Latin America. Cloud, unification, cybersecurity and remote work are some of the main needs of the electronic security industry in Latin America, according to the most recent report by Genetec on the state of this sector in the region and globally.
For this third report, the company consulted more than 3,700 e-security leaders worldwide (including end users and system integrators/installers/vendors), to provide an in-depth analysis of the security strategies organizations are implementing to effectively navigate the realities of a changing environment.
Analysis in Latin America
The report, analyzed among three main regions of Latin America, coincides in some specific needs found in the last year, which must be taken into account to improve in certain aspects that converge within the electronic security industry.
Mexico – Cloud: For projects without cloud deployment, Mexico indicated that COVID-19 had "activated" its cloud strategy more frequently than in any other region (9.8%). However, for projects where cloud was already being deployed, only 17.4% of respondents in Mexico suggested that COVID-19 accelerated their cloud strategy somewhat, compared to 30.9% globally. They also had the lowest share of respondents (29.4%) who indicated that they accelerated "somewhat" or "a lot", compared to 46.7% globally.
Central America and the Caribbean - Unification and Cloud: Unified security systems are less common in Central America and the Caribbean. "My organization's access control and video surveillance systems are not connected (they are separate systems)," was the second most common selected response in this region. On the contrary, this was the least common response in the other regions.
Respondents in this region also indicated that they use public cloud storage more often than in other regions. 6.9% of respondents in this region selected "Stored primarily with public cloud storage services," compared to 2.6% globally.
South America - Remote Work and Cybersecurity: 50.4% of respondents in South America said their organizations do not have electronic security staff set up to work remotely, compared to 33.7% globally. They were also the least likely to identify a "better cybersecurity strategy" as one of the new processes they prioritized this year. Only 38% of respondents selected this compared to 49.2% globally.
Global analysis
Cybersecurity concerns are increasing: the convergence of information technology (IT) and security is inspiring new approaches to implementing and managing a robust cybersecurity strategy. 64% of IT respondents and 54% of security respondents indicated that cybersecurity tools have been one of the top focuses this year.
Using Security for Business Operations: The survey showed that nearly two-thirds (63%) of all respondents and 7 in 10 organizations with more than 10,000 employees described electronic security and related data as "mission-critical."
The future of security is hybrid: 54% of end users surveyed indicated that their organization's target vision for security implementation is a combination of on-premises and cloud-based solutions. A hybrid approach allows organizations to optimize their existing on-premises investments while leveraging cloud options to save costs, increase security and efficiency, and enable remote access to systems and sensors.
Security is unified: The majority of respondents (64%) reported that they use video surveillance and access control in their electronic security implementations. Of those, 77% indicated that their organization had implemented integration between video surveillance and access control systems from different vendors, or a unified solution of this type from a single manufacturer.
"Every organization wants to get their hands on the latest technology. However, in the face of budget constraints, talent shortages and ever-changing priorities, security leaders must do more with less," said Pervez Siddiqui, vice president of Offerings and Transformation at Genetec. "A unified security platform gives organizations a path to modernize their aging systems while leveraging their existing infrastructure. And they can do this without expensive and complex custom development."
The full report can be downloaded by clicking here.
