The Security.World community voted during the summer of 2016 and selected the Physical Security and Video Surveillance industry’s Top 12 Influencers. This Profile is one in the series of 12 of those individuals that are making a difference in our industry. Congratulations to Brandon Reich, Senior Director Surveillance Solutions, Pivot3. We reached out to Brandon to get his views and insight on what is happening in the physical security and video surveillance market. Here are his thoughts:

The vast Security.World community of physical security professionals has just selected you as one of their Top 12 industry Influencers for 2016. What is your reaction to that?

Brandon: I’m honored to be part of this esteemed group. I’ve worked alongside many of these individuals for years, and it is a pleasure to be recognized alongside these leaders. On a personal note, it is rewarding to receive this honor for the efforts I’ve put forth in helping advance the industry. I take great pride in being a part of this industry.

I must give a lot of credit to the people I’ve worked with over the years. I knew virtually nothing about security coming out of college, and I did not have the benefit of military or law enforcement experience as many in our industry do. So I relied heavily on the expertise of the amazing people I worked with, some of whom took me under their wing and provided invaluable education and mentorship. Without this select group of people I would never have gotten where I am today.

How long have you been active in the physical security/video surveillance industry and what brought you into this industry?

Brandon: I’ve worked in the security, IT, and technology markets for more than 18 years. I came to Pivot3 in 2014 from Honeywell Security Group. Before Honeywell, a leading industry consultant took me under his wing, introduced me to the benefits of working in this industry and taught me the fundamentals of planning and deploying security technology.

Prior to that I worked as an ASIC design engineer in the data networking industry, valuable experience just as security solutions began their inevitable transition to digital technology. I’ve always been fascinated by technology, and having the opportunity to work in and influence an industry that is evolving so rapidly is highly rewarding and exciting.

How did you get started (what was your first job) in this industry?

Brandon: I joined a small security consulting and engineering firm initially as a design engineer and project manager. Over time I became one of the leaders of the firm, guiding our own growth initiatives and providing in-depth security strategy and technology consulting to some of the world’s most prestigious organizations. I spent 10 years with that incredible and talented group of people, until we were acquired by a large national A&E firm. At that point I shifted from working on behalf of end users to helping steer our industry by working for one of the largest technology manufacturers in the world.

What are some of the changes in the industry that you saw coming and are most proud about being accurate?

Brandon: The convergence between security and IT has been promised for years, but over the previous two years we’ve seen real convergence occur, resulting in high visibility of security technology throughout customers’ organizations and new use cases that drive new types of business value from advanced technologies, such as the cloud and video analytics. This convergence will force accelerated advancement and innovation in security technology and will be very exciting to witness in the coming years.

How have you seen the industry change over the past few years?

Brandon: The function of security has always been about managing and mitigating risk, and that has not changed. But the methods we use to do that have, and that change is enabled by advancements in technology. Security has shifted from a reactive, investigative function to a proactive, preventive tool, and leaders seek out new levels of intelligence and awareness to mitigate risks before they have an opportunity to occur.

Today’s video systems are sitting on a treasure trove of data — some would say security is the original Internet of Things and Big Data application. One of the biggest future trends will be mining and leveraging this data for actionable intelligence to improve incident prediction and detection, behavioral analysis, rapid response, and increasingly, non-security applications like business intelligence and operational improvements. Security and video are now Big Data applications, and potential implications and benefits of exploiting this data are enormous.

What do you see has been the single most impactful technology in the industry?

Brandon: The adoption of enterprise IT solutions for use in the security operations center. Pivot3 has helped drive this adoption. As a company, we started by solving the challenging need for reliable and robust IP video surveillance storage, and we’ve been able to take these lessons learned from surveillance and address similar challenges in other IT applications. We have since closed that loop and brought our knowledge from the IT world back to physical security, helping to bridge the traditional gap between security and IT. And we are not the only ones. Today’s technology leaders are investing in research and development, driving new advancements that will expand the availability of advanced security, surveillance and IT solutions that bridge gaps between all three sectors.

