My Main Takeaway from ISC West 2023 is that Collaboration Must Come First for the Security Industry

I had the privilege of attending ISC West 2023 this year, the premier show for all things public safety. Every year, top minds and top brands gather to discuss the future of the security and surveillance industries, and this year the energy felt particularly buzzy. Of all the trade shows I’ve been to in my B2B career, this was one of the most packed yet. The Venetian Expo was chalk-full of attendees eager to learn more about the newest security technologies, as well as packed with exhibitors from every corner of the industry. What was the core theme at the show?

The theme was definitely no one technology. Brands were hoping to stake their flag in everything from video monitoring solutions to access controls, from drones to smart home solutions, and from cloud computing to edge computing. I spoke with brands like Honeywell, Bosch, LenelS2, and ADT Commercial among other players across the diverse ecosystem of security solutions, and while major players in the space obviously aim for a significant chunk of the market share of their side of the industry, proving themselves as the dominant player in the industry wasn’t really the go-to mantra for this show. Instead, most everyone, including the heavy weights, said that collaboration, interoperability, and strategic partnerships were the priority this year.

Why? Well, I’m no pro in the security industry, but what I do know is that Industry 4.0 is razing old norms to the ground in every industry, and that force of change is placing the usual strategies for a competitive edge up for debate. Here are my video thoughts from the show: