligence about current use. Using access control and video surveillance data, from cloud physical security solutions such as VSaaS and ACaaS, allows behaviours and usage patterns to be analysed and relevant changes implemented, from insights, for example, about the number of people on-site and their movements within the premises. There is a great opportunity here for the security professional to support a business model that represents the future.”

Morphean’s latest whitepaper examines the use of modern cloud technologies to support the managers of the flexible office and co-work space by improving security and unlocking critical business insights. Research into the attitudes of working professionals about the move to remote working as a result of the pandemic found that 74% expected remote work to become standard and that a significant 97% of employees don’t want to return to the office full-time. Many now deem the capacity for remote and flexible work to be the biggest draw for top talent.

Video surveillance as-a-service (VSaaS) and access control as-a-service (ACaaS) are on-demand solutions that are disrupting the security market. An independent survey of 1,000 IT decision makers conducted by Morphean found that demand for such solutions across Europe is high. Of those considering VSaaS and ACaaS, 79% anticipated introducing these solutions to their business within 12 months. Indeed, the VSaaS market alone is expected to experience huge growth, rising to a projected $4.7bn by 2025 at a CAGR of 16%.