The phrase “remote video guarding” is a technology mix that brings two separate industries together. The first part, remote video, refers to the monitoring industry and its increasing emphasis on using remote video to verify alarm intrusions. The second part, of course, refers to the guarding industry — the centuries-old practice of hiring human beings to protect life and property.

Remote video guarding is not just a phrase that merges two industries. It’s also a capability that is rapidly transforming and disrupting both industries at once, and it has just as much to do with the evolution of technology as the changing demographics of American society. America is walking into a demographic crisis. We are still far better off than our friends in Europe and East Asia, but we’re not worried about them, we’re worried about us.