Trends to shape 2021 and its implications

S Mohini Ratna, Editor, VARINDIA

As we say goodbye to 2020, we revisit the year's most popular stories. Our top technology reads include a range of compelling and timely topics, like the workplace of the future, and technological advancement continues, however as we have seen in recent years, rather than heralding the emergence of completely new technologies, the trends we see for 2021 are shaped by how and why technologies are used, and the associated implications. 

While the COVID-19 pandemic had taken hold in many countries before the end of 2019, few would have predicted the enormous impact it would have across the world throughout 2020. Within a short space of time, our way of life, working practices and business operations were upended. Travel restrictions, social distancing rules, increased hygiene requirements and the pressure placed on health services all affected our business and the security sector.

In dealing with the impact on our own business and workforce – with employee health and safety at the forefront – we also saw new use cases emerge for our technology and solutions, in addition to new ways of working that will continue into 2021 and beyond.

•    Trust remains at the top of the agenda
We’ve mentioned trust in previous trend posts, and it’s become even more critical. There are many factors which contribute to maintaining trust, and the technology sector is under more scrutiny now than ever before. Customers and end users are demanding transparency around how tech is used and how data is managed, especially with increased surveillance. This, together with the need to maintain privacy, will be a key challenge. 

Renewed discussions around trust will directly impact how organizations in all sectors actively demonstrate why they are trustworthy. Due to its nature, the security sector will be under even more pressure to double down on its efforts in this area.

•    The world goes horizontal 
Recent years have seen applications and services largely designed for specific environments, whether server-based, in the cloud or at the edge. Driven by a desire to achieve optimal performance, scalability, and flexibility, along with the benefits of accessing and using data at any time and from anywhere, the next year will see momentum towards horizontal integration between environments. 

Increasingly intelligent applications and services will be deployed across all three instances – server, cloud and edge – employing the best capabilities of each, improving solution performance and efficiency. For example, edge analytics in a surveillance camera will potentially message an operator with an alert, the operator then accessing the live video feed through a cloud-based application to verify and respond. This shift to a ‘horizontal’ approach will increase the speed and accuracy of security and surveillance – moving from reactive to proactive, manual to automated – while also reducing bandwidth, energy and cost.

•    Cybersecurity: the continual trend 
Due to the potential for high financial returns and disruption of critical infrastructure, new capabilities, tactics and threats will continue to emerge and require constant vigilance. AI will be employed by cybercriminals as much as in any sector, strengthening their ability to find and exploit vulnerabilities. Deep fakes will become even more sophisticated and realistic, potentially calling into doubt video surveillance evidence. As a result further developments in methods to verify content, devices and applications in order to maintain trust in their authenticity will be required. 

Advancements in cybercrime will also extend to tried-and-true methods such as phishing lures which will become more difficult to spot. As a result, employees will be even more susceptible to these types of attacks and constant education and reminders of best practice in cybersecurity will, as ever, be needed.

•    The reality of AI: developing the good, addressing the bad and anticipating the ugly 
We’ve been talking about AI for so long that some might question its validity as a trend. But with Machine Learning (ML) and Deep Learning (DL) now broadly available in surveillance technology, the implications of its use will be a factor in 2021.

We now have concrete examples of various use cases for AI in surveillance, but as we have seen in other sectors (e.g. autonomous vehicle crashes) the positive impact of AI can be outweighed by the attention given to specific failures. Narratives tend to focus on the errors of automation, and this will no doubt also be the case in the surveillance sector.

•    Low- and no-contact technologies come to the fore
Regulations, rules and consumer habits established during this year will become common-place in 2021. Technology will support how these are monitored and enforced, driven by hygiene concerns and social distancing. As a result, the implementation of low- or no-contact technologies, especially in areas such as access control, will increase. In addition, surveillance solutions with people-counting capabilities will become the norm, to ensure adherence to social distancing regulations. 

Going forward, the only constant is change and It’s clear that predictions must be taken with a grain of salt, and the events of 2020 singlehandedly demonstrated the risks of trying to accurately predict upcoming events. However, the trends outlined above are, we believe, broad enough to apply even in the context of a turbulent environment. What will continue to be true is that periods of uncertainty underscore the need for agility and an open approach to problem-solving, whatever the future holds. 

Everyone must ensure that your organization stays ahead of technology innovations, regulations and an ever-changing risk landscape. New risks emerge every day, and your organization relies on you to foresee threats and lead a proactive, vigilant response. The year 2021 will impact next year require digging and Google searching too.

Let’s keep our fingers crossed and hope the New Year has something good in store for all of us.

Wish you a very Happy New Year and a big Thank you for your continued support.