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the
interview
"Traditional lines will erode away"
Physical security and cyber security are converging
and today, it is also data that people are trying to
steal as well as physical assets, according to Alistair
enser, President and General Manager for Global
Products and Technology Group, Stanley Security.
detektor met up with him for a chat.
It has been seven years since Stanley
Black & Decker acquired Niscayah.
Today, Stanley Security Products
has coverage in 12 European
countries and calls itself the largest
electronic security provider in
Europe.
"Stanley Products is doing very
well. In the last year, we have seen
a lot of growth across Europe, Asia
and US, well into double digits",
says Alistair Enser.
What is the most important
thing happening in the market
right now?
"We see a real convergence
between cyber and physical
security. If we go back 20 years, we
were all intent on protecting our
buildings and the contents of those
buildings, but now, the contents
have changed: it is data that people
are trying to steal as well as some
physical stuff, and the threat does
not always come through the front
door or the window but might
come up the internet pipe. It is
unavoidable for us as an industry
and for us as a security business
to differentiate between cyber and
physical security."
What are the biggest trends in
the market right now?
"With that sort of convergence,
we are seeing a lot more acceptance
of cloud and we are seeing many
of our corporate customers and
key end users now really embrac-
ing cloud technology because
the installation and adoption of
certain services are easier for them.
The risks and concerns that they
may have had over previous years
regarding the security of cloud
are still there, but they are being
answered, as it becomes more of an
accepted technology. And at the
same time, a big trend is business
intelligence or AI. There are many
ways that we see business intel-
ligence and analytics or AI or
whatever you want to call it as a
really important factor."
Can you give an example?
"We are constantly looking
at how we can add value to the
customers in the marketplace, and
certainly with all of the security
systems on the market today, we
collect and process a lot of data,
and that data when used correctly,
can add value to the system. The
best way to add value is to try to
automate it. For example, watch-
ing traffic move around a building,
whether via video or access control,
or looking at the behaviours of the
people in the building are they
doing something suspicious just
understanding how they normally
behave on a normal given day,
versus how they might be behaving
today. Is it different? Should that
create an alarm event, which then
designates that someone take a
closer look?"
How big is the demand for AI
among end customers?
"I would say it is increasing,
but it is very difficult to quantify.
We do various surveys and when
we talk to customers, the amount
of intelligence they want to be
built into their system is just
increasing year on year. What we
can also see is an increasing trend
from customers to drive produc-
tivity within their own businesses
as well as security needs, and
whether that means reduced costs,
a better use of integrating systems,
or whether it means increased
productivity, it all amounts to the
same thing."
Is there any particular market
where the demand for AI is
bigger?
"I do not think there is, I mean
we can look at key verticals that we
are in. We are arguably the leader
in banking security globally; we
have got over 80,000 sites. And
if we are looking at our banking
customers, they are already asking
questions about how we can tie
disparate systems together, how we
can tie different events together.
To understand how people behave
and use that AI to drive different
outputs in that building all comes
back to improving business man-
agement e.g. measuring effective
use of floor space via security sen-
sors and access control, electronic
security, or even just HR and
people management."
How interested are the end users
in cyber security?
"I think they are increasingly
interested. It can be very harmful
to a company if not dealt with cor-
rectly and within our industry we
are seeing more and more compa-
nies focusing on that and building
tools, processes and systems link
the traditional security with cyber.
This is a really serious matter, and
I think that it is only in the last
year or so that, the security in-
dustry has realised we have a very
important part to play in this."
How will the industry look in
the future?
"We are seeing a convergence
at the top end with integrators
companies buying other compa-
nies and that will continue. I do
not think that an end user is going
to be saying "I just want a video
system". They want a system that
helps them with their daily lives
in their building and that might
be security, or it might be security
with IoT, BMS and other kinds of
management disciplines built in.
Ultimately it is about managing
risk, adding value to their business
and answering concerns or im-
proved business opportunities for
them. So I think these traditional
lines that have been built up over
the last 20-25 years will continue
to erode away, and it will become
much more of a technological
space."
What is your biggest challenge?
"I think the biggest challenge
is to understand the world that we
are working in, whether we talk
about connected cities, about all
these big changes that are happen-
ing in the world, whether we are
looking at threats or technology
it is about really understanding
where we are going to be. We can
build products for tomorrow, we
can build services and solutions for
tomorrow, but actually, we want
to answer the questions for today,
tomorrow, ten years, twenty years
time, and it is always tough to
really focus in on the right things.
There is always a knowledge and
skills gap when things change,
so technology is one hurdle, but
finding and developing the right
people and organisation will also
be significant for us all. This is
where we now focus a lot of our
efforts."
By Henrik Söderlund
Alistair Enser, Stanley Security
It is unavoidable for us as an
industry and for us as a security
business to differentiate between
cyber and physical security.
Alistair Enser, President and General Manager for Global Products and Technology
Group, Stanley Security.
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