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 Matt Tengwall, VP and General Manager of Security and Cyber Solutions with Verint Systems. We reached out to Matt 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?

Matt: Quite simply, I am honored. This year?s top influencers represent many industry sectors, have a rich depth of industry expertise and have contributed to helping the industry evolve. I am pleased to be honored alongside these leaders.

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

Matt: In June 2000, I started with Lanex LLSC, which was acquired by Verint in 2006. Currently, I am Vice President and General Manager of Security and Cyber Solutions for Banking and Retail Markets for Verint Systems. Before this role, I served as Vice President of Sales in the North American market for Verint. Over the course of my career, I have focused on building strong strategic partnerships and alliances, creative sales strategies and educational tools for customers. Along the way, I?ve had the opportunity to work with leaders with extensive knowledge in solution selling, business development operations, and product management, which has attributed positively to my industry knowledge and leadership skills.

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

Matt: I was working for an electronic distributor right out of college, and one of my customers was Lanex LLC, located in Columbia, Md. The company later offered me the first sales role in the company, and I was interested due to digital video surveillance seemed to be an intriguing space with significant opportunity for growth. When Verint acquired Lanex, I stayed on and I have been with the company ever since.

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

Matt: The growing connection between cyber, IT, and physical security is one of the biggest changes in today?s market. We see this most in the financial sector, where C-level executives are focusing on protecting corporate assets, client data, and personnel while ensuring brand protection. This convergence drives stronger alignment of security resources and leadership, which now work in a cohesive manner to ensure business continuity. This collaboration is a critical combination because modern enterprises require a comprehensive approach to security that takes into account risks from every facet of business. First, we saw convergence in electronic systems, and now we?re experiencing it from an organizational perspective. It?s genuinely exciting to watch.

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

Matt: Most significantly, we?ve seen a change in the way security is viewed across an organization. The term ?security? no longer means simply protecting the perimeter of a building; it also involves securing corporate networks and sensitive data. This trend has been mostly driven by a change in organizational threats. Businesses as a whole are much more focused on cyber threats, which challenges business and security leaders to stay one step ahead of crime and fraud trends.

We also see a significant focus on the promise of the Internet of Things (IoT) and demand for more mobile capabilities. But as network connectivity increases, so too does the need for increased security for physical assets, networks, and valuable corporate data. As a result, we experience a growing dialogue between IT, cyber security, and physical security teams to help gain a greater knowledge of how to best collaborate. Stakeholders must communicate closely to assist in determining vulnerabilities in a more proactive manner.

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

Matt: The adoption of software-based solutions that allow data to be correlated from multiple systems to deliver increased situational awareness. Organizations of all markets and sizes are interested in improving security by fusing data from a wide range of devices, including video, audio, social media, access control, building management, traffic control and intrusion detection. By aggregating data from multiple sensors, stakeholders enable efficient data analysis, gaining the ability to share information easily within and across agencies to facilitate timely response and investigation.

The Web and social media are also of critical importance to security leaders, as these platforms are the gateway to a vast array of information that can help enhance security, investigate breaches, and streamline operations. The process of tapping into Web and social media sources to locate data streams delivers the ability to identify trends and expedite investigations. This process helps transform raw information into valuable data that can be used to mitigate risks, build critical insights, and identify targets.

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

Matt: In the beginning of my career, I called on First Citizens Bank in Raleigh, N.C., a top 20 bank in the United States, and developed a relationship with Larry Brown, the Senior Vice President of Corporate Security. At the time, the bank had an existing surveillance platform that it was satisfied with. Over a 10-year period, Larry and I continued to have breakfast meetings, and regular phone calls and developed a true friendship. Two years ago, Larry gave Verint an opportunity to capture some of the banks locations. Since then, Verint has become the corporate video standard at First Citizens bank. I am extremely proud of the relationship and the learning experience I have developed with Larry, and honored to be the solutions provider of choice for this leading financial organization.

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.

Matt: As an industry, we need to ensure that we develop and deploy standards-based, scalable and repeatable technologies that help customers achieve security, operational and business goals. Actionable intelligence technology, situational awareness platforms, video surveillance and video analytics enable stakeholders to detect incidents, and realize new levels of situational awareness but these systems must work in a cohesive, centralized manner, while allowing repeatable deployment methods. Only then, can information be correlated to identify trends in a proactive way.

From an end user perspective, now is the time for security leaders to increase their importance to the organization through strategic security planning and alignment with corporate policies. Security teams can add value to the business by aligning data gathered from security platforms with business goals, which delivers advanced insight to benefit the overall mission of the business. This process positions security leaders as influencers in corporate decision making, and not just a cost center.

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.)

Matt: I see a significant change in the financial sector as more organizations align security, IT, and cyber functions. Increased risk (ATM skimming, identity theft, data breaches, scams, and phishing, for example) also drives the adoption of new solutions. Large, well-known financial services organizations have been attacked by hackers looking to steal personal information, transactional data or even funds from those that do business with these organizations. And criminals continue to become more sophisticated in their approach.

Therefore, it?s imperative that financial organizations explore and adopt new tools and technology to address the evolving security landscape. A comprehensive security strategy that takes into account and incorporates collaboration across those responsible for physical, IT and cyber security is critical. This strategy must also include advanced situational awareness platforms and data analytics to realize stronger insight into daily operations.

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

Matt: In 2017, we will continue to see Big Data analysis and IoT-powered devices allow for the collection of myriad data points across systems, services, and devices. This process will allow businesses to investigate threats in a more intelligent manner. It will be the organizations that generate actionable intelligence from captured data that will be firmly positioned to achieve their security intelligence and business objectives in the coming year.

How can the industry support or accelerate these opportunities?

Matt: Like many other industries driven by technology, the security industry is seeing an enormous amount of change. The rapid pace of this change creates challenges for security leaders everywhere as they balance the need to keep up with innovation with the requirement to deliver solutions cost-effectively.

IP video surveillance has replaced analog technology in a wide majority of organizations. As a result, corporate security professionals are incorporating a more disciplined approach to technology renewal. Therefore, we see that lifecycle management often now parallels the broader IT asset management practices of an organization, allowing security leaders to keep pace with new and emerging technology while optimizing the total cost of ownership of video surveillance deployments. Educating end users and integrators about the ways in which they can monitor their investments, scale their networks and ensure device longevity will be beneficial when selling the solutions of tomorrow.

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

Matt: I have had a long time relationship with Kevin Englehardt, SVP of Operations, Securitas, as we have grown up in the industry together and have helped guide each other?s business. This relationship has created a strong bond between Verint and Securitas, and has created many advantages and efficiencies for each organization. I have also been heavily influenced by Rod Matheson, the individual that hired me 16 years ago at Lanex who also still works at Verint. He has provided me direction on technical creativity, and supporting customers with solutions, not just speeds and feeds.