EDITORIAL
Why Wait to Adopt PropTech?
Every year the Security Industry Association (SIA) publishes the Annual Industry Megatrends report. The report details predicted trends after various interviews and surveys of leaders, who have become the industry’s emerging forces for change. As an example, some years ago the industry suggested that there would be strong market sentiment toward “hosted” solutions or to “Software as a Service” (SaaS) solutions. Clearly this has transpired.
Many of us have taken these megatrends in stride and ultimately adopted them, as things made sense in our businesses or business applications. For the past 10 years, American Direct has watched closely as the “megatrends” have been identified each year, and today we are leading the emergence of “property technology” or “PropTech,” identified as a megatrend for 2023.
Recently, the SIA suggested that the security marketplace was being impacted by the “elimination of the industry’s boundaries.” In our view this is an extraordinary disclosure. For the first time, the industry acknowledges that the incumbent channel structures are being tested, disrupted, and are vulnerable and weakening. OEM software platforms are now very much “direct to owner/end user” in many applications and situations. Commercial integration is being redefined and forced into somewhat of a “labor only” value proposition in many larger enterprise implementations. Enormous numbers of unique “go to market strategies” are being recognized and deployed. Electronic locks invaded the space about 10 years ago. Many have talked extensively about electronic locks and used that as the centrality of technology at the EDGE of the door opening. I think we have too significant a focus on the electric lock — because the full picture is not about the electronic lock. It is about the system that integrates with that lock. Whether it’s surveillance, credentials, or some sort of coordinated effort to make the system in the building work and behave in a certain way, all those things combined are more important than having the lock as the focal point.
We have been talking about this integrated security solution for many years, leading with thoughts about physical security beginning with commercial doors, frames, and hardware as central to an overall security solution for buildings, real estate, and commercial construction events.
SIA quoted a recent survey response, “traditional security is being defined by those outside the industry.” American Direct is already deeply embedded in the security space and when we combined our access control platform AccessNsite, we established a feature set that is rich and scalable, we escalated the ability to help manage the building’s security and data-interoperability.
Our Total Security Offering combines a variety of building owner/user features that begins with the doors, frames and hardware we’re known for, but enhances this offering by allowing the integration of data, surveillance, predictive analytics using machine learning, and extensive credential flexibility to create custom solutions that address building by building a custom/unique solution.
It’s not about the lock, the future is about adoption of a total technology solution, likely not controlled by a dealer to protect human life and distribute data effectively. American Direct is leading the PropTech adoption. Want to join the adoption of the future of security in buildings and construction events? Why wait?
Read the entire article from issue #31 of Total Access Magazine
