According to Adroit Market Research, the market for access control was estimated to be worth USD 10 Billion in 2023, and by 2029, it is anticipated to grow to USD 15 billion, with a CAGR of 8.5%. Cloud-based access control solutions are gaining popularity quickly due to their adaptability, scalability, and cost.

Access control is a top priority for organissations in a variety of sectors, including government, business, industrial, and residential, in response to the growing number of security risks and events. The need for access control is being driven by the requirement for effective access control methods to stop unauthorised access, data breaches, and security breaches. The analysts found that access control is becoming more popular as a result of strict legal requirements and standards relating to security and data protection. Regulations like the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), and Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) must be followed in sectors including healthcare, banking, and government.

Service providers have the chance to provide access control as a service (ACaaS), allowing businesses to use cloud-based access control solutions rather than spending money on on-premises hardware. Mobile-based access control service offer simplicity and flexibility in light of the ubiquitous usage of cell phones. Businesses may give customers mobile credentials for secure, contactless access by utilising mobile technologies like Bluetooth, near-field communication (NFC), or QR codes. The potential is in creating mobile access control applications that are simple to use and integrating them with current access control applications.

Access control is a mature industry in North America, driven by strict compliance regulations and high-security standards. Advanced technologies including biometrics, mobile access control, and cloud-based solutions have prospects in the region. Access control is being more widely used in industries including government, banking, and healthcare, opening up new opportunities for market growth.

Accenture Future of Work Study has shown that 68% of high-revenue growth companies have embraced a hybrid model worldwide. With businesses enjoying remote or hybrid working, benefits including reduced maintenance costs, improved flexibility and extended talent pool, cyber security awareness has become more critical than ever.

With this in mind, Indusface is intrigued to find out the most secure countries for businesses to allow their employees to work from, by creating an index score based on cybersecurity data including DDOS attacks, phishing sites, Malware hosting sites and compromised computers.

Indusface found out that Finland and Belgium share the title of the most secure European countries for businesses to allow employees to remotely work from, each with a cyber security score of 82.45 out of 100. Finland has received the second lowest number of DDOS attacks (79) during 2015 to 2021, only 29 attacks higher than France who has the lowest among the top 10 European countries. This is an important factor for businesses to consider as successful DDOS attacks could block your business sites and bring down all servers and connections you depend on.

Contributing to Belgium’s top ranking is that it has the lowest number of compromised computers per 100,000 internet users (11) in the country. Computers that have been infected with the Gamarue botnet open doors to hackers and make it easier for them to take control of your business data and devices. Belgium also has the joint second lowest malware hosting sites among all top 10 European countries, with an average of 390 sites per 100,000 urls.

Ranking third as the most cyber-secure European country is Austria with an overall cyber security index score of 80.59/100. Boasting the lowest number of both malware hosting sites (34) and phishing sites (260) per 100,000 urls, the country owns less sites that could trick you or contain malware, making businesses less worried about sensitive information being stolen. In fourth place is Switzerland with a cyber secure index score of 78.09/100. Sweden and Greece rank joint fifth place with a score of 76.31/100.

Bulgaria ranks the least secure European countries for businesses to allow employees to remotely work from, with a total cybersecurity score of only 51.82 out of 100. With 1,220 phishing sites and 1,170 malware hosting sites per 100,000 urls, businesses in the country will need to be extra careful when identifying whether a website is genuine. Serbia owns one of the highest number of compromised computers per 100,000 internet users (1,467) which leads to its low cyber security score of 53.83 – ranking as the second least cybersecure European country.

Top 10 most cyber secure European countries to work from

5 least cyber secure European countries to work from

Arecent report by Novaira Insights cites a correction in the global video surveillance industry in 2022, due largely to a sharp decline in the Chinese market in the wake of COVID-related lockdown measures.The correction however is likely to be transient as China recovers, putting economic development and related projects back on track, the report added.

Video surveillance has long been a growth industry. But it took a downward turn last year, according to a recent report by Novaira Insights, which cited a 3.4 percent decline in the global video surveillance market in 2022. This, however, was largely due to a sharp decline in the Chinese market, which dropped 18.6 percent last year, the report showed.

According to the report, the China drop was primarily due to lockdowns causing restrictions on business during 2022 waves of the COVID pandemic. “In the public sector, Chinese government spending was diverted away from areas such as video surveillance, and towards battling COVID-19 and supporting the economy during the lockdowns,” said Josh Woodhouse, Lead Analyst and Founder of Novaira Insights. “China is estimated to have remained the world’s largest regional market for video surveillance equipment, accounting for 44 percent of the world market in 2022. However, this is a reduction from the previous year when it accounted for 52 percent.”

