Page 14 - Security Today, April 2021

Transforming Security Cloud-based video surveillance will see a rise in investment
Just three years ago, the “cloud” was a four-letter word in the security indus- try. After fronting millions of dollars to establish on- premises systems, companies were under- standably reluctant to rip them apart for a new approach. But advances in technology and, more recently, COVID-era changes have pushed companies to not only rethink security solutions but entirely redefine their business challenges. That is prompting them to embrace the cloud like never before.
In 2009, cloud-based SaaS solutions made up just $8 billion of a total $3.2 tril- lion spent on IT, according to Gartner.1 But by 2019, the amount spent on SaaS solutions grew to $95 billion out of $3.8 trillion invested in IT.2 In the coming years, cloud-based video security, in par- ticular, will see a rise in investment. Ac- cording to recent data from Marketsand- Markets Research, the video surveillance as a service (VSaaS) market is expected to grow 16%, from $2.2 billion in 2020 to $4.7 billion by 2025.3
Indeed, enterprise video surveillance is on the cusp of a new era. Powered by the cloud, security solutions are poised to go beyond increased flexibility and ef- fectiveness to create new opportunities for growth. Instead of just helping com- panies keep assets and information safe, cloud-based video surveillance systems will enable enterprises to harness the full spectrum of their data and use machine learning and artificial intelligence to un- lock business intelligence and efficiencies.
Flexible, Fast and Low-friction Deployment
One of the key advantages of cloud- based video security is its inherent flexibili- ty, which enables enterprises to rapidly scale up or down to add new capabilities or adapt to new dynamics. Depending on the setup, cloud-based surveillance can be deployed in as little as 30 minutes. Additionally, cloud platforms don’t require a full, upfront com- mitment, so companies can choose specific subsets of their services to spin up to the cloud and then expand over time.
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APRIL 2021 | SECURITY TODAY
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the
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