As an industry influencer, can you share with us a business success story or case study that you are most proud about?

Brandon: I was fortunate to work with one of the largest and most recognized consumer goods brands in the world, helping shape the security and technology strategy over the course of a decade. Before we started, security was largely used for investigating and recovering asset loss and shrinkage. Technology was disparate and disconnected across hundreds of locations, and was vastly underutilized.

We were able to help them shift security and technology resources from a catch-the-bad-guy tool to a strategic business asset that delivered quantifiable returns through risk reduction, brand protection and operational enhancements. We created an enterprise-class security technology infrastructure that gave them instantaneous access to system and information so they could detect and react to incidents in real time. We designed physical security standards that improved protection of their product integrity while lowering total costs.

And we did this at a time when global enterprise security technology was far from common. We broke new ground, hit a few bumps along the way but ultimately, created a solid security foundation that remains in place today.

Please share with us your visions of this industry and what it will look like for manufacturers, integrators, installers, central stations, and end-users in the near future.

Brandon: In 2017, I expect more convergence internally within end user businesses. Organizations will seek to align internal security departments and processes further with IT to address evolving cyber and physical threats. New technologies, such as deep learning and GPU acceleration, will ensure the development of more reliable, accurate analytics and broader market adoption of these types of technologies. Additionally, I also expect to see the emergence of cloud and hybrid-cloud platforms as viable enterprise video storage alternatives.

Tell us about a newer technology that you think is going to significantly alter the industry landscape.

As the value of video increases, ensuring the investment in video is secured becomes of even greater importance. Surveillance system failures are not tolerable because it opens the door to increased risks, new vulnerabilities and potential operational interruptions. And understandably, these are not options for any of today’s advanced businesses.

Therefore, video storage becomes an even more important piece of the video surveillance infrastructure. In today’s market, stakeholders are looking at innovations for storage and data management, and these are the advancements proven beneficial to the rigorous demands of the IT market.

Hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI) is an emerging solution that combines software-defined SAN storage and server infrastructure within a model that is purpose-built for data-intensive workloads such as video surveillance. It is designed to protect data, while ensuring evidence or footage is readily available when needed.

HCI is gaining speed in security environments because of the significant limitations of DAS-based platforms (i.e. NVRs and DVRs). These older systems are no longer ideal choices for storing important surveillance data. IT-centric technologies are more reliable and efficient than the products users have typically relied.

What vertical market do you think is going to witness the biggest impact of industry advancements and why? (Airports, Seaports, Campus (K12/Univ), Hospitals, Law Enforcement, Banking, Oil/Gas, Retail, etc.)

Brandon: Educational institutions across the country are adopting video surveillance at the fastest rate in history. According to recent research, nine out of every 10 schools have video systems in place, and the vast majority continue to grow and expand existing deployments. Administrators are starting to take cues from the law enforcement community, exploring new applications for body cameras, opportunities for public-private partnerships and sharing video with first responders, such as fire departments, local police, and public safety personnel. Video surveillance and these newer initiatives improve overall situational awareness that helps campus security respond to incidents more effectively, sometimes as they are occurring, and even preventing incidents from happening altogether.

What are your thoughts on laws or legislation that are currently being considered or do you think may be forthcoming that will have an impact on the industry: ( i.e: Banning of LPR cameras for police, cruise lines to requiring shipboard video surveillance, schools banned from collecting biometric data on students, drone legislation, etc).

Brandon: Entities are always searching for new ways to get more out of surveillance investments. Captured video can be used to improve security and business operations, and therefore, has become a more critical part of the business environment. Regulations, such as the Criminal Justice Information Services compliance, requires that sensitive intelligence is secured and readily available when needed. These types of rules and guidelines — ones that help businesses and government entities ensure the protection of data — are critical as more organizations look to leverage video in court proceedings, and to ensure liability protection and compliance with standards.