He added that outside China, most markets continued to grow, with the market in the world excluding China growing 13.2 percent in 2022.

As for this year, with China reopening and COVID-related restrictions lifted in most countries in the world, projects and other developmental efforts are back on track. This will be a positive development for the global video surveillance market, which the Novaira Insights report said will grow 11.8 percent this year, making it worth over US$27 billion in 2023.

Impact on Video Surveillance

Like other industries, China’s video surveillance market felt the pinch of the lockdown measures and the resulting business inactivity. Perhaps nowhere can the lockdown impact on China’s video surveillance market be more revealing than Hikvision’s 2022 financial report, which reported 2022 video equipment sales of 65.9 billion RMB, a 1.12 percent growth from 2021’s 65.1 billion RMB. This contrasted sharply from the 16.9 percent growth between 2020 and 2021. 2023 Q1 revenue was also down 1.94 percent year-on-year.

Return to Growth Imminent

Indeed, various positive developments in the video surveillance/security market, both in China and rest of the world, give us reason to be optimistic. Perhaps H1 reports to be released by security companies later this year will provide further insights into how strong the market will fare in 2023 and 2024. Stay tuned for asmag.com’s 2023 Security 50 compilation to be released in November for more information and details.

According to the latest findings from 6wresearch, the government in Thailand is planning to install more video surveillance cameras to reduce the crime rate in Thailand. More than 62,000 security cameras were installed in Bangkok alone in 2022 to strengthen the security in the city.  Based on these findings and other aspects of their research, analysts at 6wresearch are predicting that Thai video surveillance market revenues are projected to grow at a strong CAGR of 12.7 percent during the period 2023-2029.

As one might expect, in 2020 the Thai video surveillance market witnessed a decline, owing to various restrictions imposed by government causing a halt in the construction sector as the pandemic negatively impacted the construction market due to factors such as delay in projects, labour shortage, supply chain delay and increased material costs. Around 290 Large scale government projects were vastly affected with the total value of 6.6 billion US dollars.

2023 Growth 5 Percent

However, the market has returned to its growth trajectory in 2022 & 2023 as after the contraction it grew at 4 percent in 2022 and is expected to grow at 5 percent in 2023, owing to robust demand from home improvement and renovation in the residential sector and new hotel room openings along with huge urbanisation in form of smart cities across the country.

Focus on Smart Cities

And now, the research shows that the Thai government has come up with a concept of smart cities. In the year 2022 they had 15 smart cities all over the country, with an agenda to have one of their Thai smart cities in the list of the world top 10 smart cities by 2037. Two of the key aspects of these new smart cities are Smart Environment and Smart Governance, in order to increase security and safety for its citizens and foreigners visiting the country.

Transition towards IP surveillance technology is also spurring the demand for video surveillance systems principally in hotels and several convenience stores, shopping malls and outlets. Also, rising tourism industry propelling growth in hospitality and commercial sector in Thailand will increase the requirement for video surveillance market in Thailand especially in major urban cities such as Bangkok, Pattaya, Phuket and others.

G4S Secure Solutions UK (SSUK) has won two five-year contracts from the Government Property Agency (GPA) to provide integrated security and technology services to a significant number of departmental buildings across London and the North of the UK.

G4S SSUK will deliver services across a minimum of 18 London sites and 21 buildings in the North; including four in Scotland and one in Northern Ireland. There is a possibility the number of sites will increase in line with the GPA’s ‘Places for Growth’ programme. The contract will start on 1 October 2023.

The core security services across all of the sites will include duties such as surveillance and alarm monitoring, visitor management including access control, emergency response, keyholding patrol teams and car park management, voice announcement system operation, and in some cases flag flying duty.

The integration of security and technology will use data and analytics to ensure security officers are deployed to higher risk locations, and record security incidents. Incident reports will also be digitally recorded and shared promptly with the customer.

Eddie Hirst, Business Development Director Major Projects for G4S SSUK, said: “G4S SSUK has decades of integrated security experience especially in delivering requirements for customers covering recognisable and sensitive sites all across the country. We’re really excited to be able to play our part in supporting the Government’s Levelling Up and Places for Growth agenda by retaining and creating extra jobs in locations around the north of the UK.”

All of the nearly 300 members of staff who are employed by the incumbent contract holders will be offered the opportunity to TUPE to G4S SSUK and any new recruits will, like the current staff, be required to be Security Check (SC) cleared. Those who do TUPE to G4S SSUK will benefit from access to professional development opportunities during their working hours, including webinars, training courses and knowledge-sharing sessions for industry leaders via the G4S Academy.