Video analytics, IoT and Artificial Intelligence are trends in the security solutions that integrate monitoring companies in Latin America, as they allow collecting valuable information for surveillance and commercial uses.
by Iris Montoya
Understanding which are the security solutions most used by monitoring companies in Latin America, generates an approach to market trends in this industry, especially those that concern the private sector, which is the largest and most demanded in this region. In a way, understanding these trends serves as a thermometer that measures technological preferences, as well as the devices or complements that are providing the best results in this 2023.
Complex territory: the reality of Latin America
According to the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), Latin America and the Caribbean are territories that have suffered from violence. "For many years the region has exhibited the highest rates of violent crime globally, such as homicides and gender-based crimes, reaching levels that can be classified as chronic violence."
In addition, the perception of insecurity among citizens is comparable to that of countries with armed conflicts, and is compounded by the low levels of trust on the part of the population in the institutions responsible for preventing violence and reducing insecurity.
UNDP says these security concerns have affected sustainable development for decades; Democracy and the quality of governance in the countries of this region have been weakened. "Therefore, it is understandable that citizen security has become a priority issue for the regional agenda and one of the main challenges for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals of the 2030 Agenda."
High demand for private security and monitoring services
Martín Biera Muriel said in his article "The boom of private security in Latin America" published by the University of Navarra, that the high rates of violence in Latin America and the deficient presence of the authority of the respective States in parts of the territory have led to the proliferation of private security companies throughout the region.
In this regard, it should be noted that the document of the "Regional Meeting of the Montreux Document Forum", held in San José, Costa Rica (2018), stated that "at least 16,174 Private Security Companies (PMSCs) operate in this region with a total of 2,450,000 legally hired employees", so it is easy to conclude that these companies have a prominent role within the security sector.
The publication also said that the number of PMSC employees exceeds the number of police in many countries in this part of the planet, being then responsible for responding to most of the demand for security services.
Hence, it is easy to deduce that there is a wide range of companies that offer surveillance and monitoring services, more focused on security solutions. However, it is not possible to give precise numbers, because at the time of writing this content there was no document that condenses the official data of these companies in Latin America and the Caribbean, beyond market rankings by countries and various niche research.
Trending
José Luis Alvarado, expert in business development and high-end security services, Commercial Director of Security GC, pointed out that to understand the trends in security solutions it is necessary to remember that there are two types of monitoring; the one that is made to people, usually by means of a CCTV; and the one that is made to the merchandise, through GPS tracking platforms.
"Currently the trends are focused on using the Internet of Things (IoT) and artificial intelligence. So, one of the applications or solutions that is most demanded for the monitoring of merchandise is the video in the cabin, with the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to predict situations, where the vehicle operator can be communicating online with the monitoring center, his company and with his loved ones, forming a system of trust that responds to the long hours that this employee must spend outside his home. "
José Luis emphasized that this level of use of communication and AI beyond being used as a welfare scheme for logistics operators, is undoubtedly a security scheme.
However, the expert pointed out that padlocks with remote opening are also being highly attractive. "These are placed in strategic areas, especially at the gates. They have complex key assignment algorithms, bank token type, that change every certain number of seconds; In this way, the operator and the custody do not have access to the merchandise, since it can only be opened with an external confirmation from the monitoring center. That is, it is not possible to open the padlock manually."
José Luis also explained that in terms of GPS, to have real-time location of vehicles and merchandise, they are smaller and come with high impact polypropylene housings, as well as high capacity magnets for an external installation while remaining portable.
"In the integral schemes with security protocols, these GPS are assigned, some decoy and other itinerant with 2 different platforms are put, so that in the case of a signal isolator affecting one of them, in roaming the other is activated, which operates in a different communication channel, and thus guarantees that the communication is not broken. "
Faced with these merchandise monitoring devices, the expert said that prices are no longer as expensive as when this concept began and have different sensors that allow detecting an engine stop, opening doors and delivering several readings that allow a vision of the route trace and what is happening in the course.
To conclude Alvarado indicated that the monitoring center is a fundamental part of the operation, although it is managed by very prepared people, it works based on information, such information is generated by GPS, among other devices. "But there are also processes that allow custody linked to GPS to be effective; The protocols, these serve, for example, to determine if a contingency applies. Without this protocol, even if you have a very specialized and well-equipped monitoring center, it will not have real functionality."
Carlos Puche, founder and CEO of CPR Latam, also said that most monitoring companies are betting on integrations with new equipment that rely on IoT, as well as cloud platforms. In this sense, he pointed out that "cameras are still the most used equipment, since they have evolved into systems with Artificial Intelligence".
For Carlos, at this time, monitoring companies in our region face a challenge and that is that subscriptions are a problem in Latin America. "Even the philosophy of paying for recurring service is a problem. From a technological point of view, communications with the monitoring center are a challenge for reliability and bandwidth."
For his part, Isaac Valencia Trejo, founder and CEO of Sissa Monitoring Integral, highlighted the video analytics options in security solutions that could be classified as a trend. "But not in isolation, but one that allows you to dialogue with other systems, by this I mean that, in addition to generating alerts, the monitoring station is linked to some business rule, to be able to activate other functions."
At this point the CEO added that an Artificial Intelligence can be added to take advantage of the operation from automation. Not only on a logical level, but also on a physical level.
"So that the information from the monitoring screen can move your alerts to a mobile device, with different levels of scale, or redirect the backup location if at a certain time and under certain circumstances. Let's say that these technologies are already more mature and already allow integrations to be more versatile."
However, Isaac drew attention to the need to improve electronic security, which has a direct relationship with all devices that are mounted on a data network. "That data network is shared by many organizations, we even have a situation where part of cybersecurity is affected, as technical notes have been published by several manufacturers reporting security holes in the devices."
This situation implies, for this expert, that manufacturers are constantly determining when there are safety holes.
Isaac was insistent that we have to see everything from the integral point of view or, in other words, avoid seeing and analyzing the components separately. "If at a certain moment a monitoring services company wants to provide a service that really adds value to its customers, it has to approach it from a comprehensive vision."
To conclude, the founder and CEO identified an opportunity for companies, and is to ensure that the registration of any incident or situation that may be occurring within the day-to-day operation, is done through software with easy access from a Smartphone.
"I think that being able to get more out of the tools we currently have, such as a smartphone, through applications that have a specific purpose and through the development of Apps, at the end of the day will lead to a process of digital transformation."
On the other hand, Carlos Alberto Alfonso Grisales, commercial director of electronic security at Seguridad Nacional Ltda (a company that provides human monitoring and surveillance services), explained that the trend of the security market worldwide is to offer closeness and accompaniment to the diverse needs of the client.
"Normally an alarm system is understood as something that only serves to protect an installation, but it turns out that it is much more complex. With the recent technology on the market it is possible to connect the alarm system with the sound, lighting, or access control, even with the air conditioning and make complete configurations so that these systems recognize the behavior and respond to needs such as lighting schedules or activate alarms and close accesses when one of the users moves more than a certain number of meters. "
That is, according to Carlos Alberto, configure all kinds of scenarios through an electronic security system, which is a great opportunity, because at least in Colombia human surveillance services are high compared to the payment capacity of the market and it is optimal to offer other care mechanisms, such as a virtual watchman, which reduces cost by up to 30%.
"We have seen in this an opportunity, because we even had to combine human surveillance services and electronic surveillance."
To conclude, the commercial director shared what from his experience is setting the trend of the security market, and like the other interviewees mentioned Artificial Intelligence.
"CCTV with AI is now comfortably priced. Installing a closed circuit television can cost you two million Colombian pesos (about 405 dollars) and adding AI software to do facial recognition, perimeter recognition or different programming, does not exceed the payment capabilities. "
So this technology has several advantages, on the one hand, very competitive prices, on the other the advantage of collecting complementary information, such as commercial information in the case of retail chains, which helps make strategic decisions, therefore, it has become a service that goes beyond security.
"Additionally, the installation of these closed circuit television is growing, both in the residential sector and in commercial areas."
It is then undeniable that what will set the trend in this 2023, in terms of security solutions for monitoring companies, beyond the physical functions of the devices, are their characteristics of connectivity and operation of AI, as a complement and generator of information that will allow these companies to expand the scope of their portfolio to one that delivers more data and has greater automation, But this also implies challenges in terms of cybersecurity.
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