What is your position on where the privacy line is located today, where you see that line in the future, and do you personally agree with those positions?

Brandon: Organizations, people, and government agencies can all benefit from the sharing of video and security data. It helps improve investigations and provides enhanced situational awareness in emergency situations. I believe privacy hurdles can be addressed by limiting access to this data to only authorized law enforcement and emergency personnel.

The bigger challenge is the technology. There are plenty of solutions for providing remote video access, but most are proprietary. There is a significant installed base of systems out there – all with their own software, mobile apps, and cloud connections. Law enforcement would need the ability to access dozens of different types of video systems at hundreds or thousands of different facilities, each with different connectivity, software, usernames and passwords (that may regularly change). Therefore, we won’t see true video sharing programs and public-private partnerships flourish until a more open system is adopted.

What are your thoughts about technologies that may be intersecting with more individual/personal applications (i.e.: biometrics, cloud, IoT, wearables, etc.)?

Brandon: In 2016, we saw increased interest in and adoption of these technologies. What’s driving interest in these applications is an ever-expanding interest in data and how it can enhance decisions, both business and security related. With this accelerated data growth, there is also a continued convergence of security and IT, and the ever-expanding impact of the Internet of Things (IoT).

There is also heightened demand for body worn cameras due to a lack of public trust, and a stronger need for liability protection, officer accountability, and rapid investigation processes. Wearable cameras and in-vehicle cameras appear to be working to help agencies meet these goals. Additionally, use of police force is down 87 percent, and guilty pleas are up 20 percent.

Of course, all these trends lead to the fact that more cameras are being deployed than ever before, resulting in a greater need for storage as data grows, governing requirements and compliance evolve, and retention times expand.

How can the industry support or accelerate these synergistic partnership opportunities?

Brandon: Open, scalable technologies are essential to continued growth. Solutions that easily integrate with third-party systems expand an organization’s options to enhance situational awareness that cannot be achieved through the collection of video surveillance data alone. Compatibility with other devices drives stronger security, higher levels of intelligence and further evolves the role of the security and IT leader within an organization. As we look to 2017, companies who develop IT-friendly, open and standards-based solutions will be able to build upon market share to IT- and security-focused buyers, resulting in longer term growth and customer relationships.

What M&A activity do you think has been significant and what do you see happening with companies in the near future?

Brandon: Recent consolidation activity demonstrates that the larger industry players are looking to acquire companies that are developing solutions and services that are truly unique and can’t be developed in-house without significant investment. This trend also speaks to the need growing demand for integrated systems.

I see this trend continuing. We’re seeing substantial interest and investment in security technologies from new sources and new types of businesses who recognize its potential. I don’t envision a technology ‘bubble’ but I think you’ll see security technology considered more mainstream and new entrants from companies that have not traditionally participated in our industry.

This started recently with telecoms and MSOs moving into security, particularly residential. But I think they have found that industry to be a little more complex and nuanced than they anticipated. I envision a similar influx from the IT companies – system manufacturers, managed service providers and software developers – but I expect them to be more focused on the commercial and enterprise end user segments and take advantage of the trends of big data, IoT and analytics, particularly around video surveillance.

Who do you look to as an industry influencer? Who or what are some other resources that you follow?

Brandon: My entire career I have always looked for people smarter and more experienced than I am and tried to learn as much as possible from them. I have been lucky enough to work under and with some of the brightest minds in the security industry from very early on in my career. Many of these have been highly influential —chief security officers, law enforcement leaders, security technology pioneers, entrepreneurs— often who started as clients and colleagues and became close friends.

I continually seek out new ways to learn about industry trends — whether at industry conferences, Webinars or reading industry and business journals. But more importantly, in-person networking is critical. I find most of my ideas are prompted by discussions I have from customers, consultants, and integrators out-in-the-field. These folks often see new use cases and trends far before the industry.